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More Birds in the Bush: End of programme update

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The MBIE-funded More Birds in the Bush Endeavour Research Programme was completed in 2024. This webinar event shared some results of the research completed through a wide range of collaborations in the programme.

The presentations below were given across two days and broken up into five sessions. These sessions covered the following themes and are available to watch in this playlist: Introduction (Session 1), Resources and predators (Session 2), Predators, management and surveillance (Session 3), Bird outcomes (Session 4), and Bringing it together (Session 5).

The Q&A sessions from Days 1 and 2 are edited together at the end of each day’s presentations.

Session 1: Introduction

Roles of predation and resources in forest bird declines and limitation, John Innes

Session 2: Resources and predators

How do omnivores affect resources in warm forests? Effects of separately removing possums and ship rats in Tuawhenua forests, Jo Carpenter

Predictors of podocarp masting through time, Adrian Monks

Low-elevation ship rat reservoirs, forest bird thermal refuges, and beech masts, Susan Walker

What were ship rats eating across a forest elevation gradient and mast cycle at Lake Alabaster? Jo Carpenter

How will resources in beech systems change under climate change? Adrian Monks

How will ship rats respond to climate change in beech forests? Giorgia Vattiato

Session 3: Predators, management and surveillance

A brief history of DOC's large-forest predator management and surveillance regimes, Graeme Elliott

How can we relate rat density to tracking indices? Dean Anderson

Effects of aerial management and stoat trapping on rodent and stoat tracking rates, Susan Walker

Rat, mouse, and stoat kills in past aerial management operations, Josh Kemp

Least cost pathways and ship rat reinvasion, James Griffiths

Q&A from day 1

Session 4: Bird outcomes

Bird outcomes of multiple aerial management operations in large forests, Graeme Elliott

One step forward and two steps back: are feral cats unwinding early gains for whio and kea? Josh Kemp & Jason Malham

Do temperature and invasive species determine vital rates of New Zealand’s forest birds? Anne Schlesselmann

Breeding dispersal and connectivity of kakaruwai outside a fenced sanctuary, Manaia Pearman-Fenton

Reintroduced toutouwai population outcomes in large unfenced forests, Zoe Stone

Using count data and habitat connectivity to quantify and predict the success of reintroductions of a small arboreal passerine, Kevin Parker

Building better predictions to improve the success of forest bird translocations through adaptive management, Kara Macdermid

Session 5: Bringing it together

The broad scale model - How it works, where it is going, and remaining challenges, Dean Anderson

The broad scale model - Place-based control strategies and outcomes for different species, Anne Schlesselmann 

How what has been learned has changed management, and early results, Tristan Rawlence

Q&A from day 2

Unanswered questions

Key contacts

Susan Walker

Senior Researcher
Ecosystems & Conservation
Contact
Adrian Monks

Adrian Monks

Senior Researcher
Ecosystems & Conservation
Contact
John Innes

John Innes

Senior Researcher - Wildlife Ecology
Ecosystems & Conservation
Contact
Jo Carpenter

Jo Carpenter

Researcher – Conservation Ecology
Ecosystems & Conservation
Contact
Giorgia Vattiato

Giorgia Vattiato

Postgraduate
University of Canterbury
Link
Dean Anderson

Dean Anderson

Senior Researcher - Ecological Modeller
Wildlife Ecology & Management
Contact
Anne Schlesselmann

Anne Schlesselmann

Researcher – Conservation Ecology
Ecosystems & Conservation
Contact
Mandy Barron

Mandy Barron

Senior Scientist (Quantitative Ecologist)
Wildlife Ecology & Management
Contact