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Biol Invasions (2013) 15:143–155
DOI 10.1007/s10530-012-0274-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
on Cory’s shearwater nest survival
S. Hervı́as • A. Henriques • N. Oliveira • T. Pipa •
H. Cowen • J. A. Ramos • M. Nogales • P. Geraldes
C. Silva • R. Ruiz de Ybáñez • S. Oppel
•
Received: 4 February 2012 / Accepted: 26 June 2012 / Published online: 6 July 2012
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract The most common invasive mammals—
mice, rats, and cats—have been introduced to islands
around the world, where they continue to negatively
affect native biodiversity. The eradication of those
invasive mammals has had positive effects on many
S. Hervı́as (&) A. Henriques N. Oliveira
T. Pipa P. Geraldes C. Silva
Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, Avenida João
Crisóstomo, n.° 18 - 4.° Dto., 1000-179 Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: shparejo@gmail.com
S. Hervı́as R. R. de Ybáñez
Department of Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary,
University of Murcia, 30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain
S. Hervı́as M. Nogales
Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group,
Astrofı́sico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 La Laguna,
Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
H. Cowen
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge,
Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
J. A. Ramos
Department of Life Sciences, Institute of Marine
Research, University of Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra,
Portugal
S. Oppel
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge,
Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK
species of seabirds. However, the removal of one
invasive mammal species may result in abundance
changes of other species due to trophic and competitive interactions among species. Understanding the
overall impact of several invasive species is a key
challenge when evaluating the possible effects of
eradication programmes. Here we assess the influence
of the three most common invasive mammals on nest
survival of Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea). We monitored six breeding colonies over
3 years and measured the activity of mice, rats and
cats to examine the influence of invasive mammals on
nest survival. We found that nest survival showed a
similar temporal trend in all years, with lowest weekly
survival probabilities shortly after chicks hatched.
Cats were identified as major predators of chicks, but
no measure of colony-specific cat activity was able to
adequately explain variation in shearwater nest
survival. Nest survival was on average 0.38 (95 %
confidence interval 0.20–0.53) and varied among
colonies as well as over time. We found a small
positive influence of rats on nest survival, which may
indicate that the presence of small rodents as alternative prey may reduce cat predation of chicks. Our
findings suggest that the eradication of rodents alone
may exacerbate the adverse effects of cats on
shearwater nest survival.
Keywords Nest survival Feral cats Rats
Interaction among predators Macaronesian islands
Procellariiformes
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Introduction
Assisted by humans, the most common invasive
mammals, namely rats (Rattus spp.), mice (Mus
domesticus), and cats (Felis catus) have successfully
colonised the vast majority of islands around the world
(Jeschke and Genovesi 2008). These invasive alien
mammal species are widely recognised as a principal
threat to the survival of many seabird species around
the world (Jones et al. 2008; Bonnaud et al. 2009;
Towns et al. 2009).
Many islands have been invaded by more than one
invasive mammal species, and their effects on seabirds
may differ on islands that host different assemblages
of introduced mammals, especially because cats and
rats are opportunistic species that consume prey
according to relative availability (Clark 1981;
Fitzgerald 1988). Many studies have examined the
impact of mice (Wanless et al. 2007, 2009), rats
(Thibault 1995; Igual et al. 2006; Ruffino et al. 2009;
Brooke et al. 2010) or cats (Keitt et al. 2002; Bonnaud
et al. 2009; Medina et al. 2011) on the productivity of
seabirds on islands, but few studies have examined the
effects of multiple invasive mammals on seabirds
(Cuthbert 2002; Bonnaud et al. 2010). However,
understanding the relative importance of coexisting
invasive mammal species on seabird reproductive
success is important to guide conservation management (Rayner et al. 2007).
Over the past decades much progress has been
made to remove invasive alien mammals from islands
where they have negative effects on biodiversity
(Towns and Broome 2003; Nogales et al. 2004;
Howald et al. 2007). Successful eradications have
safeguarded many seabird populations, and eradications are considered for an increasing number of
islands around the world (Brooke et al. 2007; AguirreMuñoz et al. 2009; Capizzi et al. 2010; Oppel et al.
2011; Veitch et al. 2011). Due to trophic and
competitive interactions among mammal species
(Courchamp et al. 1999, 2000), the removal of only
one invasive species may result in abundance changes
of other species (Caut et al. 2007; Bergstrom et al.
2009; Bonnaud et al. 2010), which can alter predation
rates on breeding seabirds (Rayner et al. 2007; Hughes
et al. 2008).
