Urban Rats in Wellington: Estimating Home Ranges, Population Densities and Detection Probabilities
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Urban Rats in Wellington: Estimating Home Ranges, Population Densities and Detection Probabilities BY Henry Robert Mackenzie A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ecology and Biodiversity 1 of 107 Supervisor: Dr Stephen Hartley, Director of the Centre of Biodiversity & Restoration Ecology at the School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington. 2 of 107 Acknowledgments This research was generously supported by Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, The Centre for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CBRE), Predator Free New Zealand and Predator Free Wellington. First and foremost a huge thank you to my supervisor Dr Stephen Hartley whose cool head always prevailed. Your guidance and support in this undertaking is and was hugely appreciated. I would also like to thank Craig Pritchard, whom without I do not see how this work would have been possible. You put far too much of your own time into this work and I cannot thank you enough. To Patricia Stein, a big thank you for your support and consideration. On a personal note. To my Dad, thank you pushing me to go after this master’s and to get that ‘monkey off my back’. To my Mum, thank you for your constant support, the encouraging messages and wise inspirational quotes, my favorite and the most helpful ‘It doesn’t matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop’. To my Aunt, thank you for your support and for taking the time to read through this work, your comments were incredibly helpful. To Grandad, thank you for always being so encouraging of whatever I have chosen to do, I know you would have been proud. And lastly but definitely not least, thank you to my partner Rachel, if I were to list all the ways you have helped me through this, I would definitely run the word count. Suffice to say I could not have done this without you. 3 of 107 4 of 107 Table of Contents 1 Chapter 1. General Introduction. ........................................................................................................ 13 The Origin of Urban Rats.............................................................................................................. 13 Taxonomy of rats , and the Emergence of Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus ............................... 14 Invasive Species ........................................................................................................................... 16 Impacts on Humans ..................................................................................................................... 18 Ecological Impacts in New Zealand .............................................................................................. 19 Rat Control and Eradications ....................................................................................................... 21 Context and Objectives ................................................................................................................ 25 2 Chapter 2. Home Range of Ship Rats (Rattus rattus) In An Urban Bush Fragment in Wellington, New Zealand......................................................................................................................................................... 27 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 27 A Review of Rat Home Ranges ..................................................................................................... 28 Denning Behaviour ...................................................................................................................... 32 Spatial Genomics Studies, Dispersal Patterns and Barriers to Movement.................................. 34 Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Study Sites ............................................................................................................................ 36 Trapping ............................................................................................................................... 38 Anesthesia (Cotton ball method) ......................................................................................... 39 Biometrics ............................................................................................................................ 40 Radio Tracking ...................................................................................................................... 40 Results .......................................................................................................................................... 44 Live Trapping ........................................................................................................................ 44 5 of 107 Radio Telemetry Data .......................................................................................................... 47 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 56 Home Range Asymptote ...................................................................................................... 56 Spatial Autocorrelation ........................................................................................................ 56 Home Range Size and Shape ................................................................................................ 57 Home Range Overlap ........................................................................................................... 59 Behavioral Findings .............................................................................................................. 59 3 Chapter 3. Densities and Detection Probabilities of an Urban Ship Rat Population ........................... 62 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 62 Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 65 The site ................................................................................................................................. 65 Camera Trap Set-up ............................................................................................................. 66 Live Captures and Markings ................................................................................................. 67 Capture, Mark, Re-sight – Lincoln Petersen ........................................................................ 67 Detection Probabilities ........................................................................................................ 69 Results .......................................................................................................................................... 70 Lincoln Petersen Estimate ................................................................................................... 70 Camera Trapping.................................................................................................................. 70 Rat Activity ........................................................................................................................... 71 Detection Probability ........................................................................................................... 73 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 77 Sample Size .......................................................................................................................... 77 Capture-mark-recapture assumptions ................................................................................ 77 Urban Rat Densities in Wellington ....................................................................................... 79 Detection Probabilities ........................................................................................................ 81 4 Chapter 4: General Conclusion ............................................................................................................6 of 107 84 5 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 87 6 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 88 7 Appendix 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 89 8 References ........................................................................................................................................... 91 7 of 107 List of Figures Figure 1: Study field sites Roseneath, Kelburn and Brooklyn within Wellington, New Zealand 35 Figure 2: Spiral technique for close approach radio tracking 39 Figure 3: Weight of ship rats according to sex across all three sites 44 Figure 4: Activity of the trapping grid over the first 10 days of trapping 45 Figure 5: Tracking duration of the rats in each suburb 48 Figure 6: Incremental area analysis of MCP to 100% for subjects 25, 33 and 35 51 Figure 7: Kelburn study site showing 100%, 75% and 50% MCPs for ship rat