Genomics can provide conservation-relevant insights into population size, genetic diversity, and connectivity withrelatively little sampling effort. However, forfrogs and other smallvertebrates, invasive genetic sampling (e.g. toe-clipping) can impact animals' long-term survival and welfare. Minimally-invasive genetic sampling methods may be required to facilitate robust conservation genomic studies of small vertebrates. In Aotearoa | New Zealand, previous genetic studies of the three native Leiopelma spp. frogs have relied almost entirely on toe-clips or whole specimens, creating an ethical barrier to genomic studies. Here, we trialled duplicate buccal swabbing as a minimally-invasive genetic sampling method on the small-bodied pepeketua, Hamilton's frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni) and Hochstetter's frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri). DNAyield was primarily influenced by our duplicate swabbing method rather than by frog body size, condition, or species. The second swab had a significantly higher DNA yield (721 +/- 104 ng), more than twice that of the first swab (317 +/- 49 ng). We compared the utility of buccal swabs and toe clips for genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) in Hamilton's frogs and assessed the suitability of buccal swabs for long-range PCR in Hochstetter's frogs. Buccal swabs were as effective as toe-clips for GBS, with the proportion of missing single-nucleotide polymorphisms not significantly different between sampling methods. However, only 7/20 buccal swabs amplified successfully with long-range PCR. Our results indicate that genetic sampling of Leiopelma spp. could move towards buccal swabbing as a standard method. Toe-clipping and euthanasia of individuals should be limited to situations where high molecular weight DNA is crucial for analysis (e.g. genome assembly) or whole voucher specimens are needed for taxonomy.

Post -metamorphic body growth and longevity of two archaic terrestrial frogs (Anura: Leiopelmatidae) endemic to New Zealand are described using data from long-term capture -recapture studies and measurements of snout -vent length. Population studies of Hamilton's frog ( Leiopelma hamiltoni ) on Te P & amacr;keka/Maud Island, Marlborough Sounds, have been undertaken since 1976 and Archey's frog ( L. archeyi ) in the Coromandel Ranges since 1982. The expectation -maximisation algorithm was used to fit von Bertalanffy growth curves to the data, providing maximum -likelihood estimation of parameters associated with frog growth. New Zealand endemic frogs take at least 4-7 years to reach breeding maturity in the wild and have maximum life spans of at least 39 years in L. archeyi and 45 years in L. hamiltoni . Amongst a small sample of 26 Hochstetter's frogs ( L. hochstetteri ) at the Coromandel site, the oldest individual was at least 18 years old.

Translocations are becoming increasingly common although the effectiveness of this conservation tool for amphibians is highly variable.We reviewed ten translocations of Leiopelma frogs occurring between 1924 and 2016.Data were gathered on factors which may have influenced translocation outcomes.Results at each location were measured against an established four-step framework for stages of success: survival of individuals, reproduction, population growth, and population viability.Three conservation translocations and two mitigation translocations were considered to have failed, indicated by no or low survival of founders or lack of evidence of reproduction within a reasonable timeframe.Causes of failure include invasive predators at the release site, small founder numbers, homing, and poor habitat quality.The remaining five translocations were considered either successful (meeting all four stages of success), or on the road to success (meeting at least the first two stages of success).Successful translocations included predator control, total release of more than 70 founders, and in some cases adaptive management to address management decisions over time.Our findings emphasise the need for long-term post-release monitoring (> 25 years) to determine translocation success for K-selected species.Better, cost-effective, methods for monitoring population growth and population viability are required for Leiopelma frogs.Improvements could be made in open access reporting of methods and decision-making, disease risk analysis and stakeholder engagement.Further, improving our knowledge of what makes high quality Leiopelma habitat would help to objectively assess potential future translocation sites.Future translocations should consider the impacts of predicted global climate change; assisted migration may be required in the future.Translocations are a risky conservation strategy, so should only be undertaken with good cause, quality planning, and sufficient long-term resources for monitoring and management.Any future translocations for Leiopelma, whether motivated by conservation or mitigation, should follow best practice guidelines and use evidence-based decision-making to maximise outcomes.

