14 June 2019
High-Tech Solutions To Invasive Mammal Pests
This research team is helping to develop targeted, next-generation, socially acceptable and cost-effective new technologies to achieve landscape-scale freedom from rats, stoats and possums.
The inventory of research outputs and resources can be found here:
This research is Completed
Associate Professor James Russell
Overview Te Tirohanga Whānui
The ability to cost-effectively keep these pests that threaten our biodiversity at zero density will be transformational for Aotearoa New Zealand conservation. This BioHeritage Challenge project, led by Professor James Russell of the University of Auckland, supports the scaling up of current efforts to eradicate pests by accelerating the provision of improved tools, methodologies and strategies for mammal pest control.
There is a formal national collaboration between this project, Predator Free 2050 and Genomics Aotearoa, with a research focus on the population genomics of New Zealand rats and science strategy for a Predator Free New Zealand.
These collaborations are helping the project team to complete a comprehensive report on the status of new pest control tools that are close to market in New Zealand. The report will facilitate stakeholder engagement, encourage early adoption and leverage private sector investment.
The project contributes to the BioHeritage Challenge’s goal of creating a world-class biosecurity system for Aotearoa.
Highlights Ngā Mahi Whakahirahira
- Read this project’s Predator Free New Zealand Bioethics Report, released May 2019.
- A bioethics panel is being facilitated as part of the project, with the cross-section of representatives working on an independent report on the social, cultural and ethical issues relating to a predator free New Zealand. The report will incorporate Māori perspectives towards modern pest control initiatives.
- Articles about this research have been published in high-impact publications such as TREE and PLOS Biology (see below).
- The project also featured in the Netflix docuseries Unnatural Selection (E3 Changing an Entire Species).
Looking for more information?
If you’re looking for any outputs (papers, data etc) from this project that you don’t see on this page please visit our data repository.
Team Members Ngā kaimahi
- James Russell; University of Auckland
Related News
Resource outputs from this programme
Video
Crazy & Ambitious 2 – 2019
A playlist of presentations given at New Zealand’s Biological Heritage Science Challenge conference, Crazy & Ambitious 2. 20 – 21 May 2019, Te Papa Wellington.
Video
Crazy & Ambitious – 2017
A playlist of presentations given at New Zealand’s Biological Heritage Science Challenge inaugural conference, Crazy & Ambitious. 8-10 May 2017, Te Papa Wellington
Publication
New Zealand ecosanctuaries: types, attributes and outcomes
We define an ecosanctuary in a New Zealand context as ‘a project larger than 25 ha implementing multi-species, pest mammal control for ecosystem recovery objectives,…
Publication
The admixed brushtail possum genome reveals invasion history in New Zealand and novel imprinted genes
Combining genome assembly with population and functional genomics can provide valuable insights to development and evolution, as well as tools for species management. Here, we…
Publication
Niche partitioning in a guild of invasive mammalian predators
Predators compete aggressively for resources, establishing trophic hierarchies that influence ecosystem structure. Competitive interactions are particularly important in invaded ecosystems where introduced predators can suppress…
Publication
The tails of two invasive species: genetic responses to acute and chronic bottlenecks
Genetic diversity can affect population viability and can be reduced by both acute and chronic mechanisms. Using the history of the establishment and management of…
Publication
Selection and characterization of DNA aptamers for the rat major urinary protein 13 (MUP13) as selective biorecognition elements for sensitive detection of rat pests
Among invasive mammalian predators, rats represent a major threat, endangering ecosystem functioning worldwide. After rat-control operations, detecting their continued presence or reinvasion requires more sensitive…
Publication
Modeling CRISPR gene drives for suppression of invasive rodents using a supervised machine learning framework
Invasive rodent populations pose a threat to biodiversity across the globe. When confronted with these invaders, native species that evolved independently are often defenseless. CRISPR…
Publication
The clock is ticking: Temporally prioritizing eradications on islands
Achieving conservation objectives is time critical, but the vast number of threats and potential actions means some form of ranking is necessary to aid prioritization.…
Publication
Leveraging Motivations, Personality, and Sensory Cues for Vertebrate Pest Management
Managing vertebrate pests is a global conservation challenge given their undesirable socio-ecological impacts. Pest management often focuses on the ‘average’ individual, neglecting individual-level behavioural variation…
Publication
Public Opinion Towards Gene Drive as a Pest Control Approach for Biodiversity Conservation and the Association of Underlying Worldviews
Synthetic gene drive approaches are nascent technologies with potential applicability for pest control for conservation purposes. Responsible science mandates that society be engaged in a…
Publication
Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge.
The papers in this volume were, with a few exceptions, presented at the third Island Invasives conference, held in Dundee, Scotland in July 2017. The…
Publication
Conserving New Zealand’s native fauna: a review of tools being developed for the Predator Free 2050 programme
The endemic fauna of New Zealand evolved in the absence of mammalian predators and the introduction of the latter has been devastating. There have been…
Publication
Phylogeography of Invasive Rats in New Zealand
Two species of invasive rats (Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus) arrived in New Zealand with Europeans in the mid to late eighteenth and nineteenth century…
Publication
mtDNA polymorphism and metabolic inhibition affect sperm performance in conplastic mice
Although there is a general correlation between nucleotide substitutions in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) and a variety of metabolic pathologies, research into the impact of…
Publication
Conservation demands safe gene drive
Interest in developing gene drive systems to control invasive species is growing, with New Zealand reportedly considering the nascent technology as a way to locally…