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An introduced House Mouse on Marion Island, photograph by Ben Dilley
The Island Invasives 2026 Conference “Charting the Future”, the fourth in the series, will be held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand over 9-13 February 2026. The draft programme and book of abstracts for over 200 oral and poster presentations are now available for viewing on the conference website. Information is also available on field trips and social activities.
Three independently organised workshops will be held on the first two days of the conference, for which brief descriptions are available:
Improving success rates for tropical island rat eradications (facilitated by Island Conservation)
This workshop will be focused on identifying and evaluating cost effective measures that can augment existing best practice for rodent eradication on tropical islands to improve success rates. While a synopsis of past eradication attempts will be provided along with a summary of the most likely reasons for past failures, the focus of discussion will be forward looking.
Getting to the root of the problem in pig eradication practice (facilitated by Island Conservation)
This workshop will be focused on identifying the most resource and labour efficient measures for removing pigs from increasingly large islands. Two scenarios will be under consideration, the first being islands where pigs are predominantly solitary and the second where pigs move in groups. The most promising new technologies for pig detection and removal with an eye on scaling up will also be evaluated during the workshop. The workshop may be a precursor to the development of best practice guidelines for pig eradication.
Challenges in improving mouse eradication success rates (facilitated by the Mouse-Free Marion Project)
This workshop will consider issues around rodent eradication failures, especially for house mice. The discussion will focus on what factors to address that can help to improve success rates. A synopsis of past eradication attempts will be provided along with a summary of the most likely reasons for past failures, using these to discuss what variables can modified in eradication planning for future mouse eradications.
The conference plenary speakers will be Imogen Bassett - Island Biosecurity, Keith Broome - Technical Planning, Luciana Luna Mendoza - Tropical Eradications, Jessi Morgan - Community Engagement, Nicola Rata-MacDonald - Indigenous Leadership, David Towns - Island Restoration and David Will - Emerging Technologies. Click here to read biographical details for each plenary speaker.
The Island Invasives 2026 Organising Committee consists of Professor James Russell, The University of Auckland, Dr Araceli Samaniego, Island Restoration Advisor, Ms Clare Stringer, Department of Conservation, Dr Nick Holmes, The Nature Conservancy, Mr Dick Veitch ONZM, Emeritus Professor Dave Towns ONZM and Emeritus Professor Mick Clout FRSNZ.
John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 27 October 2025