A two-phase translocation of Hamilton's frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni) into Zealandia Ecosanctuary Te M & amacr;ra a T & amacr;ne, in Wellington, was the first attempt to restore the species to the mainland. All non-native mammals had been eradicated there, but house mice (Mus musculus) re-invaded, providing an opportunity to investigate their impact on L. hamiltoni. In Phase I, 60 frogs were translocated into mouse-proof enclosures over 2006-2007. Twelve months into Phase I, 29 surviving frogs were kept in a predator-proof enclosure, and 29 surviving frogs were released into adjacent forest, then monitored over eight months. Survival and recruitment were high in the enclosure, but low in the forest. For Phase II, a further 101 frogs were released in 2012, after a fence had been erected around the release site to exclude little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii), a potential predator. In Phase II, frog survival and mouse numbers were monitored over nine months, with mouse density being suppressed by annual poisoning operations. On night surveys, 86 of the 101 released frogs were recaptured in the forest, plus four adults from the Phase I release and twelve of their progeny. Overall survival was 0.914 (0.87-0.94 95% CI), but population estimates indicated a negative trend from the second capture period. Negative binomial generalised linear modelling showed temperature was positively correlated with frog emergence (p < 0.001). Relative humidity approached significance for frog emergence (p = 0.0517), but mouse activity, precipitation during sampling, and precipitation the previous 24 hours did not impact emergence (p > 0.05). Surviving adult and young L. hamiltoni from Phase I demonstrated some capacity for survival in protected mainland areas with invasive mammal control in place. However, further studies are warranted to better determine their longer-term survival in Zealandia and alongside the threat of mice, as well as of avian predators such as kiwi, and more generally of other invasive mammals.

There is limited information available on how New Zealand wetland bird communities respond to removal of mammalian predators, and reintroduction of locally extinct species. The forested Zealandia Te Mara a Tane sanctuary in Wellington is surrounded by a mammal predator -exclusion fence, and contains two small lakes (2.7 and 1.1 ha). Counts of all visible wetland bird species were used to assess changes in the Zealandia wetland bird community over 28 years. This included a 3 -year block of counts before the fence was built in 1999. Flocks of up to 143 southern black -backed gulls (karoro, Larus dominicanus) bathed on the larger lake before the catchment was opened to the public after 1999. Brown teal (pateke, Anas chlorotis) and New Zealand scaup (papango, Aythya novaeseelandiae) both established resident breeding populations following releases of captive -reared birds between 2000 and 2003. Little shag (kawaupaka, Microcarbo melanoleucos), black shag (mapunga, Phalacrocorax carbo) and pied shag (karuhiruhi, P. varius) all colonised naturally, and started breeding in 2003, 2008, and 2009 respectively. Paradise shelducks (putangitangi, Tadorna variegata) increased after the sanctuary was created, although numbers remained small (mean counts of c. 5 birds). Numbers of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were unaffected by creation of the sanctuary; however, there was an unexplained decline after 2016. Overall, the wetland bird community in Zealandia has become more diverse over time, and with a higher proportion of native and endemic species. However, we suggest that some of these changes (particularly the establishment of a large breeding colony of pied shags) might well have occurred even if the sanctuary had not been created.

The taxonomic status of some of New Zealand's endemic and threatened leiopelmatid frogs has been debated for decades. Clarifying this uncertainty is vital to their conservation, especially given the risk of extinction of cryptic taxa. We re-examined leiopelmatid diversity through multivariate analyses of the skeletal and external morphology of extinct and extant Leiopelma to determine morphological differentiation. Our results suggest that the morphological distinction between extinct taxa is greater than in modern extant taxa. While size ranges of postcranial elements overlapped within extant species, maxillae shape discriminated some extant taxa. We confirm the morphological distinctiveness of the extinct taxa recognized to date but identify latitudinal and altitudinal variation in postcranial element size and shape within the widespread Leiopelma markhami and L. waitomoensis, which suggest possible post-human extinction of cryptic taxa. Furthermore, the lack of morphological and osteological differentiation between L. archeyi and the insular extant L. hamiltoni and L. pakeka leads us to question the taxonomic distinctiveness of these three taxa. Future genetic research using modern and ancient DNA is recommended to enable species limits within Leiopelma to be tested in more detail to provide an evidence-based assessment for their conservation management.

