meta-analysis

Managing invasive species requires knowledge of their ecology, including distribution, habitat use, and home range. In particular, understanding how biotic and abiotic factors influence home range can help with pest management decision-making, as well as informing native species management. Feral cats, self-sustaining cat populations that live independently of people, have caused numerous extinctions and continue to adversely affect native species globally.

We collated 48 surveys of individually banded birds or birds fitted with radio transmitters that were checked before and after 1080 poison (sodium fluoroacetate) baits were aerially distributed to control brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand forests. The surveys were associated with 34 pest control operations from 1986 to 2009 and covered 13 native bird species, of which four were kiwi (Apteryx spp.). Sample sizes ranged from 1 to 46 birds (median 15). In 12 cases a sample of 1 to 42 birds (median 13) was surveyed in an untreated area at the same time.