Eradicating the Last 1% (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research)

Manaaki WhenuaWith MBIE Endeavour Programme funding, this co-funded project aims to understand if there are individual behaviours (‘personalities’) that make predators surviving current control approaches ‘resistant’ to such methods, and to use that knowledge to develop new lures that increase their interactions with control devices. Manaaki Whenua is working collaboratively with iwi and hapū to co-develop approaches that are culturally acceptable to tangata whenua, drawing on traditional and current pest control mātauranga Māori.

Output:
Interim Report
Final Report

Carbon Accounting (Island Conservation)

Clare NZCo-funded by Clare, this project aims to measure how much better our natural environment soaks up carbon without the ecosystem damage from pest animals. The teams’ retrospective analysis of almost 800 islands worldwide where pest eradication has already been carried out, combines artificial intelligence and remote sensing of vegetation to quantify the carbon gains from restoration. If the research is successful, it may be possible to calculate the carbon gains from Predator Free 2050.

Output:
Final Report

Predator Management Strategy Modelling (Zach Carter)

Output:
Paper – Carter ZT, Hanson JO, Perry GLW, Russell JC 2022 Incorporating management action suitability in conservation plans. Journal of Applied Ecology 59: 2581-2592.

Brushtail Possum Diversification (David Carmelet-Rescan)

Output:
Paper – Carmelet-Rescan D, Morgan-Richards M, Pattabiraman N, Trewick SA 2022 Time-calibrated phylogeny and ecological niche models indicate Pliocene aridification drove intraspecific diversification of brushtail possums in Australia. Ecology and Evolution 12: e9633