New Zealand Journal of Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Melvyn (Mel) Peter Galbraith","authors":"G. Jones, Danielle Blanchon, David Pattermore, Marie Doole, Margaret Stanley, Shona Myers","doi":"10.20417/nzjecol.48.3563","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.48.3563","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":503053,"journal":{"name":"New Zealand Journal of Ecology","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140250744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatially explicit capture-recapture estimate of hedgehog population density in exotic grassland, New Zealand","authors":"Y. van Heezik, Lucie Simpson, Charlotte Patterson, Phillip Seddon, Deborah Wilson","doi":"10.20417/nzjecol.47.3555","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.47.3555","url":null,"abstract":": European hedgehogs ( Erinaceus europaeus) in New Zealand are considered a pest species due to their impacts on native species and are targeted in trapping programmes. A robust estimate of hedgehog population density using spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) is lacking and can provide the parameters σ (the spatial decay parameter for a half-normal home-range kernel to model the decline in encounter probability with distance between the home-range centre and trap) and ɡ 0 (the nightly probability of capture by a trap placed at the animal's home-range centre) needed to model optimal trapping or detection arrays. We estimated the density of hedgehogs in pasture habitat on the Otago Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand, using SECR during late February/early March as 0.46 ha −1 (95% confidence interval 0.26–0.82 ha −1 ; ɡ 0 = 0.02; σ = 85.7). The mean body mass of captured hedgehogs (482 g, range: 180–890g, n = 32) indicated a mix of adults and juveniles. Future research should evaluate prey availability as well as hedgehog density to develop a better understanding of the relationship between hedgehog abundance, prey availability, habitat and climate.","PeriodicalId":503053,"journal":{"name":"New Zealand Journal of Ecology","volume":"190 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139212371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Initial insights into leopard seal moult in Aotearoa New Zealand","authors":"Alexander A. Grabham, Krista van der Linde, Ingrid Visser, Ximena Nelson","doi":"10.20417/nzjecol.47.3553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.47.3553","url":null,"abstract":": Leopard seal ( Hydrurga leptonyx ) moult affects the application of glued tags used to monitor activity. Considering the possible effects of climate change on leopard seal activity and climate on pinniped moult, we assessed aspects of leopard seal moult in a warm region (New Zealand) of their range for the first time. Moult pelage colours resembled those found in their primary range and indicated a progressive degeneration akin to that of the pre-moult of other pinnipeds. Unexpectedly, pelage loss commonly resulted in black areas, that may be skin or short dark post-moult pelage. The reverse pattern of moult, reported for the first time in this species, was more prevalent than the standard pattern. In the reverse pattern, black areas commonly progressed from the neck down the spine. Pre-moult was uncommon, but active moult occurred year-round. Year-round moulting may have implications for glued tagging in climatically similar regions of their range.","PeriodicalId":503053,"journal":{"name":"New Zealand Journal of Ecology","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139211837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nanopore sequencing of metagenomic DNA from rat stomach contents to infer diet","authors":"Nikki Freed, Adam N. H. Smith, Georgia L Breckell, James Dale, O. Silander","doi":"10.20417/nzjecol.47.3554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.47.3554","url":null,"abstract":": Accurate determination of animal diets is difficult. Methods such as molecular barcoding or metagenomics offer a promising approach allowing quantitative and sensitive detection of different taxa. Here we show that rapid and inexpensive quantification of animal, plant, and fungal content from stomach contents is possible through metagenomic sequencing with the portable Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION. Using an amplification-free approach, we profile the stomach contents from 24 wild-caught rats. We conservatively identify stomach contents from over 50 taxonomic orders, ranging across nine phyla, including plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, and fungi. This highlights the wide range of taxa that can be identified using this approach. We calibrate the accuracy of this method by comparing the characteristics of reads matching the ground-truth host genome (rat) to those matching non-rat non-microbial taxa (i.e. stomach content) and show that at the family-level taxon assignments are approximately 97.5% accurate. Some inaccuracies may arise from biases in sequence databases, for example due to overrepresentation of DNA sequences from commonly studied species. We suggest a means to decrease the effects of database biases on inferring taxon membership when using metagenomic approaches. Finally, we implement a constrained ordination analysis and show that it is possible to identify the sampling location of an individual rat within tens of kilometres based on stomach contents alone. This work establishes proof-of-principle for long-read metagenomic methods in quantitative analysis of the stomach contents of a terrestrial mammal. We show that stomach content can be quantified even with limited expertise using a simple, amplification free workflow and a relatively inexpensive and accessible next generation sequencing method. Continued increases in the accuracy and throughput of ONT sequencing, along with improved genomic databases, suggests that a metagenomic approach for quantification of stomach contents, and by proxy animal diets, will become an important method in the future.","PeriodicalId":503053,"journal":{"name":"New Zealand Journal of Ecology","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139214545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}