James C. Russella,b,∗, Carlos R. Abrahãob,c,d, Jean C.R. Silva d,e, Ricardo A. Diasb
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ABSTRACT a b s t r a c tIn this paper, an overview of introduced cat and rodent impacts on islands, and methods for their controland eradication, are presented. Fernando de Noronha, an inhabited oceanic island of Brazil, is used as a casestudy to illustrate the challenges of cat and rodent management on inhabited islands. Cat impacts havebeen recorded for 175 vertebrate species, and rat impacts for 173 plant and animal species. Eradicationof cats and rodents for species conservation has been successful on small to medium- sized uninhabitedor sparsely inhabited islands. However, examples of successful cat and rodent management programmesfor biodiversity on inhabited islands are limited. On inhabited islands localised control of cats and rodentsoccurs, but historically with a focus on agriculture, human livelihoods and animal welfare, and only morerecently on native species conservation. Control of cats and rodents on inhabited islands for speciesconservation lags behind uninhabited islands and the reasons for this are social and complex. Conser-vation managers often perceive a lack of support from island residents or administrators, which may ormay not actually be the case. Where support does not exist, it may relate to the provisioning of controlversus eradication, the techniques proposed, or wider socioeconomic issues. This ultimately translatesto conservation inaction, and the ongoing decline and extinction of island fauna. Abundance estimatesfor cats and density estimates for rats on Fernando de Noronha are presented, along with documentedbiodiversity impacts, to support recommendations for future management on Fernando de Noronha.
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