All islands in the Azores Archipelago (Portugal)
have been invaded by mice, rats, and cats. The Azores
were first colonised by humans in the 15th century, and
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seabird populations have experienced strong declines
due to human exploitation and predation by introduced
mammals (Monteiro et al. 1996). Some species
became extinct on the nine main islands, or are
confined to inaccessible cliffs on islands where they
still persist (Monteiro et al. 1996), but larger species
such as the Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea
borealis) still nest on all the nine main islands. The
Cory’s shearwater estimated population in the Azores
is 188000 pairs (BirdLife International 2004), but
invasive mammals and other human threats are likely
to cause ongoing population declines (Fontaine et al.
2011). However, very little is known about the relative
importance of mice, rats, and cats on the reproductive
output of Cory’s shearwater, thus impeding the
prioritisation of species that should be targeted for
eradication and/or control.
The goal of the present study was to evaluate the
relative importance of mice, rats and cats on the
breeding success of Cory’s shearwaters. We studied
Cory’s shearwater breeding success in six colonies that
varied in their habitat structure, elevation, and distance
to human habitation, and thus provided conditions
under which the abundance of invasive mammals was
expected to vary. We used different approaches over
3 years to determine rodent and cat activity in
colonies, and estimated the effects of predator activity
indices on nest survival. Our study thus provides an
assessment of which invasive mammal species exerts
the most influence on Cory’s shearwater breeding
success in a situation where multiple invasive mammal
species co-exist and interact.
Methods
Study area
This study was conducted on Corvo, the smallest
(1,700 ha) inhabited island of the Azores located halfway between the European continent and North
America (39°400 14.6200 N, 31°70 11.6000 W). Corvo is
of volcanic origin and the maximum elevation is
718 m, with steep cliffs[200 m in height surrounding
most of the island (Fig. 1).
The island has been permanently occupied by
humans since 1580 (Branco et al. 2008), and is
currently inhabited by 435 people living in one village
at the southern tip of the island. Corvo was one of the
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Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
Fig. 1 Spatial distribution of Cory’s shearwater colonies on
Corvo Island (1 = Fajã; 2 = Miradouro; 3 = Fonte; 4 = Pão;
5 = Pico; 6 = Cancela)
last islands of the Azores archipelago to be colonized
by rodents (*late 17th century: brown rat Rattus
norvegicus, black rat R. rattus, house mouse) and cats
(Fructuoso 1591). However, we did not record the
presence of brown rat during our project (100 % of 69
captured individuals were black rat). Human exploitation, habitat loss and predation have led to the decline
of Cory’s shearwaters on Corvo (Monteiro et al. 1996),
but human exploitation ceased in the late 1990s and no
longer accounts for low breeding success.
Cory’s shearwater nest monitoring
Fieldwork was carried out during three successive
breeding seasons, from 2009 to 2011. In March and
April 2009, we conducted nocturnal acoustic surveys
to detect breeding areas and locate shearwater nests.
The nests found with signs of occupation (faeces or
feathers at entrance of burrows) were grouped into six
spatially segregated colonies that differed by habitat
characteristics (Fig. 1; Table 1). Nest cavities were
marked individually and checked every week from
15th May (some days prior to laying) to 31st October
(when juveniles leave the colonies). At each visit,
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nests were checked using a torch and a burrow-scope
(elongated remote camera) for burrows that did not
allow a straight line of sight to the nest chamber. In
each week, we recorded the presence of adult, egg or
chick, and examined the burrow surroundings for
evidence of predation if a previously existing egg or
chick had disappeared. Predation was assumed when
remains of eggs or dead chicks were found inside or
at the entrance of burrows (Igual et al. 2006). To
eliminate the possibility that chicks had died naturally
and were scavenged by opportunistic mammalian
predators, we considered chicks only as predated if
they contained conclusive teeth marks. Cats usually
kill prey with a bite directed at the nape, which inflicts
a rapid death and avoids injury to the predator (Biben
1979; Lyver 2000) and we used teeth marks on eggs
and chicks to determine the species of predator.
In 2011, we used infrared-triggered camera traps
(Bushnell TrophyCam 8MP) at nest entrances to
identify predators and verify that cats and rats were
the only nest predators in our study area. Nests were
considered successful if fully grown chicks disappeared after 22 weeks.
Environmental determinants of nest survival
and predation risk
Nest success of Cory’s shearwaters is known to vary
with the abundance of introduced mammal predators
(Thibault 1995; Igual et al. 2006) and the characteristics of nesting burrows (Granadeiro 1991; Thibault
1995; Igual et al. 2006; Bourgeois and Vidal 2007). To
identify the most important factors influencing variation in nest survival on Corvo we measured physical
variables of nesting burrows and activity of potential
mammalian predators in each colony.
For each nest cavity we measured four continuous
variables referring to the cavity dimensions and
vegetation cover around the nest entrance and eight
categorical variables related to the presence of
protecting structures, nest substrate and orientation.
