Environmental and anthropogenic influences in the marine environment are primary drivers of behavior and demographic outcomes for marine birds. We examined factors influencing the foraging patterns of the Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica), a highly threatened, endemic petrel that inhabits subtropical water masses primarily in the Tasman Sea, with a poorly known at-sea distribution. Risk assessments place the species at moderate risk of population impacts from fisheries-related mortality. Studies in the 1990s indicated that trawl fisheries would have an important influence on the Westland Petrel's foraging behavior. We investigated the influence of climatic conditions, marine productivity, bathymetry, the core fishery zone, concurrent fishing activity, light conditions, sex, and breeding stage on Westland Petrel foraging patterns. We analyzed the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen from blood sampled during the incubation period and examined changes in isotopic niche width over a 6-yr period. We found that the Westland Petrel's foraging zone varied only slightly between years and that the location of intensively used areas was strongly influenced by bathymetric slope and latitude, and negatively influenced by chlorophyll-a. The core fishery zone had a secondary influence, suggesting that these petrels co-occur with fisheries, but are not dependent on waste for food. Trophic niche width was significantly wider during strong El Niño conditions, indicating that food type, rather than location, was most affected by climatic variation. Consistent use of one marine area across varying times and conditions increases the risk of adverse effects of climate or human-induced impacts on the species. However, marine spatial management tools become viable in these conditions. Further, with rapid increases in sea surface temperatures and extreme values recorded in the region in recent periods, changes to fisheries zones and distributions of natural prey of the species are likely to occur and may change the population's sustainability. Direct all requests to reproduce journal content to the AOS Publications Office at pubs@americanornithology.org que les pétrels cohabitent avec les activités de pêche mais ne sont pas dépendants des rejets de pêche pour s'alimenter. Les niches trophiquesétaient significativement plus larges lorsque fortes dans des conditions El Niño, ce qui indique que le type de nourriture, plutôt que la localisation,était le plus affecté par la variation du climat. Une utilisation continue d'une zone marineà différents moments et dans diverses conditions augmente le risque d'impacts climatiques ou anthropiques négatifs sur l'espèce. Cependant, les outils de gestion spatiale du milieu marin deviennent viables dans ces conditions. De plus, avec de rapides augmentations de la SST et des valeurs extrêmes enregistrées dans la région récemment, des changements aux zones de pêches et dans la répartition naturelle des proies de l'espèce sont susceptibles de se produire et peuvent affecter la pérennité de la po...

We examined spatiotemporal changes in rat tracking indices following large-scale (>10 000 ha) pest control using aerial applications of sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) baits in Tararua Forest Park, North Island, New Zealand. Population control of rats appeared effective, with few to no rat tracks recorded in treatment areas during the 6 months after control. However, the rat tracking index increased rapidly after that, and 24-30 months after control, rat tracking indices in treated areas exceeded those in the non-treated areas. Rat tracking indices first increased at the treatment margins (6-12 months post-control), with rat recovery in the centre of controlled areas delayed by 24-30 months. The best supported statistical model of rat tracking indices included an interaction term between time since treatment*distance to non-treatment area, which indicated that overall increases in rat tracking after control were highest at monitoring lines located in the interior of the control zone, with a negative growth rate estimated for lines located outside of the control area. This suggests a competitive release for rat populations in the interior of the control zone. The observed delay in rat recovery on the interior lines compared with lines located at the control margin implies that rat population increase following control was initiated by rats migrating into the treated area from adjacent untreated forest areas. Treatment persistence, therefore, might be increased by increasing the size of pest control areas; aligning pest control boundaries with immigration barriers, such as large water bodies and/or alpine zones; or implementing intensive pest control around treatment boundaries to intercept immigrating rats.

Understanding marginal habitat use by invasive species is important for predicting how distributions may change under future climates. We investigated the influence of food availability and temperature on ship rat (Rattus rattus) distribution and density across a forested elevational gradient in New Zealand by measuring ship rat demographics following a beech (Nothofagaceae) mass seeding event (‘mast’) at three elevation bands (20–80, 400–500, 800–900 m asl). We tested whether declining food availability limits rat populations at the highest elevation band post-mast by experimentally increasing food abundance above baseline food availability. When our study started 4 months post-seedfall, rats at mid- and low- elevations were at high densities (11.4–16.5 ha−1). Rats at higher elevations were barely detectable, but densities peaked (9.4 ha−1) 10 months post-seedfall, with the initial increase possibly driven by immigration from lower elevations. All populations declined sharply over the next year. Supplementary feeding at high elevation increased survival, recruitment, and density of rats through winter, 16 months post-seedfall, relative to unfed grids, suggesting food limitation. However, both fed and non-fed populations declined to zero by the following spring, perhaps due to stoat (Mustela erminea) predation. Our results suggest that low food availability plays a significant role in restricting rats from cool, high elevation environments. The variation in the timing and magnitude of ship rat responses to the pulsed resource across the gradient also highlights the importance of initial population size and spatial processes as factors modulating ship rat responses to pulsed resources across a landscape.

New Zealand has two endemic widow spiders, Latrodectus katipo Powell, 1871 and L. atritus Urquhart, 1890. Both species face many conservation threats and are actively managed. The species status of the Latrodectus spiders of New Zealand was assessed using molecular (COI, ITS1, ITS2) and morphological methods and with cross-breeding experiments. Latrodectus katipo and L. atritus were not found to be reciprocally monophyletic for any of the gene regions or morphological traits. Other than colour, which is variable, there were no morphological characters that separated the two species, which cross-bred in the laboratory and produced fertile eggsacs. Colour variation is clinal over latitude and correlates significantly with mean annual temperature. We conclude that L. atritus is a junior synonym of L. katipo. An example of introgression from the Australian species L. hasseltii Thorell, 1870 was also detected and its conservation implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT. New Zealand's endemic sand dune Latrodectus widow spider species, L. katipo and L. atritus, possess behavioral and physiological attributes likely to promote dispersal over large distances. Morphological, physiological and behavioral similarities between L. katipo and L. hasselti, an Australian endemic, suggest gene flow may occur across the Tasman Sea. In this study we examine intraspecific and interspecific genetic relationships within the ND1 gene region between L. katipo, L. atritus, L. hasselti and L. hesperus to assess whether the genetic evidence supports current taxonomic species designations. We found low interspecific pairwise distances among L. katipo and L. atritus populations, suggesting either introgression, incomplete lineage sorting, or that the current taxonomic distinction between the two species may be invalid. Parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses were inconclusive as to the relationships between the New Zealand Latrodectus species and the Australian L. hasselti. Low pairwise distances between L. hasselti and the New Zealand widow fauna indicated that L. katipo and L. atritus were not present in New Zealand before the fragmentation of Gondwana.