vertebrate pest control

He nui nga mātauranga a te Māori (Ngai Tūhoe) e pā ana ki nga momo hua tāokeoke (Toxins) e taea ana te whakarite hei rauemi tāwai i ngā riha kīrearea, pērā anō ki nga whiu takarangi o te tāoke 1080. I whakamātauhia e matou i nga ira tāoke o roto o te hua Tutu, ki rō taiwhanga pūtaiao. Mā te wero atu ki tētahi kiore (Norway Rat) i hua mai ngā mohiotanga o te nui me te momo o ngā tāokeoke kei roto i tēnei miro Māori, me te āhua o tēnei tāoke kia mau-rohā tonu tōna tuku whakahemo (Humaneness).

The study of pastures, pests (rabbits and caterpillars) and sheep productivity by Barlow (1987; New Zeal J Ecol 10: 43–55) is reviewed, updated and extended. Pasture growth was modelled as a dynamic process, though sheep and rabbit abundance were not dynamic. The model predicted that there was a parabolic relationship between sheep productivity and sheep stocking rate with the effects of rabbits being to shift the relationship lower and to the left.

The effects of an aerial 1080 possum poison operation using carrot baits on invertebrates in Whirinaki Forest Park are described from an un-replicated study of artificial refuges attached to tree trunks. Auckland tree weta (Hemideina thoracica), cave weta (Pharmacus sp.

Five-minute bird counts were made on Rangitoto Island in 1998 and 1999, 8 and 9 years after the start, and 1 and 2 years after the completion of a 7-year programme that resulted in eradication of the introduced brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and brushtailed rock wallaby (Petrogale penicillata). These were compared with counts made in 1990 (immediately before the start of the programme), to assess whether bird species diversity and abundance had increased as a result of the eradications. The number of bird species detected in 1998/99 was similar to 1990.

Artificial refuges and mark-recapture techniques were used to monitor the non-target impacts of handbroadcast application (simulating aerial application) of Wanganui No.7 cereal-based baits containing 0.15% (1500 µg g-1) 1080 on populations of weta and other invertebrates in Tararua Forest Park, North Island, New Zealand. Wellington tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) and a cave weta (Isoplectron sp.) were the only species of weta that occupied the refuges.

This study was initiated in response to concerns that vertebrate pest control operations in New Zealand may be having deleterious impacts on invertebrate populations and, secondarily, on insectivorous non-target vertebrate populations. Invertebrates feeding on non-toxic baits of the types used for vertebrate pest control were collected and identified. The bait types were diced carrots and three types of cereal-based baits (No.7, RS5, and AgTech).

Distance sampling and fixed-width strip-transect counts were compared as methods for estimating population trends of the tomtit (Petroica macrocephala) from late September / early October to early November 2004, before and after aerial 1080-poisoning for control of the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Two observers independently recorded the distance and compass bearing to tomtits detected along 36 transect lines in each of two forests (one prefed with non-toxic bait and one not prefed).

To investigate the potential for mortality or sublethal effects in the tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) as the result of exposure to baits used for rodent control, and the potential secondary hazard to non-target species, captive weta were offered Ditrac® wax block bait containing the anticoagulant diphacinone. Bait consumption was recorded daily for the first week and then weekly. Weta were sampled in groups of four following 1, 4, 8, 6, 3, and 64 days of exposure to bait and analysed to determine the concentration of diphacinone residues in their bodies.