Study

Use of gulls rather than terns to evaluate American mink Mustela vison control

Summary

Control mammalian predators on islands for seabirds

A replicated, site comparison study in 1996–2007 in southwest Scotland, UK (Craik 2008) reported that controlling mink Mustela vison consistently increased gull Larus sp. productivity. Statistical significance was not assessed. In 12 of 12 years, common gull Larus canus productivity was ≥27% higher in areas with mink control (0.5–1.1 chicks/pair) than areas without mink control (0.2–0.5 chicks/pair). In 10 of 11 comparisons, herring gull Larus argentatus productivity was ≥25% higher in areas with mink control (0.8–1.2 chicks/pair) than areas without mink control (0.3–0.8 chicks/pair). In the other comparison, productivity was still higher in areas with mink control, but only by 0.3%. Gull colonies on islands off the coast of southwest Scotland were visited each breeding season between 1996 and 2007. Mink had been controlled on some islands (6–19 colonies/species/year) but not controlled on others (9–50 colonies/species/year). The study does not report details of mink control methods.

Output references
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