On 8 May 2018 at 23:15 h physical contact was observed between an adult carnivorous land snail (Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura) and an adult Maud Island frog (Leiopelma pakeka) on Te Pakeka/Maud Island, Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. The land snail (40-45 mm diameter) was on its back with its foot under the frog (38.5 mm snout-vent length), raising the possibility that this was a predation attempt by the snail. Carnivorous endemic land snails are only known to consume a range of invertebrate species, especially earthworms. Our observation suggests that these snails might also opportunistically attempt to consume small ground vertebrates, although definitive evidence is required.

Acrocephalus warblers occur across Eurasia, Africa, and Australasia, where they are typically migratory, wetland species, but also occur on islands as sedentary endemics in drier habitats, including forest and scrub. External morphology and song amongst Pacific island Acrocephalus warblers were investigated and comparisons made with Acrocephalus species elsewhere. There was a range of sizes between Pacific island Acrocephalus warblers, many being larger than migratory continental species. Bill:wing length ratios were higher in most Pacific species, and their wings more rounded, than most continental species, but less rounded than swamp-warblers of Africa and adjacent islands. Plumages of W and N Pacific species resembled reed-warblers elsewhere, but in SE Polynesia were more varied, brown or grey dorsally, shaded olive, yellow or rufous, and pale ventrally, shaded white, yellow or buff-white, with a melanistic morph on Tahiti. Spectrographic analysis showed a gradient of song complexity from continental and Marianas/Micronesia species (A. hiwae, A. syrinx), through to A. taiti and A. vaughani on the Pitcairn islands, which had no song. The mean frequency of Pacific island reed-warbler songs was inversely correlated with mean body size.

Detailed investigations of ecology and life history of lizards in New Zealand/Aotearoa are needed to inform their conservation and management. An early demographic study of copper skinks (Oligosoma aeneum) in a suburban garden was undertaken in Lower Hutt using mark-recapture methods, sampling weekly from March 1971 to December 1973. Oligosoma aeneum were seen on 1372 occasions, with 972 captures of 169 individuals. The maximum snout-vent length was 66 mm, 33% of skinks had complete tails, and colour differences suggested sexual signalling and warrant further study. Most captures occurred over November-March, with fewest over June-August. The estimated spring/summer population size in the garden (+/- SEM) was 83.6 (+/- 9.4) skinks, and the annual survival rate (+/- SEM) was 38.0% (+/- 16.0%). This is one of the few New Zealand lizard studies that have extended through all months of the year and it adds to limited information on lizard populations in suburban areas.

A major focus in zoology is to understand the phenotypic responses of animals to environmental variation. This is particularly important when dealing with ectotherms in a thermally heterogenous environment. We measured body temperatures of a free-ranging, medium sized temperate reptile, the tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, to investigate its thermal opportunities and the degree to which the animal actively regulates its body temperature. We found high variation in body temperature between individuals, but this variation could not be attributed to sex or body size. However, variation among individuals in timing of burrow use did affect body temperature and in one of the years studied tuatara were found to be more effective in their thermoregulation when sharing a burrow with a seabird (Pachyptila turtur). The strength of this study is that it includes both biotic and behavioural components of the thermal environment of a temperate reptile, areas which are often missing from thermal studies that focus on the abiotic aspects.

The study of amphibian spatial behaviour provides key information for species conservation. Most commonly used techniques to track amphibians' are either unsuitable for small species or fail to give sufficiently fine-resolution data of habitat use. We report on the use of non-toxic fluorescent powders to track the fine-scale movement of a threatened New Zealand frog, Leiopelma pakeka. We assess the effect of powder application on frog movements, detection of frog pathways during a dry and a wet period, and the use of this marking technique after a translocation for conservation purposes. Our results show that fluorescent powders can be successfully used to obtain detailed information of fine-scale movements and habitat use of frogs, even during rainy periods. All frogs remained alive throughout the study period and no ill effects were noticeable. This technique has potential use for tracking other species that are too small or cryptic to be tracked using more conventional methods.

