Monitoring & Citizen Science

Monitoring the health of Motuihe’s ecosystems is essential for future management decisions. Populations of translocated and self-establishing species are tracked through volunteer-led programmes designed by expert ecologists.

Baseline Monitoring

In addition to species-specific programmes, volunteers carry out invertebrate monitoring and vegetation monitoring at the 40 baseline stations. These long-term datasets track the overall ecological recovery of the island as native bush matures.

Please follow the PowerPoint link below (note: this may take time to download):

Monitoring on Motuihe Island — Motuihe Volunteers.ppt

Little Spotted Kiwi Monitoring

Little Spotted Kiwi is the smallest of the kiwi species and was the first to become extinct on the mainland in the early 1980’s. Its feathers are pale and mottled shaggy grey. Most LSK live on Kapiti Island, but new populations are being established on island sanctuaries (such as Tiritiri Matangi and Motuihe) and at Karori Sanctuary, in Wellington city. The number of little spotted kiwi dropped to about 1000 birds in 1980, but since predators were removed from Kapiti in 1998, the species has begun to recover. Little Spotted Kiwi are classified by DOC as “at risk, recovering”. Total population was estimated at 1800 in 2015.

A total of 40 Little Spotted Kiwi (LSK) were transferred from Kapiti Island to Motuihe Island in 2009 and 2010.

Of these founder birds, three are known to have died and were found dead shortly after the second release.

Monitoring of these birds has been undertaken by informal call-counts, trail camera observations, surveys by Rogan Colbourne (March 2012), a dog team (With a Nose for Conservation 2017) and most recently Tamsin Ward-Smith and Kay Griffiths have trained a dedicated team of volunteers (2017) to carry out a formal call-count survey which will be repeated each year.

LSK call counts Standard Operating Procedures for Motuihe Island, Map of Listening sites and Kiwi Call Scheme sheet.

Reports

• Report LSK survey Motuihe Island 26–29 March 2012 by Rogan Colbourne
• Report LSK survey Motuihe Island 10–14 April 2017 by Natasha Coad (Breeze, Bella), James Fraser (Peg, Duke) With a Nose for Conservation
• AGM Monitoring Report to June 2024

Call count data

2018 Data

Call count surveys map the locations of LSK pairs across the island, showing the spread and establishment of the population over time.

Reptile Monitoring

After initial volunteer training undertaken 3 December 2017, a pilot Gecko survey was completed in February 2018.

Annual surveys are now completed by volunteers around January to ascertain the changes taking place with translocated Pacific Geckos, Raukawa Geckos and Duvaucel Geckos.

Note: Our volunteer reptile monitoring team do not handle the lizards.

Monitoring methods

Volunteers use three monitoring methods:

• Tracking tunnels — baited cards that record footprints
• CFCs (Closed Foam Covers) — artificial refuges checked for gecko presence
• ACOs (Artificial Cover Objects) — cover objects checked for sheltering geckos

Results for pilot survey

Site	Prints in tunnels	ACOs
0001	Pacific	0
0002	Duvaucel, skink	0
0003	Duvaucel	0
0009	Duvaucel	0
0010	Duvaucel, Pacific, skink	1 Juv Duvaucel
0011	Duvaucel, Pacific	4 Duvaucel
0012	Pacific	1 Pacific
0025	Skink	0
0027	0	0
0028	Duvaucel, Skink	0
0029	0	0
T004	Pacific	n/a

Motuihe Island Gecko Monitoring Field Guide (PDF)

Fungi Citizen Science Project

The Motuihe Trust has launched a citizen science iNaturalist project to better get to know the motu’s fungi and we would love you to be part of it!

Fungi play important roles in the natural world. They help break down dead matter into nutrients that can be recycled back into the soil. They often have special relationships with plants and can help their roots access water and minerals in the soil, fight off disease and even transmit chemical signals between plants. Some fungi can also cause illness in plants (for example myrtle rust on pōhutukawa).

Not much is known about fungi, compared to plants and animals. We don’t even know how many species there are native to Aotearoa New Zealand! It is estimated that around 1/3 of our fungi have not even been discovered yet. This is why we want to do our bit to try and find out more about the fungi on Motuihe. Anyone can take part in this project and help be part of cutting-edge science.

The tool that we are using for this project is the citizen science app iNaturalist. This is a world-wide online tool used by scientists and the public to better identify, learn about and map animals, plants, fungi and all other living things. It is free to use and the New Zealand version of the app can be downloaded here.

We encourage anyone visiting Motuihe to help us with our project by using iNaturalist to record any fungi (including mushrooms, mould, lichens, rusts) that you see on the island. Simply take a photo of the fungi and upload it to the app for identification. If you have location services activated on your phone then the location of the fungi should automatically be recorded, if not you can manually drop a pin on the location of your observation. Scientists will then help identify what you have seen.

Tips for photographing fungi

To be able to more easily identify which species of fungi you have seen it is important that you take good photos. This doesn’t mean you need a flash camera, just follow these simple steps:

• Make sure your photos are in focus
• Make sure you include something in the image to give an idea of scale. A coin, pen or library card works well. Don’t use bank cards as the images are publicly visible.
• Make sure you take photos of the fungi showing all of its parts. Depending what you see this could mean the top, the underside of the cap, the stem, where the stem meets the ground / wood.
• If you can, it is helpful to add a few notes with your identification saying what the fungi was growing on or near. Eg growing under manuka tree, or growing on pōhutukawa leaf. Even saying if it is growing on living or dead wood, or out of the ground can be helpful.
• Try and record fresh, healthy-looking specimens. It is not always possible to identify fungi once they get old and battered.
• If you see a group of fungi that all look like the same species try and get photos that include a range of ages and sizes.
• The base of fungi can be helpful for identification. If you can gently dig the bottom of the fungi out of the ground to show its ‘root’ then include a photo of this too.

Monitoring programmes

Bird count

Five-minute bird counts are carried out at baseline monitoring stations across the island. These standardised counts track changes in bird populations over time — both translocated species like saddleback (tīeke), bellbird (korimako), and whitehead (pōpokotea), and naturally establishing species.

NZ dotterel

New Zealand dotterel breed on the island’s beaches. Monitoring tracks nest locations, hatching success, and chick survival during the breeding season.

Little blue penguin (kororā)

Kororā nest in burrows around the island’s coast. Monitoring checks nest occupancy and breeding success to track the health of the colony.

Fluttering shearwater

Fluttering shearwaters (pakahā) nest in burrows on Motuihe. Monitoring tracks colony size and breeding activity.

Wētāpunga

The world’s heaviest insect, wētāpunga have been successfully established on Motuihe. Monitoring uses tracking and observation to assess population health.

Freshwater (kukuwai)

Freshwater monitoring tracks the health of the island’s streams and wetland areas, including invertebrate diversity and water quality.

Get involved

Monitoring programmes welcome new volunteers — full training is provided. Contact operations@motuihe.org.nz to find out about upcoming monitoring trips.