Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
and emerging issues in the
21
st
century
John P. Parkes and F. Dane Panetta
At an international conference on the eradication of invasive species, held in
2001, Simberloff (2002) noted some past successes in eradication—from the
global eradication of smallpox (Fenner
et al
. 1988) to the many successful eradi-
cations of populations (mostly mammals) from small islands (e.g. Veitch and
Bell 1990; Burbidge and Morris 2002). However, he cautioned that we needed
to be more ambitious and aim higher if we are to prevent and reverse the growing
threat of the homogenization of global biodiversity. In this chapter we review
how the management strategy of eradication—the permanent removal of entire
discrete populations—has contributed to the stretch in goals advocated by
Simberloff. We also discuss impediments to eradication success, and summar-
ize how some of the lessons learnt during this process have contributed to the
other strategies (prevention and sustained control) that are required to manage
the wider threat posed by invasive alien species. We concentrate on terrestrial
vertebrates and weeds (our areas of expertise), but touch on terrestrial inverte-
brates and marine and freshwater species in the discussion on emerging issues, to
illustrate some of the different constraints these taxa and habitats impose on the
feasibility of eradication
A major advance in management of vertebrate pests and, to a lesser extent, weeds
has been a general change in mind-set among managers and decision makers.
Before the 1980s, many were sceptical about the possibility of eradication, but now
eradication is at least seriously considered as the fi rst option to deal with pests—
especially for colonizing populations, those with limited or patchy distributions,
and island populations. Part of this change has been driven by the successes, but
part has been because those proposing eradications have been developing more
convincing feasibility plans.
