Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats
This project aimed to reanalyse two large historical data sets from two different locations in New Zealand (Fiordland in the South Island and Pureora Forest Park in the North Island). The data describe populations of mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus), and stoats (Mustela er...
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ftunivwaikato:oai:researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz:10289/2319 2023-05-15T18:05:35+02:00 Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats Watkins, Alison Fern 2007 application/pdf application/zip https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2319 en eng The University of Waikato https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2319 All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. small mammals stoat house mouse rat Site Occupancy patchiness Thesis 2007 ftunivwaikato 2022-03-29T15:10:43Z This project aimed to reanalyse two large historical data sets from two different locations in New Zealand (Fiordland in the South Island and Pureora Forest Park in the North Island). The data describe populations of mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus), and stoats (Mustela erminea) collected using standard monitoring techniques from five distinct types of forest habitat. The new analysis methods selected were an index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis. The objectives of the analysis were (1) to evaluate whether the patchiness index and Site Occupancy analysis methods might contribute to improved protocols for monitoring small mammal populations in the future, and (2) to use formal tests of five hypotheses to evaluate two of the assumptions made by the conventional density index often used in small mammal studies. I describe the results of the analyses for each species, including any problems encountered (such as the inability of the Site Occupancy method to analyse very sparse data sets). I also describe the results pooled from each of the two study locations and potential consequences for small mammal monitoring and control. This analysis has suggested that in most cases the density index is not a rigorous measure of small mammal populations. However, both the index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis provided useful, new information about these populations of rodents and stoats, despite the fact that these historical data sets were not designed for use with modern methods of analysis. Please note: some figures and tables were printed separately and added to the thesis as unnumbered pages. These can be found in the file 03Plates_and_Tables.pdf. Thesis Rattus rattus The University of Waikato: Research Commons New Zealand |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Waikato: Research Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwaikato |
language |
English |
topic |
small mammals stoat house mouse rat Site Occupancy patchiness |
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small mammals stoat house mouse rat Site Occupancy patchiness Watkins, Alison Fern Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
topic_facet |
small mammals stoat house mouse rat Site Occupancy patchiness |
description |
This project aimed to reanalyse two large historical data sets from two different locations in New Zealand (Fiordland in the South Island and Pureora Forest Park in the North Island). The data describe populations of mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus), and stoats (Mustela erminea) collected using standard monitoring techniques from five distinct types of forest habitat. The new analysis methods selected were an index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis. The objectives of the analysis were (1) to evaluate whether the patchiness index and Site Occupancy analysis methods might contribute to improved protocols for monitoring small mammal populations in the future, and (2) to use formal tests of five hypotheses to evaluate two of the assumptions made by the conventional density index often used in small mammal studies. I describe the results of the analyses for each species, including any problems encountered (such as the inability of the Site Occupancy method to analyse very sparse data sets). I also describe the results pooled from each of the two study locations and potential consequences for small mammal monitoring and control. This analysis has suggested that in most cases the density index is not a rigorous measure of small mammal populations. However, both the index of patchiness and Site Occupancy analysis provided useful, new information about these populations of rodents and stoats, despite the fact that these historical data sets were not designed for use with modern methods of analysis. Please note: some figures and tables were printed separately and added to the thesis as unnumbered pages. These can be found in the file 03Plates_and_Tables.pdf. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Watkins, Alison Fern |
author_facet |
Watkins, Alison Fern |
author_sort |
Watkins, Alison Fern |
title |
Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
title_short |
Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
title_full |
Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of small mammals in five New Zealand forest habitats |
title_sort |
distribution of small mammals in five new zealand forest habitats |
publisher |
The University of Waikato |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2319 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2319 |
op_rights |
All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
_version_ |
1766177070876983296 |