PAPER: Population recovery of Rattus rattus

Population recovery of alien black rats Rattus rattus: A test of reinvasion theory

January 2020

Hansen N, Hughes NK, Byrom AE, Banks PB 2020. Population recovery of alien black rats Rattus rattus: A test of reinvasion theory. Austral Ecology 45(3): 291-304.

ABSTRACT

Reinvasion of pest animals after incomplete control is a major challenge for invasive species management, yet little is known about the behavioural and demographic categories of reinvaders or the mechanisms that drive population-level responses to control. To understand the fine-scale mechanisms of reinvasion, we examined changes in demography, movements and activity patterns of reinvading alien black rats Rattus rattus in the short (4 weeks) and longer term (3 months) following localised experimental pest removal.

KEYWORDS

alien species; eradication; pest control; recolonisation; reinvasion