Above picture: This Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma chick was scalped by mice on Marion Island – it would not have survived; photograph by Stefan Schoombie

This is the fourth and last in a series on Marion Island’s introduced House Mice Mus musculus.  The first in the series dealt with the island’s discovery in 1772 and showed that the mice were already on the island by 1818, thought to have been introduced inadvertently by sealers.  The second part considered the period from the annexation of the island by South Africa in 1948 up to the publication of the first scientific paper about the mice in 1974.  The third article covered research conducted on Marion Island’s mice from 1975 until 1995 when a workshop was held to consider the impact of House Mice at sub-Antarctic Marion Island and the desirability of their eradication.  The fourth and concluding part in the series looks at the primarily conservation-driven research conducted on mice on the island since 1995, notably on observations of their attacks on birds that have been the primary reason for the commencement of the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project.

Following the 1995 workshop, interest in and research on Marion Island’s mice increased markedly, commencing with studies of their biology.  Initially, two research centres undertook the bulk of the work, which led to a greatly increased understanding of the numbers, annual fluctuations, diet and breeding of the alien rodent.  Valdon Smith of the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of the (then) Orange Free State initiated a study on the ecology and ecophysiology of Marion’s mice.  After 13 months of field work, this resulted in a PhD being awarded to his student Nico Avenant in 1999, being followed by their two joint publications in the Journal Polar Biology in 2002 and 2003.

Over much the same time period, but in a separate study, the late Rudi van Aarde (Conservation and Ecology Research Unit, University of Pretoria) led six years of research on the ecology of the island’s mice, submitting a final report to the South African Committee on Antarctic Research (SACAR) in March 2002.  This work led to a suite of publications by Rudi van Aarde and his co-workers, notably Sam Ferreira, in the first decade of the century.

A House Mouse feeds on the head of a Wandering Albatross chick at night, causing fatal injuries; photograph by Stefan Schoombie

In 2010 Genevieve Jones and Peter Ryan of the University of Cape Town’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology published the first definite observations of Marion Island’s House Mice attacking birds, based on observations made on chicks of Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans since 2003 and of Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria fusca in 2009.  A wound photographed on an incubating Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli in 2003 by John Cooper, and earlier wounds seen on Blue Petrel Halobaena caerulea chicks in a 1982/83 breeding study by Steven Fugler, were thought to have been caused by mice, but without definite evidence.

Close up of the wounded Northern Giant Petrel, Marion Island, August 2003; photograph by John Cooper

Once the attacks on birds had been proven, more information on Marion Island birds being attacked by mice was gained.  This included night-time still and video photography by the FitzPatrick Institute’s Ben Dilley and Stefan Schoombie, confirming that mice were indeed “scalping” albatross chicks, leading directly to their deaths, as they published in the journal Antarctic Science in 2015.  Ben Dilley’s research led to his PhD entitled The Effects of Introduced Mice on Seabirds breeding at sub-Antarctic Islands being awarded in 2018.  His thesis included his observations of mouse attacks on Gough Island as well as on Marion.  He also published details of attacks by mice on several species of burrowing petrels on the island, thus supporting Steve Fugler’s observations on Blue Petrels made decades earlier.  Interestingly, John Cooper’s 2003 observation of a wounded Northern Giant Petrel predates by 14 years definite evidence of attacks on adult birds of that species in 2017, published by the FitzPatrick Institute’s Christopher Jones and colleagues in 2019.

Killed by mice. An adult Wandering Albatross in April 2023; photograph by Michelle Risi

Most recently, Maëlle Connan (Marine Apex Predator Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University) and colleagues have reported the first known attacks by Marion’s mice that have lead to the deaths of adult Wandering Albatrosses.  This was observed in April last year and published in the journal Biological Invasions.

Separate to the above research on House Mice attacking birds on Marion Island, Greg McClelland received his doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch in 2013 for his study of the island’s Lesser or Black-faced Sheathbill Chionis minor.  His research included a detailed look at the density and impacts of the mice, concluding that climate change had led to an increasing population, as he published in the journal Ecological Applications in 2018.

