Demographic resilience of territorial island birds to extinction: the flightless Aldabra Rail Dryolimnas (cuvieri) aldabranus as an example

Aldabra Rails, the last flightless birds in the tropical Indian Ocean, face high extinction risk despite their large population. Research reveals that even with a substantial number of non-breeding 'floaters', the species could be driven to extinction within 20 years if introduced predators like cats were to invade Malabar Island, where around 3,500 breeding pairs reside. The study used stochastic population modeling to assess demographic resilience, finding that the population is vulnerable to predator introduction but resilient to annual removals of up to 100 pairs for reintroduction efforts. Monitoring floaters could serve as an early warning system for population crashes in territorial island species.

Hockey, P. A., Wanless, R. M., & von Brandis, R. (2011). Demographic resilience of territorial island birds to extinction: the flightless Aldabra Rail Dryolimnas (cuvieri) aldabranus as an example. Ostrich, 82(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2011.556794