Description:
<jats:p>We present a recent survey of the vertebrate fauna of Cavallo, a small island belonging to the Lavezzi archipelago located between Corsica and Sardinia. This island is the only inhabited one off the coast of Corsica and underwent deep landscape and ecosystem changes in the past 50 years induced by touristic development. The herpetofauna of the Cavallo island has changed with two recent colonisations, one green frog and one gecko. Two amphibian species and four reptiles live nowadays on this island. Concerning the breeding landbirds, this island has been visited by ornithologists more or less regularly since 1955. Several species have colonized the island while others have left. These changes are due to important modifications of the habitats, such as urbanization, the decline of high matorral and grasslands, but also the development of gardens and the creation of a permanent wetland. Today, 13 species of landbirds breed on Cavallo. Several introduced mammal species recorded in the 1980s seem to have vanished, and today the list is restricted to the introduced Black rat and two or three bat species.</jats:p>