Diversity, distribution, and conservation of endemic island rodents

Abstract

Rodents on islands are usually thought of by conservationists mainly in reference to invasive pest species, which have wrought considerable ecological damage on islands around the globe. However, almost one in five of the world's nearly 2300 rodent species is an island endemic, and insular rodents suffer from high rates of extinction and endangerment. Rates of Quaternary extinction and current threat are especially high in the West Indies and the species-rich archipelagos of Southeast Asia. Rodent endemism reaches its most striking levels on large or remote oceanic islands, such as Madagascar, the Caribbean, the Ryukyu Islands, the oceanic Philippines, Sulawesi, the Galapagos, and the Solomon Islands, as well as on very large land-bridge islands, especially New Guinea. While conservation efforts in the past and present have focused mainly on charismatic mammals (such as birds and large mammals), efforts specifically targeted toward less conspicuous animals (such as insular rodents) may be necessary to stem large numbers of extinctions in the near future.