Large scale predator control improves the productivity of a rare New Zealand riverine duck

Whitehead, Amy; Edge, Kerri‐Anne; Smart, Andrew F.; Hill, Gerard S.; Willans, Murray

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.08.013

Cited by 48 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Further, low intensity stoat control year-round (10 traps per linear km) significantly reduced stoat abundance in trapped whio habitat compared with untrapped habitat. During the same period, whio nesting success and productivity increased significantly within trapped areas (Whitehead et al 2008). In central North Island rivers, population viability modelling indicates that cessation of predator trapping would rapidly lead to local extirpation of whio (Simpkins et al 2015).…”

Section: Deermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there have been no specific studies of predation on whio in alpine habitats, video monitoring of nests identified stoats as the primary nest predator in Fiordland valley ecosystems (Whitehead et al 2008). Further, low intensity stoat control year-round (10 traps per linear km) significantly reduced stoat abundance in trapped whio habitat compared with untrapped habitat.…”

Section: Deermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of introduced mammalian predators on New Zealand’s alpine fauna

O’Donnell¹,

Weston²,

Monks³

2017

NZ J Ecol

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Alpine zones are threatened globally by invasive species, hunting, and habitat loss caused by fire, anthropogenic development and climate change. These global threats are pertinent in New Zealand, with the least understood pressure being the potential impacts of introduced mammalian predators, the focus of this review. In New Zealand, alpine zones include an extensive suite of cold climate ecosystems covering c. 11% of the land mass. They support rich communities of indigenous invertebrates, lizards, fish, and birds. Many taxa are obligate alpine dwellers, though there is uncertainty about the extent to which distributions of some species are relicts of wider historical ranges. The impacts of introduced mammalian predators are well described in many New Zealand ecosystems, though little is known about the impacts of these predators on alpine fauna. Here we review the importance of alpine habitats for indigenous fauna and the impacts of introduced mammalian predators; and develop a conceptual model explaining threat interactions. Most evidence for predation is anecdotal or comes from studies of species with wider ranges and at lower altitudes. Nevertheless, at least ten introduced predator species have been confirmed as frequent predators of native alpine species, particularly among birds and invertebrates. In the case of the endangered takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) and rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris), stoats (Mustela erminea) are primary predators, which are likely to be impacting significantly on population viability. We also document records of mammalian predation on alpine lizards and freshwater fish. While the precise impacts on the long-term viability of threatened species have not been evaluated, anecdotal evidence suggests that predation by mammals is a serious threat, warranting predator control. Future research should focus on predicting when and where mammalian predators impact on populations of indigenous fauna, furthering our understanding of the alpine predator guild particularly through adaptive management experiments, and exploring interactions with other threats.

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Section: Deermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Deermentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of introduced mammalian predators on New Zealand’s alpine fauna

O’Donnell¹,

Weston²,

Monks³

2017

NZ J Ecol

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“…Mast production varies among beech species and mast years, affecting how stoats, rats and other members of the community respond to mast abundance (Ruscoe et al 2006;Christie et al 2009), leading to unexpected results from control operations (Tompkins and Veltman 2006). Systematic control of stoats and rats is unpredictable in whether it protects native fauna (Whitehead et al 2008;Moorhouse et al 2003) or not Pryde et al 2005;Gaze 2003). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In New Zealand, the much smaller and rapidly declining post-seedfall peak in mouse numbers is not sufficient to protect birds from the sudden huge increase in numbers of stoats, all eating about the same number of birds per head as usual (King 1983). In Nothofagus forests, populations of mohua (Mohua ochrocephala) (Elliott 1996a, b), kaka (Nestor meridionalis) (Moorhouse et al 2003), robins (Petroica australis) (Etheridge and Powlesland 2001), bellbirds (Anthornis melanura) (Kelly et al 2005) and blue ducks (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos) (Whitehead et al 2008) risk severe depletion or local extinction during post-seedfall irruptions of rats and stoats. The survival of mainland populations of the brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), New Zealand's national icon, appears to depend on the development of new technology for controlling stoats (Basse et al 1999;McLennan et al 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing an invasive predator pre-adapted to a pulsed resource: a model of stoat (Mustela erminea) irruptions in New Zealand beech forests