We measured the maximum width of the nest entrance
at ground level (nest width), the maximum height of
the nest entrance (nest height), the maximum distance
from the entrance to the back of the nest cavity
(nest length), and visually assessed the proportion of
ground vegetation cover within 1 m of the nest cavity
entrance. In addition, we recorded the presence or
absence of rock walls around a nest site, and whether
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Table 1 Mean values (and ranges) of environmental characteristics of the six Cory’s shearwater colonies monitored on the island of
Corvo from 2009 to 2011
Fajã
Miradouro
Fonte
Pão
Pico
Cancela
n nests monitored
50
30
35
55
27
15
Habitat
Rocky coast
Giant Reed
Pastures
and seminatural
grassland
Pastures
and seminatural
grassland
Riparian
woodland
Pastures
Distance to
village (m)
590
180
200
500
3,700
3,800
Exposition
SE
S
S
SW
NE
NE
Dominant substrate
Rocks
Soil
Soil
Soil
Soil
Soil
Colony-level variables
Burrow-level variables
Mean elevation (m)
11 (0–32)
129 (85–176)
180 (145–246)
191 (141–257)
177 (151–200)
234 (221–244)
Nest width (cm)
49.7 (13.5–130)
49.7 (21–112)
59.2 (25–143)
54 (16–230)
60.1 (17–180)
57.8 (11–279)
Nest height (cm)
39.2 (12.5–90)
29.4 (20–53)
36.6 (29–60)
46.3 (9.5–115)
38.6 (20–80)
75 (30–120)
Nest length (cm)
76.4 (80–122.6)
52.05 (23–89)
71.5 (47–130)
61.5 (27.2–123)
75.2 (46–114)
93 (46–140)
Vegetation cover (%)
0 (0–0)
55 (0–100)
43 (5–80)
53 (10–80)
47 (20–100)
68 (40–100)
% Nests in rock walls
% Nests with chamber
15.7
98.4
42.4
72.8
20.5
88.5
68.6
94.8
45.6
89.5
44.4
100
% Nests with curved
entrance
47.2
35.6
24.3
24.5
35.1
29.6
See text for details on how burrow-level variables were measured
the nest contained a chamber and a curved entrance.
We classified the nest substrate as either soil or rock,
and determined the orientation of the nest entrance
into one of the four cardinal directions. The elevation
and the distance to the village were measured for each
nest using a GPS. The surrounding habitat of the nest
site was classified into five categories: coastal rocks,
semi-natural grassland, pasture, riparian woodland,
and invasive Giant Reed (Arundo donax).
The examination of shearwater tissues in the diet of
cats would be an ideal metric of predation pressure,
however we used a measure of predator activity
because the scats (or any other metric of diet) found in
a given colony may not reflect the diet consumed in
that colony, since the spatial scale of shearwater
colonies is insufficient to contain a cat’s entire home
range in our study system.
Rodent activity
To determine the presence and relative abundance of
rodents, we used tracking tunnels in 2009 and wax
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blocks in 2010 and 2011. In 2009, 45 rodent footprinttracking tunnels (King and Edgar 1977) were placed
across the colonies, at 50 m intervals on nine lines (five
tracking tunnels per line). We used two lines in colonies
(Fajã, Fonte and Pão) with higher spatial separation
between nests in order to estimate abundance for the nest
area, and only one line in the remaining colonies. The
tracking tunnels were baited with peanut butter and
rodent activity was recorded for one active night in May
(beginning of Cory’s breeding season) and one in
October (at the end of the breeding season). The
identification of footprints from different species was
determined using descriptions given by Gillies and
Williams (2002). The relative abundance of rodents per
colony was calculated as the number of tracking-tunnels
with footprints (rat or mouse) divided by the number of
active tracking-tunnels in each colony. Because the
tracking tunnels performed poorly under climatic conditions on Corvo, we used wax blocks in 2010 and 2011
to record rodent abundance (Thomas 1999). A regular
grid with 20 wax-blocks spaced 50 m apart was
established in each colony. To track changes in rodent
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Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
activity over the breeding season, we set wax blocks for
one night per month from May to October 2010 and
2011. Wax-blocks were made of a non-toxic mix of
paraffin with peanut butter as an attractant (9:1),
moulded in plastic ice cube trays, dipped in red colorant
to improve visibility in the field, and anchored to the
ground with wire. The relative abundance indices were
estimated as the number of wax-block with bite-marks
of either rats or mice divided by the total number of wax
blocks used per colony.
Cat activity
The activity of feral cats was studied in 2010 using
camera traps in the same area used to assess rodent
activity in each of the six colonies. Estimating
the abundance of solitary carnivores is challenging
(Gardner et al. 2010; Obbard et al. 2010; Can et al.
2011), and hence, we tested multiple approaches in
2010 to measure cat activity in Cory’s shearwater
colonies.
