A reassessment of factors, particularly Rattus rattus L., that influenced the decline of endemic forest birds in the Hawaiian Islands
- Author:
-
Atkinson, I.A.E.
- Title:
- A reassessment of factors, particularly Rattus rattus L., that influenced the decline of endemic forest birds in the Hawaiian Islands
- Periodical:
- Pacific Science
- Year:
- 1977
- Volume:
- 31
- Pages:
- 109-133
- Subject:
-
Birds
Predation
Predatory animals
Feral cats
Rats
Rattus rattus
Bird populations
- Summary:
- A major decline of forest birds occurred on most of the larger Hawaiian islands between the years of 1892 - 1910 when 58 percent or 30 taxa of Hawaiian endemic forest birds were either greatly reduced or became extinct, (although the 1910 date is somewhat unsupported). While the decline on Oahu was earlier, (but probably occurred after 1873), and the decline that was experienced on Lanai was later, (likely between the years of 1926 - 1932), and while no large island escaped a major decline in its birdlife, no extinctions of forest birds are known to have occurred on the larger islands since 1932. In addition, while the loss of habitat, reduced food supply, introduced avian diseases, and predation by man, feral cats, mongooses, and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) appear to have caused a reduction in some of the bird species, none of these factors sufficiently explains the increased speed in which the decline of forest birds occurred after 1892. As a result, the analysis in this study attempts to explain the accelerated decline of the Hawaiian avifauna that occurred after 1892.
- Label:
- Birds - General
- URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10125/1186
- Date:
- 1977
- Collection:
- Periodicals