How much longer? A House Mouse on Marion Island in 2015; photograph by Ben Dilley

Three studies with Andrea Angel and Ross Wanless as first authors published over 2007-2010 on the effects of mice on sub-Antarctic islands and their biota were followed by a review of the impacts of the island’s mice in 2011 by Andrea Angel and John Cooper (available on the MFM website), and a site visit by invasive predator eradication expert John Parkes in 2015 to conduct an eradication feasibility study.  These, and the first mouse-attack papers, led to the formal establishment of the MFM Project.  In the last couple of years research on Marion’s mice has been taken up by project field assistants, aimed specifically at gaining knowledge that will aid in their eradication.  We all hope that the last 30 years of research on the mice, as summarised above, and detailed in the publications and theses listed below, will contribute vital information to plan for their eradication before the decade is out.

References:

Angel, A. & Cooper, J. 2011.  Review of the Impacts of the House Mouse Mus musculus on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, Prince Edward Islands.  Report to the Prince Edward Islands Management Committee, South African National Antarctic Programme.  Rondebosch: CORE Initiatives.  57 pp.

Angel, A., Wanless, R.M. & Cooper, J. 2009.  Review of impacts of the introduced House Mouse on islands in the Southern Ocean: are mice equivalent to rats?

Avenant, N.L. 1999.  The Ecology and Ecophysiology of Marion Island Mice, Mus musculus L.  PhD thesis, University of the Orange Free State.  160 pp.

Avenant, N.L. & Smith, V.R. 2004.  Seasonal changes in age class structure and reproductive status of mice on Marion Island (sub-Antarctic).  Polar Biology 27: 99-111.

Bester, M.N., Bloomer, J.P., Bartlett, P.A., Muller, D.D., van Rooyen, M. & Büchner, H. 2000.  Final eradication of feral cats from sub-Antarctic Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean.  South African Journal of Wildlife Research 30: 53-57.

Bester, MN, Bloomer JP, van Aarde, RJ, Erasmus, DG, van Rensburg, PJJ, Skinner, JD, Howell, PG & Naude, TW 2002.  A review of the successful eradication of feral cats from sub-Antarctic Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean.  South African Journal of Wildlife Research 32: 65-73.

Chown, S.L. & Cooper, J. (Eds) 1995.  The impact of feral House Mice at sub-Antarctic Marion Island and the Desirability of Eradication: Report on a Workshop held at the University of Pretoria, 16- 17 February 1995.  Pretoria: Directorate: Antarctica & Islands, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.  18 pp.

Connan, M., Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Smyth, L.K., Oppel, S., Perold, V., Stevens, K.L., Daling, R. & Ryan, P.G. 2023.  First evidence of mouse predation killing adult great albatrosses.  Biological Invasions doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03177-2.

Connan, M., Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J., Dilley, B. & Ryan, P.G. 2022.  Natural recolonisation of sub-Antarctic Marion Island by Common Diving Petrels Pelecanoides urinatrix.  Ostrich doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2022.2150706.

Cooper, J. 1995.  After the cats and trout: the mice?  Removing alien vertebrates from Subantarctic Marion Island.  Aliens 1: 17.

Dilley, B.J. 2018.  The Effects of Introduced Mice on Seabirds breeding at sub-Antarctic Islands.  PhD Thesis, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town.  195 pp.

Dilley, B.J., Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015.  ‘Scalping’ of albatross fledglings by introduced mice spreads rapidly at Marion Island.  Antarctic Science 28: 73-80.

Dilley, B.J., Schoombie, S., Stevens, K., Davies, D., Perold, V., Osborne, A., Schoombie, J., Brink, C.W., Carpenter-Kling, T. & Ryan, P.G. 2018.  Mouse predation affects breeding success of burrow-nesting petrels at sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Antarctic Science 30: 93-104.

Ferreira, S.M., van Aarde, R.J. & Wassenaar, T.D. 2006.  Demographic responses of House Mice to density and temperature on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Polar Biology 30: 83-94.

Huyser, O., Ryan, P.G. & Cooper, J. 2000.  Changes in population size, habitat use and breeding biology of Lesser Sheathbills (Chionis minor) at Marion Island: impacts of cats, mice and climate change?  Biological Conservation 92: 299-310.

