Lord Howe Island got rid of its rats and mice – now cockroaches and bugs are bouncing back

In the summer months, Lord Howe Island’s unique stag beetle, with wing cases that appear forged from iridescent green metal, fly around the ancient tree tops looking for a mate. “That’s really something wonderful,” said Ian Hutton, a naturalist and nature guide on the World Heritage-listed island. “I would have struggled to have seen any of them 10 years ago.” Lord Howe Island, which lies 600km off Australia’s east coast, was formed by the 7-million-year-old remains of a volcano. Its craggy and beautiful 15 sq km are crammed with a treasure trove of unique plants and animals. And, in recent years, a lot more bugs. The rise in the island’s invertebrates – beetles, weevils, bush cockroaches and other bugs – has come after a campaign seven years ago to rid the island of about 300,000 invasive rats and mice. Lord Howe Island lies 600km off Australia’s New South Wales coast. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian Now a study in the journal Biological Invasions has found the island’s bugs are bouncing back since the 2019 eradication program. “Across our sites we found a 60% increase in the total numbers of invertebrates,” said Maxim Adams, a researcher at the University of Sydney. “I think that’s pretty extraordinary but it’s something we had a feeling for. Walking around Lord Howe now … all of us are blown away by what we’re seeing.” Mice arrived on the island in the mid-19th century and then, in 1918, a supply ship grounded on a rock. …