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Unrelenting Spread of the Alien Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta Monachus In

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Unrelenting Spread of the Alien Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta Monachus In Research Article Received: 21 December 2015 Revised: 28 June 2016 Accepted article published: 1 July 2016 Published online in Wiley Online Library: 12 August 2016 (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI 10.1002/ps.4349 Unrelenting spread of the alien monk parakeet Myiopsitta monachus in Israel. Is it time to sound the alarm? Jose-Luis Postigo,a* Assaf Shwartz,b Diederik Strubbec,d and Antonio-Román Muñoza,e Abstract BACKGROUND: Monk parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus Boddaert, are native to South America but have established populations in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. They are claimed to act as agricultural pests in their native range, and their communal stick nests may damage human infrastructure. Although several monk parakeet populations are present in the Mediterranean Basin and temperate Europe, little empirical data are available on their population size and growth, distribution and potential impact. We investigated the temporal and spatial dynamics of monk parakeets in Israel to assess their invasion success and potential impact on agriculture. RESULTS: Monk parakeet populations are growing exponentially at a higher rate than that reported elsewhere. The current Israeli population of monk parakeets comprises approximately 1500 individuals. The distribution of the species has increased and shifted from predominantly urban areas to agricultural landscapes. CONCLUSIONS: In Israel, monk parakeet populations are growing fast and have dispersed rapidly from cities to agricultural areas. At present, reports of agricultural damage are scarce. A complete assessment of possible management strategies is urgently needed before the population becomes too large and widespread to allow for cost-effective mitigation campaigns to be implemented. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry Supporting information may be found in the online version of this article. Keywords: growth rate; invasive parrot; Israel; population dynamics; range expansion 1 INTRODUCTION year.12 Monk parakeets were trapped on a massive scale for export Informationonthedistributionandpopulationgrowthofinva- to other countries as pets, and there is a growing number of new sive alien species can be difficult to obtain, especially during populations worldwide owing to intentional releases or accidental 7,13 – 16 the early stages of the invasion process, when invading species escapes. Most of the new alien populations appear in large 17 typically occur at low densities.1 – 3 However, alien birds are fre- cities, where they may not only cause damage in parks, gardens quently attractive to humans and conspicuous, and consequently and orchards but can also damage human infrastructure (e.g. by their introduction history has often been (reasonably) well docu- mented. There is a generally good historical record of introduced birds worldwide, and thus avian invasions have strongly con- ∗ Correspondence to: J-L Postigo, Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation tributed to a better understanding of biological invasions.4 – 6 Par- Research Team, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universi- rots are well-known, widespread and charismatic alien birds, but dad de Málaga, E-29071 Malaga, Spain. some of them are considered to be pests in their native range and E-mail: [email protected] 3,7 may also cause damage in non-native habitats. The most out- a Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Research Team, Department of Ani- standing alien species of the Psittacidae are the ring-necked para- mal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, Malaga, Spain keet, Psittacula krameri Scopoli, and the monk parakeet, Myiopsitta b Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion – Israeli Institute of Tech- monachus Boddaert. Both species are known to be able to cause nology, Haifa, Israel extensive agricultural damage in their native ranges.8,9 The monk parakeet is a highly social and vociferous parrot that c Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium is capable of acting as a pest species in its natural range of d Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium South America.10,11 It is unique among parrots in that it builds a communal nest, which contains a variable number of chambers e Departamento de Botànica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valencia, 349 that are used for breeding and also for roosting throughout the Burjassot, Valencia, Spain Pest Manag Sci 2017; 73: 349–353 www.soci.org © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry www.soci.org J-L Postigo et al. building their bulky communal nests on utility poles).18 They are trees (typically Phoenix palms), monk parakeets normally build also sometimes perceived as a new source of noise pollution.19,20 individual nests around the base of the leaves until they finally Once they are established in cities, urban colonies can act merge and form a ring. For