One Small Island by Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch

Macquarie Island lies to the south of New Zealand on route to the antarctic. It is bitterly cold, "a speck of green in a vast, windswept sea...". One Small Island is a beautiful picture book that documents the ancient geology and modern history of this remote island. A major theme is the damage inflicted to the island's fragile ecology by humans. First the sealers killed thousands of seals and brought introduced animals to the island. The beautiful Macquarie Island parakeet was then wiped out by introduced predators.

One Small Island (Viking, 2011)

The introduced animals included cats, dogs, rats wekas and rabbits. Over time these feral creatures destroyed the native environment and the rabbits in particular reached plague proportions. This book shows how scientists are currently trying to eradicate the rabbit and restore some of the island's habitat for sea birds and mammals.
   This is a delightful and informative picture book. The illustrations are a mixture of realistic drawings, scientific diagrams, maps  and sketches. The result is surprisingly pleasing. One Small Island is an absorbing book which I highly recommend.