We used passive infra-red motion sensor cameras
(Bushnell TrophyCam 8MP), programmed with similar settings (normal sensor; three photos at each
trigger approximately 2 s apart; 10 s delay between
each trigger), and located in the centre of randomly
chosen 15 m by 15 m grid cells in each colony. Cats
recorded by camera traps were individually identified
based on habitus and coat colour pattern (Sarmento
et al. 2010). We aimed to maximise spatial coverage in
each colony by rotating camera traps among 120
random locations distributed throughout colonies
(Foster and Harmsen 2012). We deployed each camera
trap for 2 weeks at each random location, and all
camera locations were recorded with a GPS to the
nearest 5 m. Initially, we attempted to estimate cat
density using spatially explicit capture-recapture
models (Efford et al. 2009), but because the spatial
extent of shearwater colonies was less than an average
home range of feral cats (Konecny 1987; Moseby et al.
2009; Bengsen et al. 2012), the density estimates were
uninformative. We explored three alternative simple
indices of cat activity to explain variation in Cory’s
shearwater nest survival in 2010, namely the number
of cats per active camera trap day in each colony, the
number of individual cats recorded in each colony
during the breeding season, and the number of
individual cats recorded each month as a temporally
varying measure of cat activity.
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Analysis of breeding success and nest survival
We present the following reproductive parameters to
facilitate comparison with other studies: hatching
success (n eggs hatched/n eggs laid), fledging success
(n chicks fledged/n eggs hatched) and breeding
success (n chicks fledged/n breeding pairs). All values
are given as mean ± SD.
The approaches described above examine only the
final outcome of nests, but given the long breeding
season of Cory’s shearwaters it is likely that nest
survival varies over time. In order to assess whether
temporally fluctuating predator activity coincided with
temporal changes in nest survival, we estimated weekly
survival probabilities of Cory’s shearwater nests for the
21 weekly intervals spanning the breeding season of
Cory’s shearwaters on Corvo. We used Program MARK
(White and Burnham 1999) to evaluate biologically
plausible scenarios explaining variation in Cory’s
shearwater weekly nest survival (Dinsmore et al.
2002). These models allowed us to test whether there
was support for temporal variation in weekly nest
survival probabilities over the breeding season, and
examine which of the environmental covariates had the
greatest influence on weekly nest survival probabilities.
Our modelling approach proceeded in two steps: we
first constructed ten models examining different
temporal variation in weekly nest survival probabilities, and then used the most parsimonious temporal
model structure as basis for further models examining
the influence of environmental covariates. The ten
temporal model structures considered (1) constant
weekly nest survival throughout the breeding season,
(2) different survival between egg and chick stage,
(3) a linear trend, (4) a quadratic trend, or (5) weekly
varying nest survival probabilities. These five model
structures describing within-year variation were considered to be either equal among years or different for
each year, resulting in ten candidate models of
temporal variation in nest survival.
Prior to the second step, we tested whether environmental variables were correlated, and we did not
include highly correlated (Spearman rs [ 0.6) variables in the same model (Zuur et al. 2009). We then
constructed nine candidate models representing different biological hypotheses to explain variation in
Cory’s shearwater nest survival. Specifically, we
tested whether nest survival varied with elevation
and distance to human habitation (elevation model),
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among colonies (colony model), among habitat types
(habitat model), with physical characteristics of the
burrow influencing access for predators (height and
presence of a chamber: burrow model), or between
substrates and vegetation cover (vegetation model). In
addition, we tested whether rat activity (rat model) and
mouse activity (mouse model) explained variation in
nest survival. Lastly, we included two models that
examined rat or mouse activity and variation among
colonies (rat colony and mouse colony model, respectively) to account for differences in habitat, elevation,
and distance to human habitation.
We tested whether any cat activity metric explained
variation in Cory’s shearwater nest survival for a
subset of data from the 2010 season when we were
able to measure cat activity in multiple ways. We
analysed nest survival for the 2010 data by adding
three competing models with different cat activity
measures to the candidate model set outlined above.
The three models describing cat activity included
either the number of cats/trap night, the number of
individual cats, or the number of individual cats/
month, respectively. We report the support for each of
those models in terms of evidence ratio and the Akaike
weight xAICc.
Analysis of nest predation risk
As the majority of nest failures were due to predation
(see ‘‘Results’’), we examined whether any of the
physical environmental variables associated with each
burrow could explain which burrows were more
vulnerable to predation. In this analysis we contrasted
predated and non-predated nests, as opposed to the
previous analysis which contrasted successful and
failed nests. We identified important variables distinguishing between predated and non-predated nests
using a machine learning approach based on ensembles of regression trees (RandomForest; Breiman
2001). This approach was appropriate for our small
data set (n = 287 nests with known fate) with nonindependent observations, and a large number (18) of
explanatory variables that are likely to interact (Cutler
et al. 2007; Hochachka et al. 2007; Olden et al. 2008;
Grömping 2009; Oppel et al. 2009). We used the R
package ‘randomForest’ and the extensions for variable selection provided by Murphy et al. (2010) to
identify the most important variables. We averaged
variable importance over 500 bootstrap replications,
and considered all variables with an average relative
importance value [50 % to be influential.
