snow tussock

Stoat density, diet and survival compared between alpine grassland and beech forest habitats

In New Zealand, alpine grasslands occur above the treeline of beech forest. Historically stoat control paradigms in New Zealand’s montane natural areas have assumed alpine grassland is a marginal habitat that limits dispersal between beech forest stoat populations. We compared the summer-to-autumn (January–April) density, weight, diet and winter survival of stoats between these two habitatsduring years of low beech seedfall.