Invasive mammalian pests threaten biodiversity globally across a diverse range of habitats. The unique combination of resource subsidies and disturbance in cities can provide favourable conditions for invasion. Recent interest in urban biodiversity enhancement has increased the demand for effective urban pest control, but efforts are often hampered by a lack of understanding of the ecology of urban invasive mammals.
The endemic fauna of New Zealand evolved in the absence of mammalian predators and their introduction has been devastating. Large-scale aerial applications of cereal baits containing sodium fluoroacetate (1080) are routinely used to control these pests. During one such operation in the Blue Mountains, West Otago, trail cameras were used to monitor the impact of the application on mammalian predators.
To help develop new tactics for the local elimination of possums using a fast-acting toxin (1080; sodium fluoroacetate), we tested whether possums that had survived a cereal 1080 baiting could be poisoned with an alternative peanut butter paste (PB paste) bait that differed greatly in appearance, texture, smell, and taste. A two-stage field trial was undertaken in 2018 in three 50−80 ha study blocks in mature pine forest near Rotorua.
New Zealand aims to eradicate possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) nationally by 2050. This aim will require more effective tactics for locally eliminating these pests. Therefore, we explored whether possums and rats could be eliminated from large areas using pre-feeding and two applications of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) bait spaced a few months apart.
We used a long-term replicated before-after control-impact (BACI) sampling design to monitor the effect of aerial 1080 possum-control operations on common forest bird populations. Paired treatment and non- treatment sites in the Rolleston Range (East Coast, South Island) and Alexander Range (West Coast, South Island) were monitored once before 1080 treatment during winter 2012 and for three successive summers afterwards. Mammals (possums Trichosurus vulpecula, rats Rattus spp.
Climatic events affect the behaviour and ecology of many mammal species (e.g. activity, body condition, home range sizes or predation risk within others). We investigated short-term changes in movements, activity and habitat use of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in response to two major snowfall events in a grassland ecosystem in the southern South Island of New Zealand during winter of 2011. Global positioning system collars were deployed on 21 possums.
The habitat use and movements of a population of Australian, brush-tailed opossums, Trichosurus vulpecula (Kerr), were studied by live-trapping, spotlighting and radiotelemetry in a mixed pasture, bush and scrub habitat on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand. Resident opossums had distinct ranges that for some animals varied in position and size and, for all, varied in intensity of use of habitat types during the year. Seasonal foods and breeding behaviour were reasons for shifts in ranges and changes in their sizes.
The stomach contents of 34 opossums collected from Otari reserve, Wellington, New Zealand, were examined and fragments of leaves and leaf cuticles were identified. Leaves were the main food though flowers, fruit and at least one insect were also taken. The main species eaten were kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile), pohuehue (Muehlenbeckia australis), hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus), climbing rata (Metrosideros fulgens), five-finger (Pseudopanax arboreum), tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) and lawyer (Rubus cissoids)
This study examined how forest edges influenced leaf and floral herbivory, as well as seed predation, in a native New Zealand mistletoe species, Alepis flavida. Plants growing on forest edges and in forest interior were compared, and effects of plant size and the neighbouring conspecific plant community were also examined. Leaf herbivory by possums was significantly greater on forest edges than in forest interior in a year of high possum damage, but not in a year with low damage levels. Insect leaf herbivory did not differ between forest edges and interior.
The annual diet of possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) during both a beech (Nothofagus) mast fruiting year and a non-mast year in the simple beech forests of the North Branch of the Hurunui Catchment, eastern South Island, New Zealand, was determined by sorting the contents of 270 possum stomachs, collected between December 1999 and December 2001. Beech flowers and seeds contributed 46.1% to annual diet during the mast year, but were not eaten during the non-mast year. Beech foliage and bark made up 13.2% and 45.0% of annual diet in the mast and non-mast years, respectively.