Results
Breeding success and predation rate
Overall breeding success of Cory’s shearwater on
Corvo from 2009 to 2011 was 39 % (Table 2).
Hatching success ranged from 0.66 to 0.82 among
colonies, and was generally higher than fledging
success (0.39–0.70; Table 2). The number of eggneglect was low, 17 eggs were abandoned in total, and
we found six dead chicks without predation signs in
2010.
Most causes of breeding failure were due to
predation. Out of 287 recorded nest failures, 232
(81 %) showed obvious signs of predation by either
cats or rats, and in 32 (11 %) nests the cause of failure
remained unknown. Chick predation mainly occurred
soon after hatching, when chicks were between six and
14 days old. Most predated chicks were found at the
entrance of the nests, some of them were not eaten but
showed incisor-marks at the neck. Of the 232 predated
Table 2 Mean ± SD of hatching, fledging and breeding success in six colonies of Cory’s shearwater on Corvo Island from 2009 to
2011
Colony name
n nests
Fajã
127
0.66 (0.2)
0.4 (0.2)
0.27 (0.3)
59
0.82 (0.01)
0.7 (0.05)
0.58 (0.02)
78
0.78 (0.04)
0.44 (0.5)
0.34 (0.2)
105
0.76 (0.03)
0.65 (0.9)
0.49 (0.5)
Miradouro
Fonte
Pão
Hatching success
Fledging success
Breeding success
Pico
65
0.74 (0.2)
0.39 (0.2)
0.28 (0.05)
Cancela
27
0.76 (0.1)
0.65 (1.5)
0.48 (0.6)
0.74 (0.1)
0.54 (0.56)
0.39 (0.28)
Mean
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Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
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Table 3 Rodent activity indices (SD values) measured from 2009 to 2011 and cat activity indices assessed by camera traps in 2010,
in six colonies of Cory’s shearwater on Corvo Island
Mouse index
Incubation
Rat index
Chick rearing
Incubation
Chick rearing
Cat/trap/day
Individual cats
13
Fajã
0.26 (0.31)
0.2 (0.13)
0.06 (0.02)
0.11 (0.04)
0.041
Miradouro
0.26 (0.04)
0.37 (0.23)
0.22 (0.13)
0.36 (0.23)
0.020
9
Fonte
0.39 (0.18)
0.38 (0.45)
0.14 (0.12)
0.32 (0.35)
0.025
12
Pão
0.35 (0.32)
0.33 (0.2)
0.28 (0.09)
0.5 (0.2)
0.105
20
Pico
0.36 (0.50)
0.45 (0.28)
0.49 (0.35)
0.51 (0.11)
0.019
7
Cancela
0.33 (0.49)
0.36 (0.24)
0.25 (0.18)
0.31 (0.07)
0.008
5
Mean
0.32 (0.31)
0.35 (0.25)
0.24 (0.15)
0.35 (0.16)
0.04
11
The relative abundance indices were estimated as: n wax-block with bite-marks of rats or mice/total number of wax blocks per
colony; n tracking-tunnels with footprints (rat or mouse)/number of tracking-tunnels per colony. Cat/trap/day is the number of cat
images recorded divided by the number of active camera trap days; n individuals is the number of individual cats recorded
nests where sufficient evidence existed to positively
identify the species of predator, 195 (84 %) were
predated by cats and 37 (16 %) by rats. In 2011,
camera traps recorded four predation events by cats
and one predation by a rat (n = 11 predated nests with
cameras, but at six nests the camera malfunctioned).
Environmental determinants of nest survival
and predation risk
Rodent activity
Rodent activity varied over the course of the breeding
season, with generally higher activity of rats during the
chick rearing stage than during incubation, while
mouse activity was higher during incubation (Table 3).
As expected, rodent activity also varied among colonies, with the colony closest to the sea (Fajã) and
without any vegetation having the lowest rodent
activity indices (Table 3).
Cat activity
We identified 53 individual cats in 213 unique
detections over the course of the 2010 breeding season.
The different cat activity metrics ranked the colonies
consistently (Table 3). The colony closest to the
communal rubbish tip (Pão) had the highest cat
detection rate and number of individual cats, whereas
the colony furthest away from the village (Cancela)
had the lowest cat detection rate and number of individual cats (Table 3). Moreover, the images showed
that some of the identifiable cats visited more than one
colony, and that some cats that visited shearwater
colonies were domestic.
