<i>Oligosoma maccanni</i>

Understanding the factors that drive population persistence and growth is fundamental to both conservation management and evolutionary biology. Internal (maternal) and external (environmental) factors can affect female reproductive output, and in oviparous reptiles both may strongly influence offspring phenotype and quality. However, the link between these effects, their importance for reproductive output and offspring characteristics of live-bearing lizards, and whether population declines are linked to these factors in modified versus native habitats are unknown.

Introduced mammalian predators threaten populations of endemic New Zealand lizards but their effects on lizard populations have not been quantified on the mainland. We trialled the use of artificial cover objects (ACOs) for sampling small terrestrial lizards (the skinks Oligosoma maccanni, O. nigriplantare polychroma and O. inconspicuum, and gecko Hoplodactylus maculatus) in three experimental mammal-management treatments: a mammal-proof fence, two sites in an intensive mammal-removal area, and an experimental control site with no mammal removal.