translocation outcome

Monitoring the response of wildlife populations to conservation management, such as translocations, is crucially important for assessing its effectiveness. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an emerging tool for monitoring cryptic and elusive species and is increasingly used in the management of kiwi. Inferences from data collected by PAM can be largely improved by occupancy analysis. By modelling occupancy, we overcome the issue of incomplete detectability, which would otherwise lead to underestimating actual site occupancy.

Translocations of kiwi (Apteryx spp.) are one of the most common and growing types of conservation translocations in New Zealand. However, their outcomes remain mostly unpublished, which does not allow for sharing of lessons learnt from past developments. We reviewed 102 kiwi translocations from the 19th century until 2018, and identified factors affecting their outcome. North Island brown kiwi (A.