Varsity researchers join city pest study

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO researchers are getting behind the Predator Free Dunedin project, studying the distribution of pests around the city.

Twenty agencies, environmental trusts, research institutions and mana whenua groups are joining forces to remove predators around the city, in a $15 million initiative that will take place over a fiveyear period.

Predator Free Dunedin aims to eradicate possums from the 9000ha Otago Peninsula and suppress rats, possums, weasels, ferrets and stoats across 12,500ha of land surrounding Orokonui Ecosanctuary, between Aramoana, Waitati and Northeast Valley.

In all, the project will cover 31,000ha, and the two main areas will be linked by predator control methods and strategies in backyards and reserves in suburban parts of the city.

Two zoologists and three postgraduate students from the University of Otago will be involved.

Ecology student Charlotte Patterson (21) said she was measuring ‘‘possum density’’ in the urban linkage area, trying to ‘‘figure out more about the pos sums we have in Dunedin’’ — including how many there were and their most popular habitats.

She would be looking in people’s gardens as well as other parts of the city with different types of vegetation and the knowledge would be used in the effort to keep Dunedin free from predators.

Student Tom Nordmeier is estimating density of ship rats at three locations on the Otago Peninsula, and fellow student Lucy Simpson is looking at hedgehog habitat use and abundance on the Otago Peninsula.

The trio will be supervised by Associate Prof Yolanda van Heezik and Prof Phil Seddon.

Associate Prof van Heezik said the university’s contribution to the project would be ‘‘in the form of research to inform predator control efforts, and then evaluate the efficacy of the control against the goals of Predator Free Dunedin’’.

‘‘Research can also explore different ways to achieve those goals; for example, how can we go about detecting and catching those possums that won’t go into traps or take baits?’’

Their research will also look at the ‘‘social values and willingness to engage’’ in activities that enhance urban biodiversity.