@article {Ruffino:2008:0008-4301:1068,
	author = "Ruffino, L. and Bourgeois, K. and Vidal, E. and Icard, J. and Torre, F. and Legrand, J.",
	title = "Introduced predators and cavity-nesting seabirds: unexpected low level of interaction at breeding sites",
	journal = "Canadian Journal of Zoology",
	volume = "86",
	number = "9",
	year = "2008",
	abstract = "The mechanisms by which introduced predators and long-lived seabirds interact and even coexist are still poorly known. Here, the interactions between the widely introduced black rat (<I>Rattus rattus</I> (L., 1758)) and an endemic Mediterranean cavity-nesting seabird, the yelkouan shearwater (<I>Puffinus yelkouan</I> (Acerbi, 1827)), were for the first time investigated for a set of 60 suitable breeding cavities throughout the entire breeding cycle of this seabird. Our results pointed out that rat visits to cavities were significantly higher when shearwaters had left the colony for their interbreeding exodus. Among the set of suitable breeding cavities, yelkouan shearwaters preferentially selected the deepest and the most winding cavities for breeding. Very few rat visits were recorded at the shearwater-occupied cavities and no predation event was recorded. These intriguing results reveal a low level of interaction between introduced black rats and yelkouan shearwaters, which may have facilitated their long-term coexistence for thousands of years on some Mediterranean islands.<P></P>Les m&#233;canismes d'interaction et notamment de coexistence entre pr&#233;dateurs introduits et oiseaux marins long&#233;vifs sont encore peu connus &#224; l'heure actuelle. Ici, les interactions entre le rat noir (<I>Rattus rattus</I> (L., 1758)), esp&#232;ce largement introduite sur les &#238;les de la plan&#232;te, et un oiseau marin long&#233;vif end&#233;mique de M&#233;diterran&#233;e &#224; nidification hypog&#233;e, le puffin yelkouan (<I>Puffinus yelkouan</I> (Acerbi, 1827)) ont &#233;t&#233; pour la premi&#232;re fois &#233;tudi&#233;es sur un lot de 60 cavit&#233;s favorables &#224; la reproduction du puffin tout au long du cycle de reproduction. Nos r&#233;sultats ont montr&#233; que les visites de cavit&#233;s par les rats sont significativement plus importantes lorsque les puffins ont quitt&#233; les colonies durant la phase internuptiale. Parmi l'ensemble des cavit&#233;s favorables &#224; la reproduction, ce sont les cavit&#233;s les plus profondes et les plus sinueuses qui sont pr&#233;f&#233;rentiellement utilis&#233;es par les puffins. Tr&#232;s peu de visites de rats ont &#233;t&#233; enregistr&#233;es dans les cavit&#233;s occup&#233;es par les puffins et aucun ph&#233;nom&#232;ne de pr&#233;dation n'a &#233;t&#233; observ&#233;. De mani&#232;re inattendue, ces r&#233;sultats t&#233;moignent d'un faible degr&#233; d'interaction entre les rats noirs introduits et les puffins yelkouan, ce qui pourrait avoir facilit&#233; leur coexistence pluri-mill&#233;naire sur certaines &#238;les de M&#233;diterran&#233;e.",
	pages = "1068-1073",
	url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nrc/cjz/2008/00000086/00000009/art00015"
}