King

Powell

2011

Biol Invasions

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The stoat (Mustela erminea) is a specialist predator that evolved to exploit the unstable populations of northern voles and lemmings. It was introduced to New Zealand, where it is pre-adapted to respond with a population irruption to the resource pulses that follow a heavy seedfall of southern beech (Nothofagus spp.). Culling stoats during an irruption is necessary to reduce damaging predation on nesting endemic birds. Culling might not reduce the stoat population long term, however, if high natural mortality exceeds culling mortality in peak years. During other phases of the beech-mast cycle, culling might have a greater effect on a smaller stoat population, whether or not damage prevention is critical. We developed a 4-matrix model to predict the effects of culling on k, the annual rate of change in the size of the stoat population, through the four annual phases of an average masting cycle, explicitly distinguishing between apparent and real culling. In the Post-seedfall phase of the cycle, large numbers of stoats are killed, but little of this extra mortality is additive; in other phases, culling removes larger proportions of smaller total numbers of stoats that would otherwise have lived. Culling throughout all phases is most effective at reducing stoat populations, but is also the most expensive option. Culling in Postseedfall plus Seed or Crash years is somewhat less effective but better than culling in one phase only. Culling has different short-term effects on stoat age distribution depending on the phase of the cycle when culling begins.

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“…The same list includes bird species that are especially vulnerable to stoats, including those with large, flightless chicks such as kiwi Apteryx spp. (McLennan et al 1996), whio Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos (Whitehead et al 2008) and kākā Nestor meridionalis (Wilson et al 1998). Both ship rats and stoats have certainly contributed to further declines of native fauna, especially after mast years in beech forests (Dilks et al 2003).…”

Section: Contemporary Observations Of the Consequences For Native Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Liberation and spread of stoats (Mustela erminea) and weasels (M. nivalis) in New Zealand, 1883-c.1920

King¹

2017

NZ J Ecol

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This paper reviews the timing and spread of weasels and stoats across the South and North Islands of New Zealand during the late nineteenth century, entirely from historical records. The flavour of the debates and the assumptions that led to the commissioning of private and government shipments of these animals are best appreciated from the original documents. I describe the sites of the early deliberate releases in Otago, Canterbury, Marlborough, and Wairarapa, and list contemporary observations of the subsequent dispersal of the released animals to named locations in Southland, Westland, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Northland. Originally, weasels were landed in far greater numbers than stoats (2622 weasels and 963 stoats listed in shipment records) and, while at first they were very abundant, they are now much less abundant than stoats. Two non-exclusive hypotheses could explain this historic change: (1) depletion of supplies of their preferred small prey including birds, mice, roosting bats, lizards, frogs and invertebrates, and (2) competition with stoats. Contemporary historic written observations on the first impacts of the arrivals of weasels and stoats on the native fauna offer graphic illustrations of what has been lost, but usually failed to consider the previous impacts of the abundant rats (Rattus exulans since the late 13th century, and R. norvegicus since 1770s-90s), and cannot now be distinguished from the activities of R. rattus arriving in the 1860s-90s.

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Large scale predator control improves the productivity of a rare New Zealand riverine duck

Cited by 48 publications

References 36 publications

Impacts of introduced mammalian predators on New Zealand’s alpine fauna

Impacts of introduced mammalian predators on New Zealand’s alpine fauna

Managing an invasive predator pre-adapted to a pulsed resource: a model of stoat (Mustela erminea) irruptions in New Zealand beech forests

Liberation and spread of stoats (Mustela erminea) and weasels (M. nivalis) in New Zealand, 1883-c.1920

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