New Zealand manages five island groups in the Southern Ocean New Zealand subantarctic region: The Snares (Tini Heke), Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands (Motu Maha or Maungahuka) and Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku. Charted by Europeans in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, their preservation commenced in the early 20th century and restoration in the late 20th century.
Aotearoa New Zealand's conservation management has had a strong focus on offshore islands, though this investment is at risk from human-influenced factors such as biosecurity incursions and wildfire. During the last century several wildfires have occurred on Moutohorā (Whale Island), Bay of Plenty, which is a location for six threatened plant and three threatened animal species.
Mesopredator and competitor release can lead to population increases of invasive house mice (Mus musculus) after larger introduced mammals are controlled or eradicated. In New Zealand, mammal-resistant fences have enabled multi-species mammal eradications in order to protect indigenous species. When house mice are the only mammals remaining in these biodiversity sanctuaries, they may reach a high population density, with potential consequences for their indigenous prey.
In many ecosystems food-web dynamics are driven by spatial and temporal variation in the availability of sugar resources, which form the primary or even exclusive dietary constituents for many species. Scale insects (Hemiptera) produce sugar-rich honeydew, which can be a keystone sugar source in honeydew ecosystems worldwide. In New Zealand, most previous research in honeydew ecosystems has been conducted in areas where herpetofauna are heavily suppressed by introduced predators. Consequently, little is known about potential trophic interactions between endemic lizards and scale insects.
We used a comparative approach to investigate heteroblasty in the Chatham Islands. Heteroblasty refers to abrupt changes in the morphology of leaves and shoots with plant height. Common on isolated islands such as New Caledonia and New Zealand, which once had flightless, browsing birds, heteroblasty is hypothesised to be an adaptation to deter bird browsing. The Chatham Islands are a small archipelago located 800 km off the east coast of New Zealand, which has clear floristic links to New Zealand.
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) databank is designed to safeguard the investment of millions of dollars spent over the last 50 years collecting, computerising and checking New Zealand vegetation data and to optimise the potential knowledge gains from these data. Data such as these can be synthesised across a range of spatial and temporal scales, allow novel ecological questions to be considered, and can underpin land management and legal reporting obligations.
A poison baiting operation at Trounson Kauri Park in Northland, New Zealand using first 1080 and then brodifacoum targeted possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and rodents (Rattus rattus, Rattus norvegicus and Mus musculus). Predatory mammals were monitored by radio telemetry during the operation. All six feral cats (Felis catus), the single stoat (Mustela erminea) and the single ferret (Mustela furo) being monitored at the beginning of the operation died of secondary poisoning following the 1080 operation.
We analysed biomass allocation of Pleurophyllum speciosum (Asteraceae) and Anisotome latifolia (Apiaceae) to explore the 'megaherb' phenomenon, the apparent importance of large-leaved, colourful forbs on southern oceanic offshore islands. The two species had similar shoot dry weights, with high leaf:stem ratios. Even within the megaherb form there are differences in shoot allocations, with Pleurophyllum investing more biomass in rhizome than foliage, compared with Anisotome.
Eradication of rodent species from some offshore islands has proved to be an effective means of conserving native animal communities and restoring natural ecological processes on the islands. As methods of eradication differ fur different rodent species, a truthful monitoring method to detect species presence and relative density is essential for a successful eradication programme.
Over five years from November 1982 to November 1987, we examined 395 mice collected from unlogged and logged native forest and from exotic forest at Pureora Forest Park, in the central North Island of New Zealand. Sex ratio, litter size, and breeding effort (pregnancy rate in females, proportion of males with visible tubules) were similar in all samples.
