How Rats Remake Coral Reefs
By eating seabirds, the rodents weaken the flow of nutrients into the oceans, endangering coral reefs and the fish that live there.
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, on a small island in the Chagos Archipelago, black rats scurry about in search of food. Meanwhile, 250 meters offshore, in the coral reef that circles the island, jewel damselfish graze on patches of algae. These two creatures will never meet, but their lives are nonetheless connected. Through a complicated chain of events, the rats are suppressing the growth of the fish, and endangering the fate of the reefs in which they live.
In the late from Lancaster University. “But if you step foot on an island with rats, the skies are empty, it’s quiet, and it doesn’t smell. The difference is unbelievable.”
