Today on Endangered Species Day, Auckland Zoo,
with principal partner Barfoot & Thompson, is delighted
to be announcing the successful recipients of its 2023
Aotearoa-focused Small Grants programme.
The
11 projects selected, working to save frogs, lizards, birds,
invertebrates, and threatened ecosystems, span from
Northland to as far south as Fiordland and Rakiura/Stewart
Island – and highlight New Zealand’s stunning
biodiversity and its many urgent conservation
needs.
“In the Zoo’s 100th year, we were really
keen for these grants to focus on helping some of New
Zealand’s rarest and most over-looked species for which
this support could make a significant difference,” says
Richard Gibson, Auckland Zoo’s head of animal care and
conservation.
“One of the many outstanding and
innovative projects is on Takapourewa (Stephens Island) in
the Marlborough Sounds. It is home to many threatened
endemic taonga, particularly frogs and invertebrates
(weevils, wētā and beetles) – species limited by available
safe habitat and really up against the impacts of climate
change as the island gets hotter and drier.
“Ngāti
Koata Trust, whose iwi is kaitiaki and mana whenua of
Takapourewa, will be sending conservation practitioners and
taiohi (youth) to collect baseline data on these animal
populations ahead of implementing habitat enhancement.
It’s a fantastic multi-faceted project, supported by the
Department of Conservation (DOC), that will further develop
Ngāti Koata’s ecological skillset, strengthen knowledge
to help inform future conservation management options, and
deliver tangible benefits to threatened taonga” explains
Richard.
Significantly, six of the 11 projects awarded
grants are focused on lizard conservation, three of which
are DOC projects.
While not widely known or
celebrated, “New Zealand is very much a land of lizards,
with more lizard species than terrestrial birds – 130 or
so at last count, and likely to keep rising” says
Richard.
“Aotearoa’s skinks and geckos are mostly
small, secretive, and often restricted to remote locations,
making them difficult to study and difficult to protect,
which is why it’s so important we support every effort to
study and preserve these globally significant reptilian
treasures.”
One of the lizard projects will be
undertaken by ‘Fauna Finders,’ who in early 2021
discovered a novel gecko species, Woodworthia
“Sabine” in scree habitat in Nelson Lakes National Park.
A second individual was discovered in the same area a year
later. Yet to be formally described, local iwi Ngāti Apa
ki te Rā Tō have named it Tikumu – after the
large-leafed daisy that shares the gecko’s mountainous
home.
“Our Zoo grant will help support further vital
surveying work using a certified detector dog specifically
trained to find geckos, so that more can be learnt about
this newly discovered taonga’s distribution, habitat use,
threats and conservation status to help inform future
actions.”
The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund Small
Grants programme, established in 2012, has helped kick-start
dozens of conservation projects throughout Aotearoa and
around the world, and it recently welcomed Barfoot &
Thompson as its partner for this round.
“New Zealand
is home to world-renowned natural environments and
extraordinary and unique wildlife and plant species that
both nurture and are reliant on the health of these
ecosystems to thrive,” says Barfoot & Thompson
director, Kiri Barfoot.
“Barfoot & Thompson is
extremely proud to be supporting Auckland Zoo’s Small
Grants programme, which in this first 2023 round, is
empowering so many skilled and inspirational Kiwi
conservationists to play their part in helping ensure the
future of this wildlife and wild places.”
Auckland
Zoo 2023 Aotearoa Small Grants recipients and
projects
- Fauna Finders: Finding
the elusive Sabine/Tikumu gecko (Woodworthia
“sabine”) in Nelson Lakes National Park. First
discovered in March 2021, this gecko is yet to be formally
described. This project aims to improve knowledge of its
distribution, habitat use, threats, and conservation
status. - Cape Sanctuary: Mouse
eradication in the new predator-free habitat at Cape
Sanctuary for the ‘nationally critical’ Hawke’s Bay
skink (Oligosoma aururaense) – described as a new
species in 2019.This project aims to establish an insurance
population within a new predator-free habitat to safeguard
the species from going extinct. - Mahakirau
Forest Estate Society Incorporated: Surveying for
the level of risk that pigs pose to Archey’s (Leiopelma
archeyi) and Hochstetter frog (Leiopelma
hochstetteri) habitat in Mahakirau Forest Sanctuary – to
inform future conservation
management. - Department of Conservation
(DOC): Surveying to understand the contemporary
status of Rakiura (Stewart Island) lizard species – the
small-eared skink (Oligosoma stenotis), the harlequin
gecko (Tukutuku rakiurae) and the cloudy gecko
(Mokopirirakau nebulosus) as a first step towards
these species’ future conservation
management. - Pest Free Howick Ward, Southeast
Auckland: Monitoring and surveying of wildlife in
the Mangemangeroa Creek estuary to collect missing data on
the declining longfin eel (Anguilla dieffenbachia)
population, the ‘nationally endangered’ Australasian
bittern, and shorebirds including the bar-tailed godwit, and
their habitats – to progress and enhance pest
control. - Massey University:
Research to grow understanding of the relationships between
local weather conditions (driven by climate change), the use
of offshore marine habitats, and annual breeding success of
the critically endangered tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern).
This project will involve the development of a comprehensive
database by combining data available through NIWA on local
weather and physical parameters (like sea surface
temperature and salinity) with new and existing stable
isotope analysis of tara iti feather samples from the past
12-15 years. - Department of Conservation
(DOC): Assessing the conservation status of Sinbad
skinks to inform a decision on their future translocation
from Sinbad Gully, Fiordland National Park, to Secretary
Island (Fiordland). - Hihi Conservation
Charitable Trust: ‘High-tech hihi’ – testing
innovative monitoring techniques of hihi in Rotokare Scenic
Reserve and Bushy Park Tarapuruhi. The use of a custom-made
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system and leg bands
with microchips will enable the monitoring of hihi remotely
– technology that will expand learning opportunities and
assist translocation post-release
monitoring. - Ngāti Koata Trust:
Baseline monitoring of wildlife (frogs and invertebrates
including the Ngaio weevil (Anagotus stephenensis),
Cook Strait giant wētā (Deinacrida rugosa), and
Cook Strait click beetle (Amychus granulatus)) on
Takapourewa / Stephens Island, Marlborough Sounds, ahead of
habitat enhancement. - University of
Otago: Molecular sexing as a tool for the
conservation of the ‘nationally critical’ cobble skink.
This project will use existing samples from wild-caught
cobble skinks and cutting-edge genomic techniques to develop
a genetic approach to testing cobble skinks. This test is
the first of its kind for a New Zealand skink and is likely
to be adaptable for sexing other Aotearoa skink
species. - Department of Conservation
(DOC): Understanding the distribution of the newly
discovered (November 2020) Ōkārito skink in South
Westland. The aim of this project is to determine this
species’ threat status, through understanding its
distribution and relative
abundance.
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