The long-term consequences of island arks for endangered species and recipient communities

Abstract

The strategy of conserving threatened species away from mainland threats on offshore ‘island arks’ is particularly common in Australia and New Zealand but has been used worldwide to conserve a broad range of taxa. This strategy, however, has consequences for both the species being conserved and the recipient community. The effects of invasive species can be complex, and the assisted colonisation of species to islands—a species invasion of sorts—could cause a myriad of unintended and unpredictable consequences, for both the introductee, and its recipient community. In this thesis, I set out to examine the consequences of ‘island arks’ as a conservation measure for both the endangered specie..