Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Controlling sympatric pest mammal populations in New Zealand with self-resetting, toxicant-free traps: a promising tool for invasive species management

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Invasions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The control of invasive mammals is a key challenge for conservation biologists and management practitioners, particularly in locations with a high risk of re-invasion. Here, we tested whether sympatric populations of invasive mammal species could be suppressed simultaneously using self-resetting traps and toxicant-free baits. We used binomial GLM models to examine whether an intermittent pattern of trap checks could be used to predict kill rates under conditions of heavy scavenging. We also estimated the financial costs associated with deployment and maintenance of the multi-kill traps over 10 years, compared with those of aerial and ground-based poisoning methods. Trapping reduced the activity of all target species at the study site to ≤10 % within 9 months. Our results show that self-resetting traps are a promising tool for controlling multiple species of pest mammals on an island with a high potential for re-invasion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atkinson IAE (1986) Rodents on New Zealand’s offshore islands: distribution, effects and precautions against further spread. In: Wright AE, Beever RE (eds) The offshore islands of northern New Zealand. Information Series 14. NZ Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington, pp 13–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellingham PJ, Towns DR, Cameron EK, Davis JJ, Wardle DA, Wilmshurt JM, Mulder CPH (2010) New Zealand island restoration: seabirds, predators, and the importance of history. NZ J Ecol 34(1):115–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertolino S, Genovesi P (2003) Spread and attempted eradication of the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Italy, and consequences for the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Eurasia. Biol Conserv 109:351–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blackie HM, MacKay JWB, Allenm WJ, Smith DHV, Barrett B, Whyte BI, Murphy EC, Ross J, Shapiro L, Ogilvie S, Sam S, MacMorran D, Inder S, Eason CT (2013) Innovative developments for long-term mammalian pest control. Pest Manag Sci. doi:10.1002/ps.3627

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bourne J (2000) A history of rat control in Alberta. Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Edmonton

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell KJ, Beek J, Eason CT, Glen AS, Godwin J, Gould F, Holmes ND, Howald GR, Madden FM, Ponder JB, Threadgill DW, Wegmann AS, Baxter GS (2015) The next generation of rodent eradications: innovative technologies and tools to improve species specificity and increase their feasibility on islands. Biol Conserv 185:47–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JD, Forsyth D, Cowan P (2006) Review of research into alternatives to the use of 1080 for management of browsing damage by mammals in Tasmania. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0506/144. Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania

  • Courchamp F, Chapuis J-L, Pascal M (2003) Mammal invaders on islands: impact, control and control impact. Biol Rev 78:347–383

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cowan P, Clout M (2000) Possums on the move: activity patterns, home ranges, and dispersal. In: Montague TL (ed) The brushtail possum: biology, impact and management of an introduced marsupial. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, pp 24–34

    Google Scholar 

  • DOC [Department of Conservation] (2006) Island biosecurity best practice manual. Department of Conservation, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • DOC [Department of Conservation] (2012) Stewart Island/Rakiura conservation management strategy and Rakiura National Park management plan 2011–2021. Department of Conservation, Invercargill

    Google Scholar 

  • Eason CT, Fagerstone KA, Eisemann JD, Humphrys S, O’Hare JR, Lapidge SJ (2010) A review of existing and potential New World and Australasian vertebrate pesticides with a rationale for linking use patterns to registration requirements. Int J Pest Manage 56(2):109–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald G, Saunders L, Wilkinson R (1996) Public perceptions and issues in the present and future management of possums. MAF Policy Technical Paper 96/4. Ministry of Agriculture, Wellington

  • Fraiser A (2006) Public attitudes to pest control. DOC Research and Development Series. Department of Conservation, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin K (2013) Informational report on the use of Goodnature®A24 rat traps in Hawaii. Unpublished report, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, Research Corp. of the University of Hawaii, Oahu Army Natural Resources Program

  • Gillies CA, Williams D (2013) DOC tracking tunnel guide v2.5.2: using tracking tunnels to monitor rodents and mustelids. Science & Capability Group, Hamilton

