The Key Native Ecosystem (KNE) programme aims to protect some of the best examples of native ecosystems in the Wellington region. It is working to achieve this by managing, reducing, or removing threats to their values.
One of the primary threats to native plants and animals is introduced mammals, including rats and mustelids. Control of these pest animals is therefore undertaken at most KNE sites throughout the region. Regular monitoring is carried out to determine the effectiveness of these control efforts.
The purpose of this monitoring is to:
This report presents the latest results of the small mammal monitoring programme and is used to report on the KNE programme as a whole, inform the management of individual KNE sites, and communicate the outcomes of pest animal control to stakeholders, such as land owners and community groups.
Key small mammal monitoring results are presented in the map and table below. Long-term time series and monitoring information for each KNE site can be navigated to using the “Results” dropdown menu at the top of this page, or by clicking the chart icons ( ) in the right-hand table column below.
Usage guide: Toggle the top right tab options to see different tracking results on the map and table. Drag and scroll on the map to move and zoom in on areas of interest. Hover over map arrows or table rows to highlight that KNE area.
Abbreviations: KNE: Key Native Ecosystem, MI: Mainland Island, NTA: Non-treatment, WW: Western Wellington, %TTI: Percent tunnel tracking index, SE: standard error for the mean %TTI.
Notes: Not all species are monitored at each site so some table rows will have no data, and SE for Otari/Wilton’s Bush (WW Forests) is not calculated as this site has a single sample each monitor. See the individual results pages for more information.
Monitoring is conducted in eight monitoring areas, across the seven KNE sites shown above. Six of these monitoring areas are dominated by forest and the other two are coastal.
The forest areas were chosen because they are important bird breeding areas. Two of the forest areas, Western Wellington Forests (Johnsonville Park) and Porirua Western Forests, are also being used to trial different control techniques.
The two coastal monitoring areas, at Baring Head/Ōrua-pouanui and Queen Elizabeth Park, were chosen to improve our understanding of pest animal dynamics in coastal environments.
The boundaries of the KNE sites have changed since the monitoring started, but the monitoring area boundaries within them have remained the same. This allows us to compare the data from the monitoring area over time, while still reflecting what is happening within the KNE site. To distinguish these boundaries, both the KNE sites and monitoring areas are shown on the maps throughout.
Full monitoring data may be downloaded here, but please first contact our Greater Wellington (GW) Terrestrial Ecologists to discuss limitations of the dataset. Please also acknowledge GW when you use the data.
Banner photo attributions from left to right: hedgehog by Greater Wellington, ferrets by Malene Thyssen, ship rat by The Department of Conservation.