The life-history tactics of mustelids, and their significance for predator control and conservation in New Zealand
- 1 December 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in New Zealand Journal of Zoology
- Vol. 6 (4), 619-622
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1979.10428405
Abstract
Intensive predator control on game estates in 19th-century England is believed to be largely responsible for the decline of two large native mustelids, the pine marten and polecat. Two small, related, species, the stoat and weasel, were also killed in large numbers but are still common in England, and have been introduced into New Zealand. The theory of life-history tactics offers an explanation for the different effects of persecution on large and small mustelids. It also suggests that stoats in New Zealand national parks cannot be exterminated by trapping, and that the first priority for the conservation of rare native birds such as the takahe is active management to stimulate breeding.This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- On co-existence, foraging strategy and the biogeography of weasels and stoats (Mustela nivalis and M. erminea) in BritainOecologia, 1978
- The Evolution of Life History Traits: A Critique of the Theory and a Review of the DataAnnual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1977
- The decline of the rarer carnivores in Great Britain during the nineteenth centuryMammal Review, 1977
- r- and K-Selection in TyphaThe American Naturalist, 1975
- The Concept of r- and K-Selection: Evidence from Wild Flowers and Some Theoretical ConsiderationsThe American Naturalist, 1972