Risk induced by a native top predator reduces alien mink movements.

1. Nonlethal predation effects may have stronger impacts on prey populations than direct predation impacts, and this should also apply to intraguild predation. The consequences of such interactions become especially important if invasive, and potentially destructive alien predators act as intraguild prey. 2. We studied the predation-risk impacts of a re-colonizing native top predator, Haliaeetus albicilla (white-tailed sea eagle), on the movements of Mustela vison (American mink), an alien predator in Europe. We radiocollared 20 mink in two study areas in the outer archipelago of the Baltic Sea, South-west Finland, during 2004 and 2005. In the archipelago, mink home ranges incorporate many islands, and mink are most predisposed to eagle predation while swimming between islands. Observed swimming distances of mink were compared to distances expected at random, and deviations from random swimming were explained by mink distance from nearest eagle nest, number of eagle observations near mink location, and mink home-range size. 3. Mink reduced their swimming distances with increasing sea eagle predation risk: for females, the reduction was 10% for an increase of 10 eagle observations, and 5% for each kilometre towards an eagle nest. Conclusions for males were restricted by their small sample size. 4. Our results suggest that female mink modify their behaviour according to eagle predation risk, which may reduce their population growth and have long-term cascading effects on lower trophic levels including bird, mammal and amphibian populations in the archipelago. Ecosystem restoration by bringing back the top predators may be one way of mitigating alien predator effects on native biota.

Alien predators are more dangerous than native predators to prey populations.

Alien predators are widely considered to be more harmful to prey populations than native predators. To evaluate this expectation, we conducted a meta-analysis of the responses of vertebrate prey in 45 replicated and 35 unreplicated field experiments in which the population densities of mammalian and avian predators had been manipulated. Our results showed that predator origin (native versus alien) had a highly significant effect on prey responses, with alien predators having an impact double that of native predators. Also the interaction between location (mainland versus island) and predator origin was significant, revealing the strongest effects with alien predators in mainland areas. Although both these results were mainly influenced by the huge impact of alien predators on the Australian mainland compared with their impact elsewhere, the results demonstrate that introduced predators can impose more intense suppression on remnant populations of native species and hold them further from their predator-free densities than do native predators preying upon coexisting prey.

Alien mink predation induces prolonged declines in archipelago amphibians.

Amphibians are undergoing enigmatic global declines variously attributed to a complex web of anthropogenic forces. Alien predators pose a fundamental threat to biodiversity generally that is predicted to be most acute in island ecosystems. While amphibian eggs and tadpoles are vulnerable to aquatic predators, the effect of predators on adult, reproducing frogs, which most influence amphibian population processes, is unknown. Here, we report on the responses of amphibian populations in the outer Finnish Archipelago to a long-term, large-scale removal of American mink (Mustela vison Schreb.), an invasive predator linked to recent biodiversity loss across Europe. Removal increased both the densities and distribution of common frogs (Rana temporaria L.) but not those of common toads (Bufo bufo L.), which appear to escape mink predation because of their unpalatable skin. Importantly, the largest benefits of mink removal to frog recovery were slow to appear as frogs apparently have a delayed maturation in these harsh environments, which means we must be cautious about reliance upon short-term results.

Selective reduction of the posterior superior vermis in men with chronic schizophrenia.

Cerebellar structures were measured in 30 chronic schizophrenic men and 18 healthy men using high resolution MRI. The volume of the posterior superior vermis was found to be significantly smaller in the schizophrenic men, but there was no difference in other cerebellar regions or the intracranial volume. The findings support the view that within the cerebellum the posterior superior vermis may be selectively reduced in men with chronic schizophrenia.