this reason, nests in palm trees were as propagules for their spread to suburban and neighbouring always counted as one nest, even if they had not yet merged. rural areas. Evidence from the United States suggests that their From across the current Israeli distribution range, we selected capacity for spread outside urbanised areas may be associated a number of nests (n = 34) including 67 chambers, where visibil- with climate and may be limited to warmer areas,21 such as the ity allowed extensive and detailed monitoring of monk parakeet Mediterranean Basin where food is available all year in large cities activity, to estimate chamber occupancy. We conducted the survey and during part of the year in agricultural land. In any case, in March before the breeding period to determine total population population estimates are essential to draw definite conclusions size. Monk parakeets reach sexual maturity in their third calendar about the population dynamics of an invasive species and to year (around 50% of birds breed for the first time 2 years after guide management planning. Therefore, we assessed the current fledging).29 During the breeding period, breeding pairs defend the population size of monk parakeets in Israel and analysed the nest and prevent non-breeders from roosting inside. Therefore, if population and range dynamics of the species over the last two the occupancy survey is conducted at this time, the total popula- decades. We also determined its population growth rate in urban tion size could be seriously underestimated. The number of roost- and agricultural areas. Finally, we identified and estimated the ing parakeets per chamber was estimated by counting the number agricultural areas potentially exposed to damage. of birds moving in and out and calculating the number of those remaining in the nest at night. The survey was conducted from the ground, using binoculars between 1 h before sunset to the cessa- 2METHODS tion of activity in the colony.24 We counted the number of nests 2.1 Study area and the number of chambers, even though there is a strong cor- relation between these parameters that can be used as an indi- The study area comprised two locations in the Israeli low-altitude rect indicator of population size.24 Population trends for the period coastal plain, where the parakeets were first introduced: the 1998–2015 were determined using the number of nests, as no Tel-Aviv District and Central District. These areas have the highest information was available about the number of chambers per nest human population densities in the country, with 7784 and 1527 during the first years (i.e. 1998, 2000) they were observed. We used inhabitants per square kilometre respectively, and hold over 40% the number of chambers and estimates of occupancy to estimate of the total population of Israel. The Tel-Aviv District and Cen- the monk parakeet population in 2015. tral District comprise urban land (87 and 46% respectively) and farmland (6 and 26% respectively).22 Monk parakeets were first detected in 1995 in Yarkon Park, which is the largest park in Israel 2.3 Data analysis and is located in the northern part of the Tel-Aviv District.23 Breed- Following the methodology proposed by Van Bael and 30 ing monk parakeets were first recorded in 1998 (Shwartz A, unpub- Pruett-Jones, we used the number of nests detected in the lished). Although the initial population size in the Tel-Aviv District period 1998–2015 to estimate monk parakeet population growth is unknown, four birds were released in the mid-1990s in the Cen- trends. The rate of population growth (r) was obtained by fitting rt tral District in the same area where nests were first observed (Hat- the census data to the model using the equation Nt + 1 = Nt e , zofe O, private communication, 2004). where Nt + 1 is the population size at time t + 1, Nt is the population at time t, e is the natural logarithm base, r is the intrinsic rate of population growth and t is the time interval. 2.2 Population estimates and distribution In order to determine whether the monk parakeet popula- Monk parakeet population censuses were based on surveys of tion growth rates differed between urban and rural habitats, we the number of nests, number of chambers per nest and estimates assigned nests to three habitat classes according to the amount of ‘occupancy’ (i.e. the number of birds inhabiting a chamber). of farmland in the vicinity of the nests. Given the lack of empir- Historical survey data were available from anecdotal observa- ical data on invasive monk parakeet home ranges, based on our tions of birdwatchers and officials of the Israeli Nature and Park own observations, we considered a distance of 1 km from the Authority (Shwartz A, unpublished). Five systematic surveys of nests to be the regular feeding distance, (RFD) and 2 km to be the nests and chambers were conducted in the period 2004–2007 extreme feeding distance (EFD). Monk parakeets were considered and 2015 prior to the breeding season, which starts around to inhabit three habitats: agricultural habitats, when farmland was April in the Mediterranean Basin.24 The same methodology for included in their RFD; semi-agricultural habitats, when farmland detecting nests was used in each survey.
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