Invasive species and land bird diversity on remote South Atlantic islands

Abstract

Invasive species pose significant threats to biodiversity, especially on islands. They cause extinctions and population declines, yet little is known about their consequences on the emergent, metacommunity-level patterns of native species in island assemblages. We investigated differences in species–area relationships, nestedness, and occupancy of 9 species of native land birds between island assemblages with and without invasive Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the Falkland Archipelago. We found that species–area curves, nestedness, and individual species’ occurrences differed between island assemblages with and without rats. Rat-free islands had, on average, 2.1 more land bird species than rat-infested islands of similar size. Passerine bird communities on islands with and without rats were significantly nested, but nestedness was significantly higher on rat-free islands than on rat-infested islands. The presence of rats was associated with differences in the incidence of many, but not all bird species. On rat free islands the occurrence of all species increased with island area. The occurrence of most, albeit not all, bird species was lower on islands with than on islands without rats. Two species of conservation concern, Troglodytes aedon cobbi and Cinclodes antarcticus, were abundant on rat-free islands, but absent or found at very low frequencies on islands with rats. The occurrence of three species was not associated with the presence of rats. The patterns presented here can be used to evaluate the consequences of ongoing rat eradications for passerine diversity, distribution, and abundance.