Kararehe Kino — Vertebrate Pest Research Issue 29
May 2017 - High Tech Solutions to Pests and Diseases
In this issue
Editorial: Developing better tools for managing pests
This issue of Kararehe Kino highlights some of the latest advances in high tech solutions aimed at controlling pests and diseases. Such solutions will be crucial for the success of our Predator Free 2050 goal to eradicate rats, possums and stoats from the country.
Rapid Eradication Assessment (REA): a user-friendly web-based tool
Eradications of invasive species have been successful on islands all over the world. Following any eradication attempt it is necessary to confirm the success of the operation. Dean Anderson and researchers at the University of Auckland have developed a confirmation tool into a user-friendly graphical user interface that is accessible online
JESS (Just Enough Surveillance Sensitivity): a flexible decision support tool for TB surveillance
To reduce the threat to human and animal health, OSPRI (formerly the Animal Health Board) has made concerted efforts since 1994 to reduce and eliminate TB from wildlife. Andrew Gormley of Landcare Research has recently developed an online decision support tool to predict the best mix of possum and/or sentinel surveillance for any VCZ (vector control zone).
Thermal imaging cameras for animal detection
Thermal imaging cameras have been advancing rapidly over the past 10 years, with hunters, pest biologists and ecologists looking at their potential for detecting animal targets, pests and threatened species.
Biocontrol of wasps
Since 2014 Bob Brown and his colleagues at Landcare Research have been re-investigating the potential for using natural enemies for the biological control of invasive social (common and German) Vespula wasps, under funding from the Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF).
The Trojan Female Technique: a new approach to pest control
Recent advances in the fields of genomics and ecology offer new opportunities for the development of innovative approaches to pest control, of a kind that might have been considered the stuff of science fiction just a decade or two ago.
Development of lures for stoats
The proposal for a predator free New Zealand by 2050 has given greater urgency to the search for new tools and techniques for managing invasive species. Stoats rely heavily on scent for communication, which makes them an ideal target for olfactory lures.
From fruit fly to vertebrate pest control
A Smart Ideas concept recently submitted by Brian Hopkins to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment proposes to use the fruit-fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to provide an alternative, low-cost assay to decrease the time involved in discovering and developing species-selective vertebrate pest toxins.
One-hit elimination of multiple pests and TB: does aerial 1080 baiting even come close
Graham Nugent and colleagues used a combination of chew-card monitoring, leg-hold trapping, radio-collaring, trail-camera monitoring, and post-1080 carcass searches to assess the impact of an aerial 1080 operation on the abundance of large and small mammals in the Hauhungaroa Range in the winter of 2016.
The economics of using wireless networks for monitoring traps
Wireless systems have been developed recently to enable a wide range of environmental sensors to be monitored remotely and, if required, in real or close-to-real time. Bruce Warburton and colleagues worked with Hawke's Bay Regional Council to carry out an economic analysis of the ability of wireless solutions to reduce operational costs…
