Field+Study

Investigating a pattern in a Population or Community.

New Zealand forests are a unique collection of species that have evolved together and in isolation from the rest of the world.

There are a number of programmes in New Zealand which study the state of our native birds and plants.

Mt Bruce kaka Programme.
Nine of the species were released to the wilderness reserve in the southern Tararua in 1996. The mountain is now home to more than 160 kaka. While the birds at Mt Bruce now were not all descended from those nine they had come to the mountain because of the pest control carried out there. "Kaka weren't here without it," Mt Bruce manager Kathy Houkamau said. A network of traps and bait stations across the mountain targets rats, ferrets, stoats, weasels and cats. "Pest control is not easy; it's kind of two steps forward and one step back. You have your successes and you have your loss

es, that's all part of the process." Mt Bruce holds a kaka feeding at 3pm each day. The forest has abundant food supply for Mt Bruce's kaka population, but the daily feeding lets visitors see the birds up close. Among those who have taken that opportunity recently was Aucklander Giles Bryant. Mr Bryant first learned about kaka at Zealandia in Wellington, where about 300 of the birds live. He stopped at Mt Bruce during a recen

t holiday to see the kaka there. "It's an incredible opportunity to see something up close that is so rare." Mrs Houkamau said with work at Mt Bruce funded primarily from public donations it was evident New Zealanders cared about their native species. "What that says to me is the community really value these species; kiwi in particular they value . . . and they want to see them surviving on the mainland." Considered a vulnerable species, kaka are parrots closely related to the kea. Reference http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/8136140/Mt-Bruce-kaka-population-soars

Bat Programmes
Habitat loss through clearance and logging of most of the fertile lowland native forests was a major factor in past declines of bats in New Zealand. Although large scale forest clearance ended in the

 1980s, bat numbers are still declining. Experts believe that without intervention, the two remaining bat species will probably disappear from the New Zealand mainland within the next 50 years. This continuing catastrophic decline in bat populations is a result of the onslaught of mammalian predators brought by European immigrants – including rats, possums, stoats and cats.

Although bats are now rarely seen in New Zealand, three species of bats were widespread and abundant about 700 years ago before the arrival of the first people. The greater short-tailed bat ( //Mystacina robusta //) died out on the mainland when Maori settlers and Pacific rats arrived and the species became extinct on its last island refuge in 1965 after an invasion of ship rats. 

Lesser short-tailed bats ( //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-LightOblique','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mystacina tuberculata //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">) are velvety grey-brown with large ears and a rounded tail membrane. They weigh about 15 grams, with a 280-300 mm wingspan, but are rarely seen because they fly after dark and do not usually leave their deep forest habitat. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">They eat fruit, pollen, nectar, and a wide range of insects, most of which they catch by furling their wings and walking through the forest floor lea<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">f litter.

[[image:opotikicollegebiology/bat 2.jpg align="right"]]
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Long-tailed bats ( //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-LightOblique','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Chalinolobus tuberculatus //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">) are chestnut brown, with small ears and a long <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">pointed tail membrane. They weigh 8 to 12 grams and have a 240-300 mm wingspan. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Flying over forest edges, lakes and slow moving rivers, they catch <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">insects using their extended tail membrane to scoop up their prey. Travelling at up to 60 km an hour, they can cover a range of as much as 100 sq km. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Heavy','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">NZ bat facts: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• Both remaining New Zealand bat species are forest dwelling <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• During daytime, colonies shelter in cavities in large old trees <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• Females only give birth to one pup a year <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• They usually live for more than 20 years <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• During cold weather bats hibernate, remaining inactive for more than a week <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Avenir-Light','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">• They see well but rely on sonar to navigate in the dark.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Top of the South Bat Project

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In 2008, Forest & Bird started work to find, monitor and protect bat populations in the top of the South Island. Initial results indicate that long-tailed bat numbers in the region have declined dramatically in the last 40 years. The long-tailed bat population found at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve is one of only three known bat populations in the region.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This dramatic decline in bat numbers is probably due to high predator numbers in the area, with its mild winters and moderate rainfall. High densities of introduced wasps have also had an impact, eating most of the forest insects and leaving little food for bats.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Forest & Bird volunteers are protecting the bat population at Pelorus Bridge by trapping predators such as possums, stoats, weasels, and rats.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Anyone wanting to find out more about the project can contact Julie McLintock on <span style="color: #1a0000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">03 545 0989 <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">or email <span style="color: #1a0000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">julie@vodafone.co.nz

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The work is funded through generous sponsorship and is supported by the Department of Conservation and Ngati Kuia <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Facts around Whio <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Here in the Eastern Bay of Plenty one project of national significance is the Whio Monitoring Project. We don't have to go too far from the beaten track to find Whio,but they should be more common than they are. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">What is known about this species? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Go to http://terranature.org/duckBlue.htm