Analysis of variation nest survival
The temporal model structure accounting for weekly
variation in nest survival probability and varying
among years received overwhelming support from the
data (xAICc = 0.9997), and was used in all models
exploring the influence of environmental covariates.
In all years, nest survival was high at the start and at
the end of the breeding season, with a marked decrease
shortly after hatching (Fig. 2). Nest survival varied
among colonies, and the three most parsimonious
models included ‘colony’ as the explanatory variable
(Table 4). However, there was model selection uncertainty among those three models, with models including rat or mouse activity receiving similar support
from the data (Table 4). These models indicated that
nest survival increased with higher rat activity (rat
colony model, b = 0.55 ± 0.44 SE), but decreased
slightly with higher mouse activity (mouse model,
b = -0.05 ± 0.43). The only other model that
received some support by the data indicated that nest
survival was lowest in rocky coastal habitat, and
highest in areas characterised by invasive Giant Reed
(habitat model, Table 4). Model-averaged mean nest
survival across all years was 0.38 (95 % confidence
interval 0.20–0.53), and the most parsimonious model
explained 95 % of the variation in Cory’s shearwater
nest survival.
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Fig. 2 Temporal variation
in weekly nest survival of
Cory’s shearwater nests
averaged across 3 years
(2009–2011) on the island of
Corvo. Chicks hatch in
weeks 9–11. Week 1 = 25th
May, week 20 = 5th
October
Table 4 Model selection summary of 10 candidate models explaining variation in Cory’s shearwater nest survival on the island of
Corvo from 2009 to 2011
Model
K
AICc
Colony model
65
1,959.68
Rat colony model
66
1,960.14
Mouse colony model
66
1,961.71
DAICc
xAICc
Deviance
0.00
0.42
1,828.15
0.46
0.33
1,826.56
2.03
0.15
1,828.13
Habitat model
64
1,962.77
3.09
0.09
1,833.29
Elevation model
62
1,967.14
7.46
0.01
1,841.75
Burrow model
Rat model
62
61
1,969.93
1,970.35
10.25
10.67
0.00
0.00
1,844.54
1,847.00
Vegetation model
62
1,972.90
13.23
0.00
1,847.51
Mouse model
61
1,973.27
13.59
0.00
1,849.92
Null model
60
1,974.67
14.99
0.00
1,853.37
All models included a temporal structure that accounted for weekly varying nest survival in each year. See text for details of
environmental variables included in each model
For 2010, we additionally estimated support for
each of three cat metrics on variation in Cory’s
shearwater nest survival. The models using the simple
indices of number of cats per trap night and the number
of individual cats per colony performed best out of the
three cat activity metrics that we tested, but none of the
three cat models received much support from the data
(xAICc = 0.07, Table 5). Model averaged nest survival in 2010 was 0.46 (95 % confidence interval
0.17–0.68), and the burrow model received the most
support from the data and explained 83.5 % of the
variation (Table 5). This model indicated that nest
survival increased with lower nest height (b =
-0.008 ± 0.006) and with the presence of a chamber
inside the nest (b = 0.98 ± 0.38).
Analysis of nest predation risk
As most nest failures were due to predation, we
assessed which environmental variables had the largest
123
influence on predation risk. The most influential
variables explaining the probability of a nest being
predated were nest height and elevation (Table 6).
Predation probability was higher for nests with a
higher entrance and at lower elevations (Fig. 3).
Discussion
Breeding success and predation effect
Cory’s shearwaters on Corvo had one of the lowest
values of breeding success among all available studies
of this species, and the main cause of nest failure was
predation by introduced mammalian predators. Cats
were the most destructive invasive mammal, accounting for [80 % of predated nests. Chick mortality due
to predators could be difficult to distinguish from
natural chick mortality if chicks were subsequently
scavenged by cats or rats. We are confident that most
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Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
151
Table 5 Model selection summary of 13 candidate models explaining variation in Cory’s shearwater nest survival on the island of
Corvo in 2010, the only year for which data were available to quantify the influence of cat activity on nest survival
Model
K
AICc
DAICc
xAICc
Deviance
577.37
Burrow
22
621.88
0.00
0.38
Mouse colony
26
624.58
2.70
0.10
571.87
Null
20
624.74
2.85
0.09
584.31
Cats/camera trap night
21
625.26
3.38
0.07
582.80
Individual cats
21
625.78
3.90
0.05
583.32
Vegetation
22
625.92
4.04
0.05
581.41
Rat colony
26
626.01
4.13
0.05
573.30
Colony
25
626.10
4.22
0.05
575.45
Cats/camera trap night/month
21
626.21
4.32
0.04
583.74
Rat
21
626.67
4.78
0.03
584.20
Elevation
22
626.70
4.82
0.03
582.19
Mouse
21
626.72
4.84
0.03
584.26
Habitat
24
628.04
6.15
0.02
579.43
Cat activity was measured using three different approaches, and models using cat activity as explanatory variables are highlighted in
bold. See text and Table 4 for details of environmental variables included in each model
Table 6 Relative importance of environmental variables
explaining the probability of a Cory’s shearwater nest being
predated on the island of Corvo from 2009 to 2011
Variable
Variable importance (%)
Nest height
100.0
Elevation
73.6
Site
47.0
Habitat
37.5
Presence of chamber
28.3
Vegetation cover
6.0
Exposition
3.5
Distance to village
3.0
Nest length
0.1
Nest width
0.1
Variable importance was quantified using a permutation
procedure in an algorithmic Random forest model, and is
scaled relative to the most important variable
dead chicks were actually killed by mammals, because
they exhibited distinctive incisor marks on the neck
(Biben 1979). Although a small number of dead chicks
may have died naturally and may have been scavenged
subsequently, we believe that this would affect only a
very small proportion of chicks. The fat levels of
chicks we considered depredated suggested that none
of them had died of starvation (Lyver 2000) and we
never observed any scavenging on naturally deceased
chicks.