Fugler, S.R., S Hunter, S., Newton, I.P & Steele, W.K. 1987.  Breeding biology of Blue-Petrels Halobaena caerulea at the Prince Edward Islands.  Emu 87: 103-110.

Jackson, T.R. & van Aarde, R.J. 2003.  Advances in vertebrate pest control: implications for the control of feral House Mice on Marion Island.  South African Journal of Science 99: 130-136.

Jansen van Vuuren, B. & Chown, S.L. 2006.  Genetic evidence confirms the origin of the House Mouse on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Polar Biology 30: 327-332.

Jones, C.W., Risi, M.M., Cleeland, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  First evidence of mouse attacks on adult albatrosses and petrels breeding on sub-Antarctic Marion and Gough Islands.  Polar Biology 42: 619-623.

Jones, M.G.W. & Ryan, P.G. 2010.  Evidence of mouse attacks on albatross chicks on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Antarctic Science 22: 39-42.

McClelland, G.T.W. 2013.  Ecology of the Black-faced Sheathbill on Marion Island.  PhD thesis, Stellenbosch University.  334 pp.

McClelland, G.T.W., Altwegg, R., van Aarde, R., Ferreira, S., Burger, A.E. & Chown, S.L. 2018.  Climate change leads to increasing population density and impacts of a key island invader.  Ecological Applications 28: 212-224.

McClelland, G.T.W., Cooper, J. & Chown, S.L.2013.  Evidence of breeding by diving petrels and storm petrels at Marion Island after the eradication of feral cats.  Ornithological Observations 4: 90-93.

Parkes, J.[P.] 2016.  Eradication of House Mice Mus musculus from Marion Island: a review of feasibility, constraints and risks.  BirdLife South Africa Occasional Report Series No. 1.  Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.  27 pp.

Parkes, J.P. 2019.  Timing aerial baiting for rodent eradications on cool temperate islands: mice on Marion Island.  In: Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Martin, A.R., Russell, J.C. & West, C.J. (Eds).  Island Invasives: Scaling up to Meet the Challenge.  Occasional Paper SSC No. 62.  Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.  pp. 40-46.

Preston, G.R., Dilley, B.J., Cooper, J., Beaumont, J., Chauke, L.F., Chown, S L., Devanunthan, N., Dopolo, M., Fikizolo,  L., Heine, J., Henderson, S., Jacobs, C.A., Johnson, F., Kelly, J., Makhado, A.B., Marais, C., Maroga, J., Mayekiso, M., McClelland, G.[T.W.], Mphepya, J., Muir, Ngcaba, Ngcobo, N., Parkes, Paulsen, P.F., Schoombie, S., Springer, K., Stringer, C., Valentine, H., Wanless, R.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2019.  South Africa works towards eradicating introduced house mice from sub-Antarctic Marion Island: the largest island yet attempted for mice.  In: Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Martin, A.R., Russell, J.C. & West, C.J. (Eds).  Island Iinvasives: Scaling up to Meet the Challenge.  Occasional Paper SSC No. 62.  Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.  pp. 36-39.

Smith, V.R., Avenant, N.L. & Chown, S.L. 2002.  The diet and impact of House Mice on a sub-Antarctic island.  Polar Biology 25: 703-715.

van Aarde, R.J. & Jackson, T.P. 2006. Food, reproduction and survival in mice on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  Polar Biology 30: 503-511.

van Aarde, R.J., Ferreira, S.M. & Wassenaar, T.D. 2004.  Do feral house mice have an impact on invertebrate communities on sub-Antarctic Marion Island?  Austral Ecology 29: 215-224.

van Aarde, R.J., Ferreira, S.M., Wassenaar, T.D. & Erasmus, D.G. 1996.  With the cats away the mice may play.  South African Journal of Science 92: 357-358.

Wanless, R.M., Angel, A., Cuthbert, R.J., Hilton, G.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2007.  Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions?  Biology Letters 3: 241-244.

Wanless, R.M., Cooper, J., Slabber, M.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2010.  Risk assessment of birds foraging terrestrially at Marion and Gough Islands to primary and secondary poisoning.  Wildlife Research 37: 524-530.

 

John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 21 February 2024

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A Grey-headed Albatross on Marion Island; photograph and poster design by Michelle Risi

The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean.  The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate.  For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.