Dr Marissa Le Lec1, Dr Nicholas Foster2, Dr Nick Mulgan1, Mr Tom Agnew2
1Zero Invasive Predators, Wellington, New Zealand, 2Zero Invasive Predators, Lincoln, New Zealand
Biography:
Marissa Le Lec works in the science and technical team at Zero Invasive Predators, an organization developing and applying practical approaches to remove introduced mammalian predators from mainland Aotearoa New Zealand. She previously studied at the University of Otago, where her PhD focused on using genomics to inform the management of the kākāpō, one of Aotearoa’s most iconic and endangered birds. The transition from working with endangered species to predator elimination was a natural one, given the importance of predator-free sites in order to protect native species.
Abstract:
Achieving New Zealand’s ambitious goal of becoming predator-free by 2050 presents significant challenges, particularly in the removal of mammalian pests such as ship rats (Rattus rattus) from the mainland. Since pest eradication on a national scale cannot be accomplished in a single stage, and many mainland sites lack impermeable barriers to reinvasion, it is necessary to protect mainland predator-free sites by detecting and responding to incursions at their boundaries. Therefore, there is a need for sensitive and cost-effective surveillance strategies that can be applied at a landscape scale, to detect re-establishing pest populations while they remain manageably small.
Environmental DNA is a promising tool for landscape-scale surveillance, though further development is needed to enhance its sensitivity and scalability. This presentation will explore what is needed for eDNA to be applied for surveillance in river catchments across the landscape, at biosecurity risk locations, and as a tool to understand the size and spatial extent of emergent pest populations. The use case for eDNA will be compared to current approaches, including camera and trap networks, within the context of an ongoing predator elimination initiative on New Zealand’s West Coast, the Predator Free South Westland project.