Fig. 3 Partial dependence plots of the two most influential
variables in a Random Forest model (nest height and elevation)
influencing the probability of a Cory’s shearwater nest to be
predated on the island of Corvo from 2009 to 2011
Other studies of Cory’s shearwater have found
breeding success ranging from 0.37 (Granadeiro 1991)
to 0.52 (Faial, n = 47; J. Bried unpublished data) on
islands with introduced rats or cats in the Atlantic, and
from 0.44 (Thibault 1995) to 0.64 in the Mediterranean (Genovart 2001). However, on islands without
introduced predators breeding success can be substantially higher (Fontaine et al. 2011), reaching 0.86
(Pascal et al. 2008). Natural limits to breeding success
can be competition for nest sites (Ramos et al. 1997),
or lack of experience of breeding birds (Mougin et al.
2000). The latter two causes are unlikely to majorly
affect the breeding success on Corvo, where the vast
123
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152
majority of nest failures were due to predation by
introduced mammals.
To our knowledge there are no studies on Cory’s
shearwater breeding success on islands with both
rats and cats. However, cats are well known to prey
on breeding shearwaters (Keitt and Tershy 2003;
Martı́nez-Gómez and Jacobsen 2004; Bonnaud et al.
2009) and our study confirms that low breeding
success was mostly due to high cat predation rates.
Some authors have argued that cats may have a
beneficial effect on seabird colonies because they
reduce the abundance of smaller predators like rodents
(Courchamp et al. 1999). Cats are however opportunistic predators and will consume shearwater eggs and
chicks when these are available and readily accessible
(Bonnaud et al. 2007; Peck et al. 2008).
Rats are also known to be predators of seabirds
(Jones et al. 2008), and affect Cory’s shearwaters on
several islands (Granadeiro 1991; Thibault 1995;
Genovart 2001; Igual et al. 2006). Our study, conducted on an island with cats and rats, showed that nest
survival appeared to increase in colonies with a higher
rat abundance index. Our interpretation of this counterintuitive result is that rats may serve as main food
source for cats (Bonnaud et al. 2007), and that higher
availability of rats may therefore limit cat predation of
Cory’s shearwater chicks (see Dumont et al. 2010)
rather than increase cat predation due to the attraction
of cats to areas with higher rat abundance. Such an
interaction would have important implications for the
planning of predator control or eradication operations
(Collins et al. 2009). As Corvo is an inhabited island,
the local community must embrace any eradication
plans (Oppel et al. 2011). While the eradication of rats
is broadly supported by the local community, there is
considerable scepticism to the eradication of all cats
from Corvo. Our results indicate that rat eradication
alone may however increase cat predation on Cory’s
shearwater nests, and may thus have an undesirable
negative conservation outcome.
Environmental determinants of nest survival
and predation risk
Our analysis revealed that nest survival varied
over time and in the different colonies that we
studied. Variation among colonies is most likely due
to differences in habitat, abundance of invasive
123
S. Hervı́as et al.
mammals, microclimate, and potentially factors that
we were not able to measure. Our measures of rodent
activity explained some variation in nest survival;
however, we were not able to identify a measure that
would adequately quantify the predation pressure of
cats as the main predator. We found a striking temporal
pattern in the weekly survival probability of Cory’s
Shearwater nests that was consistent across all years.
The lowest survival probabilities occurred shortly after
hatching, indicating heavy predation pressure on
young chicks, as has been documented for other
colonies (Catry et al. 2009). It is likely that cats prey
mainly on small chicks rather than on eggs (Imber et al.
2000), as incubating adults may be large enough to
deter burrow intruders.
