A third Island Invasives Conference is to be held in Scotland in 2017

The third in the series of Island Invasives Conferences will be held in the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland over the week 10-14 July 2017, organized by the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the University of Dundee.

This conference will follow on from two previous conferences held in Auckland, New Zealand; the most recent in January 2010 (see below).

The theme of the 2017 conference will be Scaling up to Meet the Challenge - a reflection of the rapid growth in interest in the field, as well as the escalating size of islands now being freed of damaging invasive species (for example Australia’s Macquarie Island, certified free of introduced mammals last year).  In the context of the meeting, the definition of ‘island’ will be broader than just a piece of land surrounded by water. Much the same problems and solutions apply to land surrounded by predator-proof fences, and to unfenced but isolated patches of habitat such as coral reefs.

The middle day will be free of formal sessions and available for organised field excursions, group meetings or exploring/relaxing.  Abstracts will be invited for both spoken and poster presentations. Standard talks will be of 15 minutes duration, including questions. The expectation is that no parallel spoken sessions will be required.  One or two keynote speakers will be given longer speaking slots each day.  The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has offered to publish the proceedings of this conference, as it did for the others in the series.  The Chair of the Conference Committee is Tony Martin, Professor of Animal Conservation, University of Dundee.

Ability to book accommodation and submit abstracts will be added to the conference website over the next few weeks, along with further information about the programme.

ACAP has produced guidelines for the eradication of introduced mammals from breeding sites of ACAP-listed seabirds.  ACAP Latest News regularly reports on the successes, efforts and plans to rid islands in the Southern Ocean of their alien mammals, such as cats, mice, pigs, rabbits, Reindeer and rats, that impact upon albatrosses and petrels.

Mouflon may now be gone from the French Kerguelen Islands but Reindeer still remain

Photographs by Thomas Biteau and Kirk Zufelt

With thanks to Tony Martin for information.

Selected Literature:

Phillips, R.A. undated.  Guidelines for Eradication of Introduced Mammals from Breeding Sites of ACAP-listed Seabirds.  ACAP Conservation Guideline.  9 pp.

Veitch, C.R. & Clout, M.N. (Eds) 2002. Turning the Tide: the Eradication of Invasive Species.  Proceedings of the International Conference On Eradication of Island Invasives.  Gland & Cambridge: IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.  414 pp.

Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N. & Towns, D.R. (Eds) 2011.  Island Invasives: Eradication and Management.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Island Invasives.  Gland: World Conservation Union & Auckland: Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity.  542 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 December 2015