Habitat-dependent selection pressures may result in convergence of the characteristics of vocalisation of species living in the same habitat, favouring optimal transmission features. However, competitive interactions for acoustic space between different species may lead to divergence of acoustic signals mediated by character displacement. Here, the vocalisations of 16 bird species were examined within a forest bird community in New Zealand, and the acoustic space that each species occupied was quantified using principal component analysis. The vocalisations of species were over-dispersed within the acoustic space. The vocalisations of introduced species were distributed closer to the spatial centre, whereas the vocalisations of native species were distributed towards the outer edge. The frequency of vocalisations was correlated with height from which birds vocalised and body weight. For native species, the results support the acoustic niche hypothesis, in that avian vocalisations appear to have diverged evolutionarily. This may represent acoustic adaptation to different transmission properties associated with different elevations (song-post heights), or is perhaps a by-product of physiological parameters such as body weight, as well as representing phylogenetic differences. A relationship between environmental selection pressure and body size on signal design is supported, and the study provides new insights into the importance of partitioning of acoustic space in the evolution of acoustic signals in a mixed community of native and introduced birds.

File List NZ_Bd_data_1930-2010.txt (MD5: e078da2e89d8554eb11e1a3b52d972be) Description Chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal invasive pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was first detected in 1999 in Christchurch, New Zealand, in the Australian introduced frog species Litoria raniformis. It was detected in wild native frogs in the critically endangered Leiopelma archeyi in 2001 on the Coromandel Peninsula and has been suggested as responsible for a mass decline (88%) in that population between 1994 and 2002. We report the current distribution, host species and prevalence, where known, of Bd in New Zealand, which is essential for conservation management of New Zealand native frogs (Leiopelma spp.). The data set is structured so that it can be readily added to the Australian Bd database for further analyses. Our data included all regions in New Zealand and six offshore islands at 135 sites with 704 records from 23 contributors spanning collection dates 1930–2010. We report 54 positive sites from 132 positive individuals. We also detail negative findings, but declaring an area free from disease should consider the sensitivity of the test used and numbers of individuals tested. The data also included a comprehensive museum survey testing 152 individuals from five species (20 L. archeyi, 50 L. hochstetteri, 15 L. aurea, 40 L. ewingii, and 27 L. raniformis) from 1930–1999 using histology and Bd specific immunohistochemistry. All museum specimens were negative, so the 1999 positive result is still the earliest record. In the L. archeyi Coromandel Ranges population, the period prevalence of Bd from 2006–2010 was relatively stable at 16%, but the number of animals tested remains low (up to N = 19) due to the now depleted population numbers. The period prevalence of Bd in the L. archeyi Whareorino population has remained both consistent and low (6%) between 2005 and 2010. In L. hochstetteri, L. hamiltoni, and L. pakeka all sampling for Bd has been negative. Positive Bd results have been found in all three Litoria spp., but Bd has not been found in the six offshore areas tested. Most data have been previously unpublished and represent the first confirmed reports of Bd in many regions and species in New Zealand. Key words: amphibian chytrid fungus; Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; chytridiomycosis; frog; infectious disease; Leiopelma; Litoria; mapping; New Zealand.

Bird counts were carried out in Zealandia sanctuary, Wellington, New Zealand, along a 6.3 km slow-walk transect, every 3 weeks for 4 years (2011-2015). The mean +/- se number of species detected per count was 30.0 +/- 0.4 (range 22-37) and the mean +/- se total of individuals detected per count was 572.7 +/- 12.8 birds (range 361-809). Of 43 species detected, 15 occurred on every count, 8 on most, 13 less frequently and 7 only occasionally. Forest birds were mostly first detected by sound, but water or wetland birds mostly by sight. For 35 species with sufficient data to model, significant seasonal changes occurred in 9 species (26%) and significant annual changes in 4 species (11%), with the total of birds counted peaking in late summer/autumn. Song output varied amongst passerines, with large seasonal effects in 6 European introduced species, but lower seasonal effects in 9 native species.