Despite cats being the most important nest predators, our measures of cat activity explained very little
of variation in nest survival in 2010. Due to the length
of the Cory’s shearwater breeding season (Granadeiro
1991; Ramos et al. 2003) there is considerable
potential for cat activity to fluctuate over the breeding
season. Hence, two of our cat activity metrics that
were constant across the whole breeding season were
likely inappropriate to reflect the temporally varying
cat pressure on Cory’s shearwater nests. We expect
that the correlation between cat activity indices and
shearwater nest survival could be improved if cat
activity were measured at a higher temporal resolution; however, this would entail a significant logistical
effort that was not feasible in our study.
Environmental variables influencing predation risk
We found that higher burrows that were at lower
elevation had the highest risk of being predated. This
pattern is consistent with cats being the key nest
predator for Cory’s shearwaters on Corvo. Very low
nest heights presumably limit access to cats, and are
therefore more protected from predation. Elevation
may adequately reflect the accessibility of burrows for
cats on Corvo, because most cats live around the
village near sea level. Nests near sea level had the
highest predation rates, whereas nests that were at
higher elevations, and mostly further away from the
village, had lower predation risk. We believe that the
relationship with elevation is an island-specific phenomenon, which may not be transferrable to other
islands where cats prey on seabirds.
Author's personal copy
Studying the effects of multiple invasive mammals
Implications for future studies and conservation
management
Predation is the main cause of breeding failure of
Cory’s shearwater colonies on Corvo; however, activity or abundance metrics did not always explain most
variation in nest survival in our study and may
therefore not accurately portray predation risk. Measuring mammalian predators is difficult and the
measurements we used at colony level may not be
adequate to describe the risk of each individual nest to
predation. Future studies measuring the relationship
between mammalian predators and nest survival may
benefit from accurate indices of mammal abundance at
high temporal resolution to allow matching of mammal phenology to the temporal variation in nest
survival. Although our simple metrics of breeding
success and the more sophisticated analysis of nest
survival yielded the same estimates, the analysis of
weekly nest survival facilitates examination of temporal variation in nest survival and mammalian
activity.
For long-lived seabird species like Cory’s Shearwater adult survival is likely to have a much stronger
influence on population growth rate than nest success.
However, current adult and juvenile survival rates of
Cory’s Shearwaters in the Azores may be too low to
maintain stable populations (Fontaine et al. 2011), yet
the management actions required to improve adult
survival are extremely challenging. Hence, increasing
reproductive success may yield only a smaller change
in population growth rate, but may be much more
feasible from a political and socioeconomic perspective (Bentzen and Powell 2012).
Given the high levels of nest predation on Cory’s
shearwaters, the eradication of all invasive mammals
from Corvo would likely increase reproductive success. However, we believe that the eradication of all
cats on Corvo is complicated by the co-existence of
feral and domestic cats. Domestic cats were observed
in our study to visit shearwater colonies and kill
shearwater chicks, hence removing only feral cats will
not entirely solve the problem of cat predation. In
addition, because there is no sterilisation of all
domestic cats to prevent the birth and subsequent
release of unwanted kittens, the eradication of the feral
cat population would yield only temporary benefits and
a feral population would quickly re-establish. There is
also no legislation that controls the introduction of new
153
cats to the island. We recommend the implementation
of a domestic cat register, and mandatory identification
by microchip and sterilization of domestic cats before
any feral cat eradication is attempted on Corvo
(Ratcliffe et al. 2010; Calver et al. 2011). Given
socio-political realities and practical limitations
(Oppel et al. 2011), the eradication of feral cats may
never find the support of local cat owners, and potential
consequences need to be carefully considered before
only some of the trophically linked mammals (e.g. rats)
are removed (Courchamp et al. 1999; Le Corre 2008;
Dumont et al. 2010). The removal of only rats could
increase seabird predation by either cats, or potentially
by mice (Caut et al. 2007; Wanless et al. 2007). For
Corvo, we advise against the eradication of rats unless
cats can be eradicated at the same time.
Acknowledgments This work was included in the project
LIFE07 NAT/P/000649 ‘Safe Islands for Seabirds’, coordinated
by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds and co-financed
by the European Commission. We thank A. Dı́ez, J. Benedicto,
J. Garcı́a, J. Katzenberger, J. Landschoff, J. Roma, K.
Cunningham, K. Puttick and S. Monforte for help in
fieldwork, and P. Domingos for his friendly and material
support. J. Bried, M. Bolton, M. Brooke, T. Bodey and Y. van
Heezik provided stimulating discussions on the design, analysis,
and interpretation of results. We appreciate the input of
G. Cielniak who filtered a multitude of cat images and all the
volunteers for processing these images. This manuscript was
benefited by the constructive comments made by the editor and
two anonymous referees.
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