BLACK SHAG CONSULTING
Conservation and Ecology Services
RESEARCH
ECOLOGICAL CORRIDORS RESEARCH REPORT
Prepared for the Eastern Bays Songbird Project
The Auckland Council commissioned this research report to identify strategic revegetation sites in the Eastern Bays in order to increase indigenous forest cover, improve the long-term viability of current ecosystems and restore ecological corridors to enable movement of native species throughout the Eastern Bays.
LIGHTING ADJUSTMENTS TO MITIGATE AGAINST DECK STRIKES/VESSEL IMPACTS
Report prepared for the Northern New Zealand Seabird Trust
Artificial light at night (ALAN) can negatively impact the behaviour of nocturnally active seabirds by causing disorientation, exhaustion, and injury or mortality from light-induced collisions. This study, undertaken on two seabird islands, tested which light intensities and colours were least attractive to seabirds through behavioural experiments where we shined lights into the sky and recorded seabird attraction. We also modelled the lights into the visual system of seabirds to identify how seabirds perceive lights differently.
LIGHTING ADJUSTMENTS TO MITIGATE AGAINST DECK STRIKES/VESSEL IMPACTS
Literature review prepared for the Northern New Zealand Seabird Trust
As artificial light increases globally the need to understand how this impacts biodiversity becomes even more pressing. Little is known about the visual system of many seabird species or how artificial light at night impacts on their nocturnal activities such as foraging, migration or returning to the colony. This review has highlighted the need for more studies on seabird physiology and anatomy which would provide important conservation information for seabirds. Additionally, a greater knowledge of the light types, colours and wavelengths that seabirds are attracted could help reduce light-induced injury and mortality in future. With 86 species found breeding in New Zealand and almost half of those threatened, we have an international obligation to reduce seabird injury and mortality from deck-strike in our territorial waters.
KORORA/LITTLE BLUE PENGUINS (EUDYPTULA MINOR) AS MARINE ECOSYSTEM INDICATORS - COMPARING STRESS PHYSIOLOGY AND FORAGING ECOLOGY
Masters Thesis - University of Auckland
Using three study sites in the Hauraki Gulf, this study aimed to determine whether changes in foraging ecology and stress physiology were observed in kororā populations over time and space and whether these measurements could be used as indicators of marine ecosystem health. Kororā are inshore foragers and do not migrate following breeding, therefore they are reliant on local marine resources year-round and may act as a high-resolution marine indicator over a small spatial scale.
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/48715
