Marshall Islands Experience Explosion Of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed

Marshall Islands Experience Explosion Of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed

Marshall Islands Experience Explosion Of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed Reprinted with Permission from World at Large Two small islets crucial to the resiliency of the local environment in the Marshall Islands Republic are witnessing a major ecological revival. Island Conservation , a global nonprofit organization with a mission to restore islands for nature and people, has successfully eradicated invasive black rats, allowing the native forests and seabird population on Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet to recover. The rats have had a devastating effect on their delicately balanced ecosystems on certain islands in the Marshalls. Bikar Atoll , one of the smallest atolls in the country, is located 360 miles (580 kilometers) north of the capital, Majuro. The reef surrounds a lagoon roughly 14 square miles.  The Jemo Islet is a 16-hectare inhabited coral island that’s known to be one of the major feeding grounds for green sea turtles and a seabird sanctuary. With the arrival of inv…