Without Intervention, Mariana Crow to Become Extinct in 75 Years

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“The Has suspect that the uncontrolled increase of feral cats on Rota is leading to the decrease of Mariana crows”? This doesn’t sound very scientific.
As Sea Green points out, there are several KNOWN environmental factors that are contributing to the decline of these birds.
Don’t get me wrong—I don’t want to see these birds disappear, but the idea that “we can boost fledgling survival from 40 percent to 70 percent,” as the researchers suggest, doesn’t sound natural/sustainable. Are these realistic mortality rates?
THAT would be something worth discussing here—in the SCIENCE section—rather than pointing the finger (without any apparent evidence) at the island’s cats.
Peter J. Wolf
http://www.voxfelina.com

Peter J. Wolf of AZ 1:41PM December 27, 2010

When a quick online search reveals that: "Threats-- On Rota, recent typhoons have devastated forest habitat and forest has been cleared for homestead development, resort and golf-course construction and agricultural settlement; actions which are often accompanied by direct persecution (shooting). Additional threats include nest-predation/disturbance by introduced rats Rattus spp. and monitor lizard Varanus indicus, competition with introduced Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus and disease. Brown tree snake is not yet established on Rota, but if a snake population becomes established an even more serious decline is likely. Having a distribution on relatively low-lying islands, this species is potentially susceptible to climate change through sea-level rise and shifts in suitable climatic conditions." (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=5766)
Didn't mention the mosquito borne viruses either. But let's blame the cats, and then go golfing.

Sea Green of WA 4:39PM December 21, 2010