mammalian pests

Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) were introduced to Auckland Island in subantarctic New Zealand in 1807. They established and became invasive, subsequently causing substantial unwanted impacts on native biodiversity. Understanding pig movement behaviour and habitat selection can lead to focused, efficient, and effective management efforts, especially during initial knockdown of the population. Here we used location data from ARGOS telemetry collars deployed on 15 Auckland Island pigs from 2007 to 2008 to estimate seasonal homerange sizes and habitat selection.

Numerous conservation projects in New Zealand aim to reduce populations of invasive mammalian predators to facilitate the recovery of native species. However, results of control efforts are often uncertain due to insufficient monitoring. Remote cameras have the potential to monitor multiple species of invasive mammals. To determine the efficiency of cameras as a multi-species monitoring tool, we compared the detection rates of remote cameras and tracking tunnels over 4 non-consecutive days across 40 sites in Wellington.