Using a new monitoring framework for Regional Councils to assess the integrity of prioritised ecosystems in Hawke’s Bay farmland : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Applied Science at Lincoln University

Abstract

The long-term sustainability of biodiversity in small native forest fragments on privately-owned lowland rural land is threatened by agricultural intensification, introduced pests, inadequate fencing, and species-area effects. Biodiversity monitoring of private land plays an essential role in protecting, and enhancing, the biodiversity that remains. This is important because these private forest fragments can contain rare and critically threatened species, and are reservoirs for indigenous species that are otherwise scarce in these landscapes. Regional Councils are increasingly required to work with landowners to monitor the biodiversity in these habitats to inform management and conservation. However, there has been no standard framework that councils follow for doing this. Regional councils contracted Manaaki Whenua–Landcare Research to develop a Tier 2 Monitoring Framework for standardised biodiversity monitoring in 2020. I have trialled this framework to survey vegetation, bird and mammal biodiversity at a selection of 10 ecologically prioritised native forest sites across Hawke’s Bay. My research offers insights into the framework’s ability to measure ecological change, by using it to assess the ecological differences between fenced and unfenced forests. Vascular plant species richness was affected by reserve fencing, with fewer natives and many more naturalised species present at unfenced sites. Within sites, there were much more native individuals across all height tiers. For birds, it was found that fencing determined species composition, whereby there was a greater species richness and detections of naturalised bird in unfenced areas, and greater detections of native birds in fenced sites. I also investigate autonomous recordings compared to 5-minute bird counts, concluding that although they both have their merits, greater detection and unbiasedness occurs using autonomous recording devices. I will offer my reflections on the suitability of this proposed framework for more widespread regional council use and offer recommendations. My findings document the status of lowland biodiversity at these sites and provide a valuable baseline for future monitoring of ecological change in lowland forest fragments in Hawke’s Bay.