Monitoring programmes are being used increasingly to assess spatial and temporal trends of biological diversity, with an emphasis on evaluating the efficiency of management policies. Recent reviews of the existing programmes, with a focus on their design in particular, have highlighted the main weaknesses: the lack of well-articulated objectives and the neglect of different sources of error in the estimation of biological diversity. We review recent developments in methods and designs that aim to integrate sources of error to provide unbiased estimates of change in biological diversity and to suggest the potential causes.

Monitoring of biological diversity in space and time

1. What are Allee effects? 2. Mechanisms for Allee effects 3. Population dynamics: modelling demographic Allee effects 4. Genetics and evolution 5. Conservation and management 6. Conclusions and perspectives

Allee Effects in Ecology and Conservation

https://crrc.unh.edu/sites/crrc.unh.edu/files/ei_1485.pdf

From comparative risk assessment to multi-criteria decision analysis and adaptive management: recent developments and applications.

Introduced rats are now being eradicated from many islands. Increasingly, these eradications are contested by activists claiming moral, legal, cultural, historic or scientific reasons and poorly documented evidence of effects. We reviewed the global literature on the effects of rats on island flora and fauna. We then used New Zealand as a case study because of its four-decade history of rat eradications and many detailed and innovative studies of how rats affect native species. These include use of exclosures, local manipulations of rat populations, video surveillance, and measurements of responses following eradications. The most intensive studies have been on the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), a small South-East Asian species spread by Polynesians throughout the Pacific. These and the more recently introduced Norway rat (R. norvegicus) and ship (roof) rat (R. rattus) suppress some forest plants, and are associated with extinctions or declines of flightless invertebrates, ground-dwelling reptiles, land birds, and burrowing seabirds. On islands off France, Norway rats are also implicated in declines of shrews. Globally, ship rats were associated with declines or extinctions of the largest number of indigenous vertebrate species (60), including small mammals such as deer mice and bats. Effects of rats on forest trees and seabird populations are sufficiently pervasive to affect ecosystem structure and function. However, the data are patchy. Deficiencies in our knowledge would be reduced by documenting distribution and abundance of indigenous species before and after eradications. Comprehensive measurements of the responses of indigenous species to rat eradications would enable the development of testable models of rat invasion effects.

Have the Harmful Effects of Introduced Rats on Islands been Exaggerated

http://www.lerf.esalq.usp.br/divulgacao/recomendados/artigos/maron2012.pdf

Faustian bargains? Restoration realities in the context of biodiversity offset policies

Successful recovery of North Island kokako Callaeas cinerea wilsoni populations, by adaptive management

Intensive management of a critically endangered species: the kakapo

Received 17 September 2005; accepted 20 December 2005 • Editor M.Williams Abstract The breeding biology of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) was investigated on offshore island refuges between 1990 and 2002. Male kakapo typically attended their display territories between October to April, with the primary courtship display, “booming”, usually beginning in January and ending in March. Mating was recorded from late December to March, with the median mating date falling in late January. Eggs were laid from early January to late March, with median dates of 24 January on Little Barrier Island and 7 February on Codfish and Pearl Islands. Females typically occupied a nest site eight days after their last mating (n = 44) and laid their first egg two days later (n = 40). Subsequent eggs were laid at three day intervals (n = 41). The mean and modal clutch sizes were 2.53 and 3 respectively, (range = 1 4, n = 54). Mean mass of fresh eggs was 40.53g (n = 122). Incubation began immediately after the first egg had been laid and the average incubation period was 30 days (n = 28). Mean nestling and fledgling periods were 72.4 (n = 27) and 246 days (n = 25) respectively. Male chicks began to grow more rapidly than females approximately one third through the nestling period. The mean fledging weights of 14 male and 14 female chicks were 1.93 and 1.72 kg respectively. Male kakapo are capable of mating at five years of age. Three known-age females first nested at 9, 10 and 11 years of age, respectively. Comparison with close relatives suggests that some aspects of kakapo breeding biology are evolutionarily conservative.

https://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_53_1_27.pdf

Breeding biology of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island sanctuaries, 1990-2002

The reproduction of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island refuges was monitored between 1990 and 2002. Productivity was primarily determined by the proportion of females that nested each breeding year. Within the same island, the proportion of females nesting each breeding year ranged between 33 - 95% but, as a proportion of the total female population, was just 5 - 42% between 1990 and 1999. The deliberate placement of the entire adult female population on Codfi sh Island (Whenua Hou) in anticipation of an exceptional fruit crop resulted in 95% of them nesting in 2002, raising 24 fl edglings and increasing the total population by 39%. Although efforts to increase the frequency of kakapo breeding by providing supplementary food have been unsuccessful, nesting and fl edging success increased signifi cantly following the introduction of new, more intensive, management methods in 1995. Hatching success has, however, remained poor, with just 42% of eggs hatching. Comparison with related parrot species suggests that the kakapo's hatching success is unusually low, perhaps because of inbreeding. Despite infrequent breeding and poor hatching success, the kakapo population has increased by 69% from 51 birds in 1995 to 86 in 2002. The female population has increased from 21 birds in 1995 to 41 in 2002, 20 of which are presently less than 10 years old.

https://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_53_1_138.pdf

Productivity of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island refuges Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island refuges Strigops habroptilus

In recent years the possibility of environmental oestrogens affecting the reproduction of vertebrates has become an issue of both public and scientific interest. Although the significance of such chemicals remains controversial there is clear evidence that, in some contexts, environmental oestrogens can influence the fertility of vertebrates. Highly endangered species represent a situation in which even modest reductions in the fertility of key individuals may have implications for the survival of the entire species. This paper reports the screening of both natural and supplementary foods of the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), a critically endangered New Zealand nocturnal parrot, for oestrogenic activity using a recombinant yeast based bioassay. Low levels of oestrogenic activity were detected in one of the ‘chick-raising’ foods, but no oestrogenic activity was detected in the adult supplementary foods. The oestrogenicity of a range of phytochemicals possibly associated with the kakapo natural diet was also examined. Two such phytochemicals, podocarpic acid and its reduced derivative podocarpinol, showed weak oestro-genic activity (approximately 10 –6 and 10 –4 of the activity of 17-b -oestradiol, respectively).

Paul W. Jansen

Papers

Successful recovery of North Island kokako Callaeas cinerea wilsoni populations, by adaptive management

Intensive management of a critically endangered species: the kakapo

Breeding biology of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island sanctuaries, 1990-2002

Productivity of kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island refuges Strigops habroptilus) on offshore island refuges Strigops habroptilus

Screening the foods of an endangered parrot, the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), for oestrogenic activity using a recombinant yeast bioassay.