New Zealand Journal of Zoology
abstracts
How did invertebrates respond
to eradication of rats from Kapiti Island, New Zealand?
Lisa Sinclair1,*
Jay McCartney2
Jarn Godfrey3
Shirley Pledger4
Mike Wakelin1
Greg Sherley1
1Department
of Conservation
Science and
Research Unit
P.O. Box 10 420
Wellington, New Zealand
2Ecology
Department
Institute of
Natural Resources
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand
338
Takahe Street
Kaitaia
Northland, New Zealand
4School
of Mathematical and Computing Science
Victoria
University
P.O. Box 600
Wellington, New Zealand
*Present address: 30a Govind
Grove, Ngaio, Wellington.
Abstract Kapiti
Island is an important wildlife sanctuary off the west coast of the
North Island, New Zealand. Restoration of the island after human
occupation has included a 60-year programme of eradication of 10 pest
mammals, ending with the removal of Norway and Pacific rats in 1996
using brodifacoum rodenticide bait. We monitored the impact of rat
removal on invertebrate communities using pitfall traps. Three years
after rat eradication we detected a significant decrease in
invertebrate catch frequency and diversity, most obvious in the
Carabidae and Amphipoda. Site and season accounted for most of the
variation in the data. A four-fold increase in the conspicuousness and
condition of some insectivorous birds, and fluctuations between El
Niño and La Niña weather
patterns may have affected the “recovery” of the island invertebrates.
Keywords conservation;
island restoration; eradication; Kapiti Island; Carabidae; Amphipoda;
Isopoda; Orthoptera; Zoropsidae; weta; weka; Rattus;
kiore; Norway rat; species richness; abundance; pest control
Z04031; Received 23 August
2004; accepted 31 July 2005; Online publication date 20 September 2005
New Zealand Journal of
Zoology, 2005, Vol. 32: 293–315
0301–4223/05/3204–0293 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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