New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Z00002
Received 5 April 2000; accepted 17 August 2000

Relative abundance of mammalian predators in the upper Waitaki Basin, South Island, New Zealand

RACHEL J. KEEDWELL^*
KERRY P. BROWN

Department of Conservation
Private Bag
Twizel, New Zealand

^*Present address: Ecology Section, Institute of  Natural Resources, Massey University, Private Bag  11-222, Palmerston North.

Abstract   An intensive predator trapping programme was implemented in the upper Waitaki Basin, New Zealand from October 1997 to January 1998. The aim of the programme was to prevent increased predation on vulnerable braided river fauna following decline in rabbits due to rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). Fourteen sites were trapped using a standardised method, and trap catch results provided a relative index of predator abundance. In 101 650 trapnights, 1067 hedgehogs, 328 ferrets, 196 cats, 96 rats and 69 stoats were caught. Predator guilds varied among sites and guild composition tended to change through time; for example, stoat and rat catch rates increased. Cat and ferret catch rates increased in the last month of trapping, which suggested that juvenile dispersal and immigration by adult predators from surrounding areas were high. This study provides baseline information on predator abundance and predator guilds in the upper Waitaki Basin against which future trapping programmes can be compared, in order to assess changes in predator populations since the introduction of RHD.

Keywords  Predator abundance; cats (Felis catus); ferrets (Mustela furo); stoats (M. erminea); hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus occidentalis); rats (Rattus sp.); rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD)

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 31-38
0301-4223/00/2801-0031 $7.00/0   (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2001



PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (535K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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