If the global decline in wildlife populations is worrying, then the situation on the world’s 400,000 islands is especially troubling. Native island communities and species all over the planet are at risk from invasive species such as rodents, which bring new disease threats and devastating ecosystem changes, often directly preying upon native animals.

Scientists from the Australian Museum visited Lord Howe Island in 2017 before a rat eradication program. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Australia and New Zealand know this better than most: rats and mice have already caused the extinction of five bird species on Australia’s Lord Howe Island and continue to threaten 70 species including the endangered Lord Howe Woodhen, and the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguin in New Zealand.

Eliminating invasive species from islands offers hope for saving biodiversity and will be among the priorities discussed at the first Island Resilience Forum in Dallas, Texas, this week.

Unfortunately, though, the methods we currently have – such as rodenticides - have real limitations and will only allow us to reach about 15 per cent of the hundreds of thousands of islands where invasive species still pose a threat.