Mammalian Pests in the Waikato Region

Breedt, Brandon

Mammalian Pests in the Waikato Region

dc.contributor.advisor	King, Carolyn M.
dc.contributor.author	Breedt, Brandon
dc.date.accessioned	2018-02-14T20:50:19Z
dc.date.available	2018-02-14T20:50:19Z
dc.date.issued	2017
dc.date.updated	2017-06-23T01:34:09Z
dc.description.abstract	This project aimed to use camera traps to study the distribution of seven important mammalian pests across the three main vegetation types of the Waikato Region and to see if this method is a more informative alternative to other passive detection methods. For this study, the species of interest are the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), ship rat (Rattus rattus), house mouse (Mus musculus), stoat (Mustela erminea), ferret (Mustela putorius), and weasel (Mustela nivalis). The objectives of this study were to 1) calculate the distribution of each mammalian pest within the three main vegetation types of the Waikato Region 2) to determine site occupancy i.e. patchiness of species distribution within these habitats, and the probability of detection where they are present and 3) to evaluate whether the above parameters are influenced by the seasons and/or interactions between the species. To meet these objectives, I measured five parameters related to site occupancy and activity levels for each species, and use the results to present an estimate of the proportion of the Waikato Region occupied by each species. These analyses suggest that suggest that species distributions are very much dependent on habitat, but a large portion of all species was accounted for by pastoral areas. Even when species are not particularly abundant on pasture, it makes up more than half of the Waikato, and as such is potentially a source for reinvasions of controlled areas when not cleared in concert with the surrounding areas.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.format.mimetype	application/zip
dc.identifier.citation	Breedt, B. (2017). Mammalian Pests in the Waikato Region (Thesis, Master of Science (Research) (MSc(Research))). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/11653	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/11653
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	pest
dc.subject	mammal
dc.subject	site-occupancy
dc.title	Mammalian Pests in the Waikato Region
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (Research) (MSc(Research))