rats had been there from the start and are a good (imo) explanation for what happened-- the tree and their seeds were preyed upon.

[This explains explains it from an academic standpoint.](https://www.amazon.com/Questioning-Collapse-Resilience-Ecolo...)

Saying that they killed all the trees to help the moai get into place (or similar) is ridiculous.

In addition, the first reports from the 1720+ timeframe (first contact and there abouts) estimated the population at a few hundred iirc, no trees, toppled moai.