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Henderson Island Expedition Report: May-November 2015 Henderson Island expedition report: May-November 2015 Research Report 57 June 2016 Jennifer L. Lavers, Gregory T.W. McClelland, Lorna MacKinnon, Alexander L. Bond, Steffen Oppel, Angus H. Donaldson, Neil D. Duffield, Alice K. Forrest, Sarah J. Havery, Sue O’Keefe, Andy Skinner, Nick Torr, and Pawl Warren 1 RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL, UK This report should be cited as: Lavers, J.L., McClelland, G.T.W., MacKinnon, L., Bond, A.L., Oppel, S., Donaldson, A.H., Duffield, N.D., Forrest, A.K., Havery, S.J, O’Keefe, S., Skinner, A., Torr, N., and Warren, P. 2016. Henderson Island expedition report: May-November 2015. RSPB Research Report 57. RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL. ISBN: 978-1-905601-51-6 Published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. © 2016 RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, United Kingdom All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the Society. ISBN 978-1-905601-51-6 Recommended citation: Lavers, J.L., McClelland, G.T.W., MacKinnon, L., Bond, A.L., Oppel, S., Donaldson, A.H., Duffield, N.D., Forrest, A.K., Havery, S.J, O’Keefe, S., Skinner, A., Torr, N., and Warren, P. 2016. Henderson Island expedition report: May-November 2015. RSPB Research Report 57. RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL For further information, please contact: Dr Alex Bond ([email protected]) or Dr Steffen Oppel ([email protected]) 1 Table of Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................. 4 Recommendations for future work ........................................................................................ 6 Overall.................................................................................................................................... 6 Captive rat feeding trials ........................................................................................................ 6 Henderson crake bait preference trial .................................................................................... 6 Non-native and invasive plants .............................................................................................. 7 Background .............................................................................................................................. 8 Main goals of the 2015 expedition......................................................................................... 9 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Captive rat feeding trials ......................................................................................................... 9 Pacific rat ecology .................................................................................................................. 12 Rat diet ................................................................................................................................. 12 Rat density and movement ................................................................................................... 14 Rat phenology and morphometrics ...................................................................................... 16 Henderson crake bait preference trial ................................................................................. 19 Land bird monitoring ............................................................................................................ 21 Local weather ......................................................................................................................... 26 Botanical surveys and research ............................................................................................ 29 Vegetation phenology............................................................................................................. 30 Methods................................................................................................................................ 31 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 31 Vegetation surveys ............................................................................................................... 32 Non- native and invasive species ......................................................................................... 33 Seedling germination plots .................................................................................................. 37 Herbarium specimen collections .......................................................................................... 39 Invertebrate survey ................................................................................................................ 40 Lizard survey .......................................................................................................................... 42 Seabird foraging ecology ....................................................................................................... 45 Seabird breeding ecology ...................................................................................................... 49 Plastic pollution ...................................................................................................................... 53 Plastic detection probability ................................................................................................. 53 Accumulation rates of beach-washed plastic ....................................................................... 54 Ingestion of plastic by South Pacific fishes ......................................................................... 55 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 55 Literature Cited ..................................................................................................................... 55 Appendix 1 – Rat bait acceptance trial methods................................................................. 61 Appendix 2 – Methods for assessing the diet of Pacific rats .............................................. 64 Appendix 3 – Rat capture-mark-recapture lessons learned .............................................. 68 Transect design .................................................................................................................... 68 Baiting .................................................................................................................................. 68 Measuring rats ...................................................................................................................... 68 Trap design........................................................................................................................... 70 Night trapping ...................................................................................................................... 73 Embayment forest grid ......................................................................................................... 73 Appendix 4 – Aging, morphometrics, and breeding status of Pacific rats ....................... 75 Aging by tooth wear............................................................................................................. 75 Morphometrics and breeding status ..................................................................................... 77 Appendix 5 – Crake capture and captive husbandry ......................................................... 80 Feeding trial ......................................................................................................................... 80 Bait pellet discoloration trial ................................................................................................ 80 Cage construction and arrangement ..................................................................................... 81 Capture of wild birds ........................................................................................................... 83 Acclimatisation to living in a cage ....................................................................................... 86 Daily feeding and maintenance of birds .............................................................................. 86 Daily inspection and maintenance of cages ......................................................................... 87 Appendix 6 – Data from long-term vegetation plots........................................................... 89 Appendix 7 – Important GPS points .................................................................................... 91 Appendix 8 – Vegetation measured at bird census points.................................................. 93 Appendix 9 – Invertebrate sampling techniques................................................................. 95 Malaise traps ........................................................................................................................ 95 Tree traps ............................................................................................................................. 95 Pitfall traps ..........................................................................................................................
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