Kararehe Kino — Vertebrate Pest Research Issue 25
March 2015 — Research uptake and impact
In this issue
![25 tui Tui. Image - Rod Dickson](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/86784/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Editorial – What use is research?
Landcare Research, like all Crown Research Institutes, has agreed a set of national ‘outcomes’ with Government. In pest management, desired outcomes are to improve the protection of New Zealand's terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity and to increase the ability of New Zealand industries to meet market and community requirements.
![25 feral cat photographed by a motion-triggered camera A feral cat photographed by a motion-triggered camera in Hawke’s Bay farmland.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0009/86787/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Wide-scale predator control for biodiversity in Hawke’s Bay
Introduced predators are implicated in the extinction of 33 terrestrial vertebrate species since European settlement in New Zealand. To prevent further extinctions, predator control must be undertaken on a scale sufficient to allow populations of native animals to recover.
![25 mega mast thumb Image – Rowan Buxton](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0005/86792/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
‘Mega-masts’, climate change and the management of invasive mammals
It is well known that many New Zealand plants periodically have years with very high seed production (called masts) and that, for beech forests, populations of invasive rodents increase substantially in mast years. This, in turn, leads to a build-up of populations of stoats and increased predation on indigenous species by rodents and stoats.
![Fig. 2 Spatially explicit sentinel surveillance <strong>Fig. 2</strong> Spatially explicit sentinel surveillance. For each pig necropsied, a TB-detection kernel is created in a GIS, as depicted graphically, with the radius of the kernel related to average home range size and the height of the kernel to the probability of TB detection by pigs. Image - Graham Nugent](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0011/86798/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Quantitative assessment of TB freedom in possums
Sometimes, inspired ideas have to wait before they can be implemented. For example, the value of having a quantitative tool for assessing the probability that bovine tuberculosis (TB) had been eliminated from possums in a local area was recognised 8 years before that tool was first used in 2012.
![25 possum in leg hold trap Image – Caroline Thomson](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0005/86801/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Reducing the cost of DOC’s biodiversity monitoring
Robust biodiversity monitoring programmes are expensive and time-consuming, especially when conducted at large scales. As such, it is important to identify ways of monitoring more quickly and more cheaply without a loss in the quality of information collected.
![Two ferrets a stoat and a weasel Two ferrets (male & female), a stoat and a weasel (top to bottom) all trapped during HBRC predator control operations. Image – G. Dickson](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0011/86807/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Predator control benefits native species but not rabbits
Landcare Research scientists have been working with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to measure the effectiveness of the council’s predator control operations in protecting native biodiversity, and to review the evidence around a potentially contentious pest control issue concerning landowners in the region.
![25 Vegetation plot in the Zora catchment Vegetation plot in the Zora catchment (1999). In each measurement, the condition of at least 20 individual tagged tussocks is assessed, along with overall cover of all plant species present. Thar activity around each plot is assessed using faecal pellet counts. Image – DOC](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/86811/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Impact of Himalayan thar on snow tussock grasslands in the Southern Alps
Following their introduction into New Zealand in 1904, Himalayan thar (tahr) colonised over 8000 km2 and their population grew to over 50,000. However, during the 1970s, aerial commercial hunting reduced their numbers to less than 5000. In 1983, commercial hunting was temporarily banned allowing thar populations to partly recover.
![25 possum ground thumb Map of the study site showing different habitat types. Red dots represent chewcard locations](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0005/86819/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Improving possum ground control in the southern South Island
Brushtail possums are the main wildlife reservoir of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in New Zealand, and are primarily responsible for the transmission of TB from wildlife to livestock.
![tox lab thumbnail](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0019/30646/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
The Landcare Research Toxicology Laboratory – analyses and advice for vertebrate pesticide testing
The Landcare Research Toxicology Laboratory was established in 1989 and specialises in analysing environmental samples for traces of vertebrate pesticides such as 1080, cyanide and various anticoagulants.
![Mexican dung beetle Mexican dung beetle – one of the beetles introduced in 1956 into New Zealand pastures.](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0008/86822/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Understanding infectious disease risks of dung beetle releases into New Zealand
Eleven exotic species of dung-burying beetles were approved for release into New Zealand’s agricultural pastures by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2011, to join four previously introduced species.
![25 Cresco aircraft The Cresco aircraft (modified by Ravensdown Aero Work) used in this trial being loaded with bait. Image – Grant Morriss](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0003/86826/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Back to the future – using fixed-wing aircraft for aerial application of 1080 baits
Aerial application of 1080 bait is the only cost-effective option for controlling possums and ship rats over large areas of remote forest in New Zealand.
![KK publications thumb](https://oldwww.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0010/71767/varieties/thumb200.jpg)
Some recent vertebrate-pest-related publications
Some recent vertebrate-pest-related publications.