Rats, the islands' pirates

At the heart of an ambitious research programme on different islands of the globe, researchers are trying to understand the secrets of the incredible expansion of the black rat Rattus rattus. They study the threats posed by this small rodent on 80% of the islands of the world. Indeed, this animal reconfiguring these fragile ecosystems, unprepared for the arrival of such invaders and results from other species into extinction.

For three years, five French scientific teams, assembled under the direction of Franck Courchamp, a CNRS researcher have come together to form the programme ALIENS and investigate around the world. The French islands of mainland and overseas, spread over all the oceans of the world, are the ideal field of investigation.

Selected at Pariscience 2011
See the showing : Monday 10th October 2011 from 14h00 to 15h15