Removing rats helps native tree seedlings surge on Palmyra Atoll

In 2011, conservation teams embarked on one of the largest rat eradication efforts in history on Palmyra Atoll, a tropical atoll in the central Pacific. The aim was not only to eliminate the pests but also to restore the entire ecosystem that had been suppressed for over a century. Five years after the last rat was confirmed gone, the outcomes were remarkable: native tree seedlings, previously numbering fewer than 150 across the atoll, increased to over 7,700, indicating a significant revival of the original forest.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and researchers from UC Santa Cruz, this project illustrates how eliminating a single invasive species can lead to rapid, large-scale recovery in island ecosystems.