Invasive feral cats threaten biodiversity at a global scale. Mitigating feral cat impacts and reducing their populations has therefore become a global conservation priority, especially on islands housing high endemic biodiversity. The New Caledonian archipelago is a biodiversity hotspot showing outstanding terrestrial species richness and endemism. Feral cats prey upon at least 44 of its native vertebrate species, 20 of which are IUCN Red-listed threatened species. To test the feasibility and efficiency of culling, intensive culling was conducted in a peninsula of New Caledonia (25.6 km²) identified as a priority site for feral cat management. Live-trapping over 38 days on a 10.6 km² area extirpated 36 adult cats, an estimated 44% of the population. However, three months after culling, all indicators derived from camera-trapping (e.g., abundance, minimum number of individuals and densities) suggest a return to pre-culling levels. Compensatory immigration appears to explain this unexpectedly rapid population recovery in a semi-isolated context. Since culling success does not guarantee a long-term effect, complementary methods like fencing and innovative automated traps need to be used, in accordance with predation thresholds identified through modelling, to preserve island biodiversity. Testing general assumptions on cat management, this article contributes important insights into a challenging conservation issue for islands and biodiversity hotspots worldwide.

中文翻译：

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在半隔离的环境中进行密集扑杀后，野生猫快速重新定殖

侵略性野猫在全球范围内威胁着生物多样性。因此，减轻野猫的影响并减少其种群数量已成为全球保护的重点，尤其是在具有高流行性生物多样性的岛屿上。新喀里多尼亚群岛是一个生物多样性热点，显示出杰出的陆生物种丰富性和特有性。野猫捕食其至少44种本地脊椎动物，其中20种是受IUCN红色名录威胁的物种。为了测试淘汰的可行性和效率，在新喀里多尼亚（25.6km²）半岛进行了密集淘汰，该半岛被确定为野猫管理的优先地点。在10.6平方公里的区域上，超过38天的现场诱捕使36只成年猫绝种，估计占人口的44％。但是，在剔除三个月后，所有指标均来自诱捕相机的情况（例如，丰度，最少的个人数量和密度）建议您返回到选择前的水平。补偿性移民似乎在半隔离的情况下解释了这种出乎意料的快速人口恢复。由于淘汰成功并不能保证长期的效果，因此需要根据建模确定的捕食阈值，使用围栏和创新的自动陷阱等互补方法来保护岛屿生物多样性。通过测试有关猫的管理的一般假设，本文为全球范围内的岛屿和生物多样性热点的富有挑战性的保护问题提供了重要见解。由于淘汰成功并不能保证长期有效，因此需要根据建模确定的捕食阈值，使用围栏和创新的自动陷阱等互补方法来保护岛屿生物多样性。通过测试有关猫的管理的一般假设，本文为全球范围内的岛屿和生物多样性热点的富有挑战性的保护问题提供了重要见解。由于淘汰成功并不能保证长期有效，因此需要根据建模确定的捕食阈值，使用围栏和创新的自动陷阱等互补方法来保护岛屿生物多样性。通过测试有关猫的管理的一般假设，本文为全球范围内的岛屿和生物多样性热点的富有挑战性的保护问题提供了重要见解。