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillies CA, Leach MR, Coad NB, Theobald SW, Campbell J, Herbert T, Graham PJ, Pierce RJ (2003) Six years of intensive pest mammal control at Trounson Kauri Park, a Department of Conservation “mainland island”, June 1996–July 2002. N Z J Zool 30(4):399–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillies C, Styche A, Bradfield P, Chalmers K, Leach M, Murphy E, Ward-Smith T, Warne R (2006) Diphacinone bait for ground control of rats on mainland conservation land. Science for Conservation 270, Science & Technical Publishing, Department of Conservation, NZ

  • Gillies C, Gorman N, Crossan I, Harawira R, Hawaikirangi R, Long J, McCool E (2013) A second progress report on DOC S&C Investigation 4276: operational scale trials of self-resetting traps for ground based pest control for conservation in NZ forests. Report DOCDM-1204612 4276, p 24. Department of Conservation, Hamilton

  • Gillies C, Gorman N, Crossan I, Harawira R, Hawaikirangi R, Long J, McCool E (2014) A third progress report on DOC S&C Investigation 4276: operational scale trials of self-resetting traps for ground based pest control for conservation in NZ forests. Report DOCDM-1204612 4276, p 24. Department of Conservation, Hamilton

  • Glen AS, Atkinson R, Campbell KJ, Hagen E, Holmes ND, Keitt BS, Parkes JP, Saunders A, Sawyer J, Torres H (2013) Eradicating multiple invasive species on inhabited islands: the next big step in island restoration? Biol Invasion 15:2589–2603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green WQ (1984) A review of ecological studies relevant to management of the common brushtail possum. In: Smith A, Hume I (eds) Possums and gliders. Surrey Beatty, Sydney, pp 483–499

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths R (2011) Targeting multiple species—a more efficient approach to pest eradication. In: Veitch CR, Clout MN, Towns DR (eds) Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, pp 172–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper GA, Bunbury N (2015) Invasive rats on tropical islands: their population biology and impacts on native species. Glob Ecol Conserv 3:607–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holubitsky J (2000) Any season is open season for these hunters. Edmont J: pp A1, A7. Oct 15

  • Innes JG (2005) Norway rat. In: King CM (ed) The handbook of New Zealand mammals, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp 56–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen P (2010) The Goodnature™ self-resetting possum kill trap evaluation of humaneness: 2010. Ministry for Primary Industries, NAWAC, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen P (2011) The Goodnature™ self-resetting rat and stoat kill trap evaluation of humaneness: 2011. Ministry for Primary Industries, NAWAC, Wellington

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolley WJ, Campbell KJ, Holmes ND, Garcelon DK, Hanson CK, Will D, Keitt BS, Smith G, Little AE (2012) Reducing the impacts of leg hold trapping on critically endangered foxes by modified traps and conditioned trap aversion on San Nicolas Island, California, USA. Conserv Evid 9:43–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Keitt B, Campbell K, Saunders A, Clout M, Wang Y, Heinz R, Newton K, Tershy B (2011) The global islands invasive vertebrate eradication database: a tool to improve and facilitate restoration of island ecosystems. In: Veitch CR, Clout MN, Towns DR (eds) Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, pp 74–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Keitt B, Griffiths R, Boudjelas S, Broome K, Cranwell S, Millett J, Pitt W, Samaniego-Herrera A (2015) Best practice guidelines for rat eradication on tropical islands. Biol Conserv 185:17–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leirs H (2002) Why do some rodents become a pest, while others barely survive? Lutra 45:75–82

    Google Scholar 

  • McIlroy J (1992) The effect on Australian animals of 1080-poisoning campaigns. In: Paper 54, Proceedings of the Fifteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference

  • Nathan HW, Clout MN, MacKay JWB, Murphy EC, Russell JC (2015) Experimental island invasion of house mice. Popul Ecol. doi:10.1007/s10144-015-0477-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Norbury GL, Pech RP, Byrom AE, Innes J (2015) Density-impact functions for terrestrial vertebrate pests and indigenous biota: guidelines for conservation managers. Biol Conserv 191:409–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NPCA [National Possum Control Agencies] (2010) Possum population monitoring using the WaxTag® method

  • O’Connor CE, Eason CT (2000) Rodent baits and delivery systems for island protection. Science for Conservation No. 150, Department of Conservation, Wellington

  • Parkes JP (1993) Feral goats: designing solutions for a designer pest. N Z J Ecol 17(2):71–83

