Emblematic forest dwellers reintroduced into cities: resource selection by translocated juvenile kaka

Abstract

Urbanization and exotic species are major threats to the conservation of forest-dependent wildlife species. Some emblematic species, indicators of habitat quality for the conservation of other species, might successfully be reintroduced within cities when habitat restoration and pest management programs are combined. We studied the landscape resource selection of juvenile kaka Nestor meridionalis tracked with Global Positioning System (GPS) units and released into the predator-free reserve of Zealandia in Wellington city, New Zealand. Kaka moved beyond the predator exclusion fence into urban suburbs. The home range size and areas of high use estimated using local convex hull (a-LoCoH) ranged from 20 to 240 ha and 2 to 21 ha, respectively. Using resource selection functions and model selection we found that native forest patches and urban areas close to the reserve were selected by kaka to establish their home ranges. At a lower scale of selection (i.e., selection of habitats within home ranges), kaka selected the same habitat, but not necessarily those close to the reserve. Native forest patches throughout the city can facilitate the dispersal of individuals, while the reserve provides protection and opportunities for supplementary feeding. Urban areas might have been selected due to the placement of feeders in private backyards. Survival of forest-dwelling species in cities requires careful urban planning and management to provide the necessary habitat patches, refugia, and food sources.

Bringing nature back into cities

“…An additional promising pathway to bring nature back into cities may be to adapt translocation programmes, originally envisaged to improve the conservation status of threatened species (Seddon et al, 2014), to reintroduce species into urban environments. Indeed, a few successful reintroductions of threatened species have already occurred in urban environments; for example, at least nine animal species have been reintroduced into urban areas in which they had been previously locally extinct (Martell, Englund, & Tordoff, 2002; Recio, Payne, & Seddon, 2016; van Heezik & Seddon, 2018). Similarly, plant species and communities may be brought back into urban environments through restoration and rehabilitation approaches (McDonald, Gann, Jonson, & Dixon, 2016); for example, as many as 38 projects have been implemented across 20 cities in New Zealand with the objective of restoring vegetation cover by planting or reintroducing indigenous plant species (Clarkson & Bylsma, 2016; Clarkson & Kirby, 2016).…”

“…Another exciting opportunity to bring locally extinct species back into cities is the potential spillover effects of reintroduction actions conducted within predator‐free, fenced urban ecosanctuaries such as Zealandia in Wellington, New Zealand and Mulligans Flat in Canberra, Australia. For instance, reintroduced individuals of kaka, an endangered arboreal parrot reintroduced into Zealandia in 2002 (Figure 3b), have been documented foraging beyond the exclusion fence into the adjacent patches of suitable habitat within Wellington's urban matrix (Recio et al, 2016).…”

Social learning and networks in Nestor parrots

“…As over 70% or parrots are forest-dependent (Newton, 1994;Vergara-Tabares et al, 2020), forest destruction has had a magnified effect on this order. Despite their sensitivity to habitat change, and forest-dependence, numerous species of parrot have had great success colonizing urban environments (Aplin et al, 2020;Davis, Major, & Taylor, 2014;Davis, Taylor, & Major, 2011;Hobson, Avery, & Wright, 2014;Recio, Payne, & Seddon, 2017;Sol et al, 2013). Urban landscapes are therefore an important consideration in parrot conservation.…”

“…Zealandia Ecosanctuary includes 225 ha of regenerating forest and is surrounded by a 9 km fence designed to exclude all introduced mammalian predators ( Recio et al, 2017). Since its establishment in 1999, numerous threatened native bird species have been introduced to the sanctuary (Miskelly & Powlesland, 2013), most of which were previously extinct in the region (Innes, Kelly, & Gillies, 2010;Wilson et al, 1998).…”

“…Since its establishment in 1999, numerous threatened native bird species have been introduced to the sanctuary (Miskelly & Powlesland, 2013), most of which were previously extinct in the region (Innes, Kelly, & Gillies, 2010;Wilson et al, 1998). The sanctuary is located around 2 km from the city centre and surrounded by neighbouring reserves and suburban landscapes (Charles & Linklater, 2014;Recio et al, 2017). The location of Zealandia and success of species reintroductions results in a high spill over of birds from the sanctuary into surrounding areas, where they must adapt to numerous threats (Brockie & Duncna, 2012;Miskelly, 2018;Sriram et al, 2018;Woolley & Hartley, 2019).…”