Monitoring

Environment Southland carries out a number of monitoring programmes on certain pest species and in areas of high value throughout the Southland region.

Monitoring is carried out for many reasons, some of which are to:

determine the progress and effectiveness of pest control for a specific pest or area;
gather information about the presence/absence or abundance of a pest species;
help with planning of future pest programmes;
provide independent monitoring to support community groups with their pest related activities; and
measure the effect of pest activities on non-target pests and biodiversity values.

There are two main types of monitoring which are commonly used to help determine and monitor progress of pest programmes. They are 'Result monitoring' (to measure the success of pest control on a targeted pest species) and 'Outcome monitoring' (to measure the effect that pest control activities are having on non-target pest species).

Useful links

For protocols and information on pest animal monitoring go to the National Possum Control Agency (NPCA) at http://www.npca.org.nz.
For guidelines on how to set up monitoring on your own property check out the Forest Monitoring and Assessment Kit (FORMAK) at http://www.formak.co.nz.

Monitoring programmes

Environment Southland manages the following pest and biodiversity monitoring programmes:

Possums

Possum monitoring is carried out in key areas where information about possum abundance is required. This is usually done before or after a control activity has been carried out, for example a trapping or baiting period.

Possum monitoring is also carried out in areas where community based groups manage pest related activities and within the Possum Control Area programme.

In most cases, one of the following standard monitoring methods is used to estimate possum abundance. These methods are nationally recognised, and are:

Residual trap catch (RTC)
WaxTags
Chew cards.

Rabbits

Each year Environment Southland carries out three types of rabbit monitoring within the Southland region to help monitor rabbit abundance:

Region wide rabbit monitoring –100 sites are monitored annually across the region to gauge overall trends in rabbit numbers.
Night count rabbit inspections – three sites have bi-annual night count inspections carried out.
'Day' rabbit inspections on properties/areas of concern. Approximately 20-30 properties are inspected over autumn or winter months to estimate rabbit levels.

For best practice guidelines on rabbit monitoring check out the National Possum Control Agency (NPCA) at www.npca.org.nz

Rodents

Monitoring of rodents, using tracking tunnels, can be a useful tool to monitor rodent and mustelid numbers (see Mustelid section). It does not provide a direct measure of population density, but more a measure of activity.

The tracking tunnel technique uses a 'run through' tunnel with two pieces of paper either side of a sponge soaked in a tracking medium (like a food colouring solution). An animal passes through the tunnel, picks up the tracking medium on its feet, and when it exits the tunnel it leaves behind foot prints on the papers. The footprints can then be 'read' and percentages of animals present can be estimated.

Tracking tunnels can be used to monitor a variety of animals from large insects to whatever can fit through the tunnels (e.g. hedgehogs, young possum, kittens).

Environment Southland currently carries out monitoring of rodents using the tracking tunnel method at three sites:

Mores Scenic Reserve, Riverton.
Bluff Hill/Motupohue Scenic Reserve, Bluff.
Omaui Scenic Reserve, Omaui (no control site).

The 'no control' site, at the Omaui Scenic Reserve, means there is currently no formal pest control carried out at this site. It can therefore be useful to compare this site with monitoring results from sites where pest related activities have been carried out.

Bluff Hill tracking tunnel monitoring is carried out on a quarterly basis (February, May, August and November) and the programme at Mores Reserve and Omaui is carried out bi-annually.

Want to track which animals are present in your house or garden?

You can make your own tracking tunnels at home to track which pests are in your house or garden, with equipment you probably already have at home.

All you will need is some cardboard or plastic milk bottles, an old kitchen sponge, peanut butter, paper, food colouring.

Check out http://www.doc.govt.nz/getting-involved/home-and-garden/track-down-your-garden-pests/ to find out exactly what to do.

For more information on other pest animal monitoring we carry out, including mustelids, ants and rooks, contact us on 0800 76 88 45, or check back here regularly for updates.

Biodiversity

Bird counts

'Five minute bird counts' are a method used to estimate abundance of bird species. The method involves standing at a series of stations and counting the number and species of birds seen and heard over five minutes.

The five minute bird count method is commonly used by individuals, groups and agencies to monitor the biodiversity values in an area. This could be where a pest control activity has been carried out and the individual or group is interested in monitoring the effect that has on bird numbers.

Five minute bird counts are a cheap and easy method. They are robust and the technique is well established and nationally recognised.

Environment Southland carries out five minute bird counts at four sites in Southland on a quarterly basis:

Mores Scenic Reserve, Riverton.
Bluff Hill/Motupohue Scenic Reserve, Bluff.
Bushy Point, Otatara.
Omaui Scenic Reserve, Omaui (no control site, that is, where no pest control is carried out).

For more on 'five minute bird counts' go to http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/five-minute-bird-counts/

If you would like to know more about any of the monitoring programmes that the Biosecurity team manages, contact us on 0800 76 88 45 or email service@es.govt.nz.

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