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2015) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org

  • Russell JC, Clout MN (2005) Rodent incursions on New Zealand islands. In: Parkes J, Statham M, Edwards G (comps) Proceedings of the 13th Australasian vertebrate pest conference. Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand 45: pp 324–330

  • Russell JC, Towns DR, Anderson SH, Clout MN (2005) Intercepting the first rat ashore. Nature 487:7062

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell JC, Towns DR, Beaven BM, MacKay JWB, Clout MN (2008) Testing island biosecurity systems for invasive rats. Wildl Res 35:215–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakamoto Y, Ishiguro M, Kitagawa G (1986) Akaike information criterion statistics. D. Reidel Publishing, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Samaniego-Herrera A, Anderson DP, Parkes JP, Aguirre-Muñoz A (2013) Rapid assessment of rat eradication after aerial baiting. J Appl Ecol 50(6):1415–1421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherley M (2007) Is sodium fluoroacetate (1080) a humane poison? Anim Welf 16:449–458

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2011) Today Tiritiri Matangi, tomorrow the world! are we aiming too low in invasives control? In: Veitch CR, Clout MN (eds) Turning the tide: the eradication of invasive species. IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, pp 4–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiess A-N (2013) qpcR: modelling and analysis of real-time PCR data. R package version 1.3–7.1. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=qpcR

  • Temple-Smith PD (1984) Reproductive structures and strategies in possums and gliders. In: Smith A, Hume I (eds) possums and gliders. Surrey Beatty, Sydney, pp 89–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Tompkins DM, Veltman CJ (2006) Unexpected consequences of vertebrate pest control: predictions from a four-species community model. Ecol Appl 16(3):1050–1061

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Towns DR, Broome KG (2003) From small Maria to massive Campbell: forty years of rat eradications from New Zealand islands. N Z J Zool 30:377–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Towns DR, Atkinson IAE, Daugherty CH (2006) Have the harmful effects of introduced rats on islands been exaggerated? Biol Invasions 8:863–891

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warburton B, Cullen R (1995) Cost-effectiveness of different possum control methods. Science for Conservation 4, Science & Technical Publishing, Department of Conservation, NZ

  • Warburton B, Thomson C (2002) Comparison of three methods for maintaining possums at low density. Science for Conservation No. 189, Department of Conservation, Wellington

  • Ward GD (1978) Habitat use and home-range of radio-tagged opossums Trichosurus vulpecula (Kerr) in New Zealand lowland forest. In: Montgomery GG (ed) The ecology of lowland folivores. Smithonian Institution Press, Washington, pp 267–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickham H (2009) ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank field volunteers from the East Taranaki Environment Trust; Nick Beckers, Mark Caskey, Joanna Greig, Bob Schumacher and Karen Schumacher; and Dean Caskey from Taranaki Regional Council. We thank Gerard Hill from Edge Effect, Te Anau for undertaking the cost estimation. We are grateful for the assistance of numerous staff from the New Zealand Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, especially Klaartje van Schie and two landowners for permission to install traps in the privately owned areas of Native Island. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier manuscript. Support for this study was provided by the Future of Predator Control Unit of the Department of Conservation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Anna Carter

  2. Goodnature Limited, 4-12 Cruickshank St., Wellington, 6022, New Zealand

    Stu Barr, Craig Bond, Grace Paske & Robert van Dam

  3. Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, 18-32 Manners St., Wellington, 6011, New Zealand

    Darren Peters

Authors
  1. Anna Carter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stu Barr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Craig Bond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Grace Paske
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Darren Peters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Robert van Dam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Carter.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Financial support for this project was provided by the Future of Predator Control Unit of the NZ Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai. The funding body did not influence the study design, collection/analysis of data or writing/submission of this manuscript. Financial benefit may be incurred from publication of this manuscript for authors Stu Barr, Craig Bond and Robert van Dam, as founders and directors of Goodnature Ltd., and author Grace Paske, as a permanent employee of Goodnature Ltd.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Carter, A., Barr, S., Bond, C. et al. Controlling sympatric pest mammal populations in New Zealand with self-resetting, toxicant-free traps: a promising tool for invasive species management. Biol Invasions 18, 1723–1736 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1115-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1115-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation