Kapiti Island is an important wildlife sanctuary off the west coast of the North Island, New Zealand. Restoration of the island after human occupation has included a 60-year programme of eradication of 10 pest mammals, ending with the removal of Norway and Pacific rats in 1996 using brodifacoum rodenticide bait. We monitored the impact of rat removal on invertebrate communities using pitfall traps. Three years after rat eradication we detected a significant decrease in invertebrate catch frequency and diversity, most obvious in the Carabidae and Amphipoda. Site and season accounted for most of Z04031;the variation in the data. A four-fold increase in the conspicuousness and condition of some insectivorous birds, and fluctuations between El Niño and La Niña weather patterns may have affected the "recovery" of the island invertebrates.

Concern over a decline in habitat of an unnamed, endemic species of Notoreas (Geometridae) moth from the Taranaki coast stimulated this study on its distribution and conservation requirements. The caterpillars mine leaves of Pimelea (cf.) urvilleana, a prostrate shrub that can be found among other pioneer plants on coastal cliffs. Forty-seven patches of habitat were located along 50 km of coastal cliffs adjacent to farmland. Patches were clumped in distribution, and ¾ of the patches were "small", containing fewer than 15 host plants. Moths were detected in half the patches. Occupied patches were usually large (>25 plants), or if small, were usually within 200 m of another occupied patch. Recommendations for habitat management include weed control and reduction in damage from humans and stock. Ongoing advocacy with land owners and the community is important.