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Landscape-scale trapping of stoats (Mustela erminea) benefits tokoeka (Apteryx australis) in the Murchison Mountains, Fiordland, New Zealand

  • Publication Type

    Journal

  • Publication Year

    2016

  • Author(s)

    J. Tansell; H.K. Edmonds; H.A. Robertson

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    63, 1

  • Pagination

    1-8

  • Article Type

    Paper

Keywords

Apteryx australis; conservation; kiwi; Mustela erminea; population dynamics; predator control; stoat; tokoeka


Landscape-scale trapping of stoats (Mustela erminea) benefits tokoeka (Apteryx australis) in the Murchison Mountains, Fiordland, New Zealand

Notornis, 63 (1), 1-8

J. Tansell; H.K. Edmonds; H.A. Robertson (2016)

Article Type: Paper

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A 15,000 ha low-intensity stoat (Mustela erminea) trapping network was established in the Murchison Mountains in 2002, primarily to protect the last natural population of the critically endangered takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri). We compared the productivity and survival of threatened southern brown kiwi or tokoeka (Apteryx australis) living in 3 valleys that were covered by this trapping network with those in a nearby valley that was left untreated. Chick survival to 6 months old was significantly higher in the trapped areas (37%) than in the untrapped area (19%). This doubling of chick survival was sufficient to change the rate of population growth, as derived from Leslie matrix analyses, from a projected decline of 1.6% per annum without management to a projected increase of 1.2% per annum with trapping.