<I>Anthornis melanura</I>

Many restoration projects aim to increase populations of native fauna and flora, but benefits to the ecological interactions between species are unknown. The restoration of bird pollination services to Fuchsia excorticata (tree fuchsia) was examined at Maungatautari, in the Waikato Region, New Zealand. At Maungatautari, a pest-exclusion fence encloses ~3400 ha of native forest, within which most mammalian pests were eradicated between 2004 and 2007.

There are currently many attempts in New Zealand to restore native ecosystem functioning through the intensive control of introduced mammalian predators. One system that is faltering is bird pollination of endemic mistletoes (Peraxilla tetrapetala) by bellbirds (Anthornis melanura), apparently because of stoat (Mustela erminea) predation. We used a paired-catchment experiment in Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides forest at Craigieburn, central South Island, to measure whether stoat control could restore bellbird densities and mistletoe pollination.

To examine the seasonal availability of the major bellbird (Anthornis melanura) food sources in a mountain beech (Nothofagus solandrivar. cliffortioides) forest at Craigieburn, the invertebrate, honeydew, and mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala and Alepis flavida) fruit and nectar resources were sampled over 12 months. The total available food varied 2.6-fold from a low in October (8798 kJ/ha) to a high in December (22,959 kJ/ha) with an annual mean of 15,782 kJ/ha.

Recent work at several central South Island sites has shown that the bird-pollinated mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala (Loranthaceae) is extensively pollen-limited. We studied the diet, time-budget, and densities of its principal pollinator, bellbirds (Anthornis melanura, Meliphagidae), at Craigieburn to find out what aspect of bellbird ecology may be limiting pollination.

Honeydew is produced by a scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile, Margarodidae) in some Nothofagus forests of South Island, New Zealand. The quantity of honeydew present and its sugar concentration varies through the year. Honeydew is a valuable resource for bellbirds (Anthornis melanura), tuis (Prosthemadera novaesealandiae) and silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis). Bellbirds and tuis were commoner in forests with more honeydew. Bell- birds spent more time feeding on honeydew when its sugar concentration was low.