Research Article

Fenced ecosanctuaries provide critical refuges for native species vulnerable to predation and have driven major biodiversity gains. Understanding whether they can also support sustainable populations beyond their boundaries is an important next step. While previous studies have documented native species dispersing beyond ecosanctuaries, few have utilised methods that explicitly quantify dispersal and the establishment of resident birds.

Long-term monitoring is pivotal to understanding population trends in threatened species and quantifying the impact of conservation interventions. Effective monitoring methods are generally underdeveloped or absent for taxa inhabiting the alpine zone. In Aotearoa | New Zealand (NZ), the alpine zone covers c. 11% of the land mass and supports a diverse fauna of at least 34 native lizard species.

Ephemeral wetlands are naturally uncommon ecosystems that have become threatened in Aotearoa | New Zealand and include many glacially derived kettle holes (kettles) of the South Island. These kettles can be easily overlooked as wetlands, particularly when in a dry phase, thereby increasing their vulnerability.

Genomics can provide conservation-relevant insights into population size, genetic diversity, and connectivity with relatively little sampling effort. However, for frogs and other small vertebrates, invasive genetic sampling (e.g. toe-clipping) can impact animals’ long-term survival and welfare. Minimally-invasive genetic sampling methods may be required to facilitate robust conservation genomic studies of small vertebrates. In Aotearoa | New Zealand, previous genetic studies of the three native Leiopelma spp.

Control of introduced mammalian predators is important for the protection of pekapeka | lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) populations, but toxins used to control these predators may also pose a risk to bats when they forage on invertebrates that have consumed toxic bait or if bats directly consume bait.

In Aotearoa | New Zealand, conversion of low-yield high hill-country pasture farms to mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) forests to support the harvesting of high quality monofloral mānuka honey can provide an economic benefit for rural landowners. However, the effects of such conversions on the local ecosystem and biodiversity are largely unknown.

Globally, rapid human-caused climate change is posing one of the greatest emerging pressures on species and ecosystems. Uncertainty remains about how species will react to changing climate, particularly how vulnerable or adaptable and resilient they will be to changes and whether they can move to remaining favourable habitats. Here we report on a rapid trait-based climate change vulnerability assessment for all bat taxa resident in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Āwheto, also known as the vegetable caterpillar, is a taonga (treasure) of Aotearoa | New Zealand, produced when endemic Ophiocordyceps fungi infect ghost moth (Hepialidae) larvae and produce fruiting bodies extending from the infected larvae to above the forest floor. Despite its cultural importance, āwheto ecology is not well documented or understood. Partnering with kaitiaki (guardians), we paired mātauranga (Māori knowledge)-informed soil DNA assays with systematic field surveys to resolve āwheto ecology in a montane native forest.

Introduced mammalian predators have had dramatic impacts on the ecosystems of oceanic islands. While conservation strategies have been developed to suppress or eradicate them in a wide range of unpopulated habitats, their management in human-dominated landscapes is less advanced. Here, we assess the efficacy of urban predator control using two years (four sessions) of mammal monitoring data in before-after control-impact (BACI) experiments in Ōtepoti Dunedin and Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

Wetlands are a critical, though vulnerable, global carbon store, but the carbon stored in vegetation has not been quantified at a national scale for New Zealand wetlands. We undertook a literature review to assess vegetation carbon density in wetlands and used meta-analysis to estimate means and uncertainty for both vegetation structural classes and wetland type. We then used a combination of derived vegetation carbon densities alongside spatial extrapolation to estimate the amount of carbon stored in wetland vegetation in New Zealand.