A conservation conundrum in the Taranaki Bight

What to do when one taonga species is severely impacting the survival of another? This is the conservation conundrum Brendon Dunphy and colleagues from UoA, DOC, and the Zoological Society of London have been awarded GMCNE funding to investigate. Collaborating with kairangahau (researchers) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa the team will investigate a full suite of approaches to mitigate weka predation of tītī/Sooty shearwater/muttonbird chicks on Kāpiti Island. A key output will be formulating and assessing a set of effective weka control measures e.g., fencing, bespoke nestboxes, weka translocations, cultural harvests. Importantly, control measures will incorporate knowledge from mātauranga experts and selected via an iterative stakeholder assessment process. Weka predation is a key issue for many species across Aotearoa. Thus, the goal here is for tītī chicks to not only survive, but the species to thrive both on Kāpiti and across Aotearoa.

About the researcher

Brendon Dunphy, Faculty of Science