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Synthetic gene drive approaches are nascent technologies with potential applicability for pest control for conservation purposes. Responsible science mandates that society be engaged in a dialogue ...

Grey-faced Petrels (Pterodroma gouldi) are burrow-nesting seabirds endemic to New Zealand. They usually breed on mammal-free offshore islands along the North Island coast. Mechanisms by whi...

Islands are critically important sites for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity because they are home to a disproportionate amount of the world’s biodiversity and are often free from many of the causes of species decline found on mainlands (Myers et al. 2000; Courchamp et al. 2014; Tershy et al. 2015). Although there have been substantial conservation gains on small uninhabited islands (Jones et al. 2016; Moro et al. 2018), islands of substantial size are typically inhabited. Wildlife conservation management on inhabited islands thus entails both ecological and socio-economic dimensions. The social sciences have much experience to bring to the challenge of wildlife conservation management (Bennett et al. 2017), and inhabited islands may be a test case for applying them. Although human communities on islands tend to have unique characteristics as a result of their isolation and the nature of their existence, they also tend to be more engaged with their environment through their livelihoods. Management of conservation conflict on such islands is as much about ecology as it is sociology, psychology and stakeholder engagement and management (Van der Werff et al. 2013; Redpath et al. 2015). Indeed, recent extinctions of three faunal species in Australia have been as much about human processes as they have ecological processes (Woinarski et al. 2017). This special issue brings together selected works presented at a symposium of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society (AWMS) Conference held in Brisbane, December 2014. It focuses on the role of humans on islands, and therefore the importance of human dimensions in wildlife management. Wildlife management on islands is explored through this lens for a number of Australasian and international case studies. Crandall et al. (2018) first outline the diverse toolkit the social sciences bring to bear on these challenges. Russell et al. (2018) then highlight the importance of social impact assessment in conjunction with environmental impact assessment, and the important application it is likely to have in the future for wildlife management on inhabited islands. Several additional case studies are then presented.

Eradication of introduced species from inhabited islands requires consideration of both technical and social feasibility. Historically, biologists have struggled to engage successfully in the social components of eradication planning. Island communities have unique features that require consideration in eradication planning. Social impact assessment is a powerful planning tool used widely outside of wildlife management. We outline the core components of a social impact assessment as it could be applied to eradication planning on inhabited islands. We summarise previous experience in social impact assessment and community engagement for introduced predator eradication on inhabited islands, and as an example develop a social profile for inhabited islands of the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. We conclude that social impact assessment has great potential to improve eradication feasibility assessment, and should be applied routinely in eradication scoping on inhabited islands.

We describe the history of Slipper Island (Whakahau) off northeastern New Zealand and report on a survey of the terrestrial fauna undertaken in December 2016. Results from this survey are compared with the last comprehensive survey in August 1973. The terrestrial habitat of the island is predominantly farmland and has changed little in extent over the past 50 years. As a result, the avifauna has remained remarkably consistent, although with some species turnover that reflects changes in the wider regional landscape, and some notable native species additions. Pacific rats were abundant across the island, and as a result reptiles are depauperate due to local extinctions. Bell frogs and Argentine ants are both recent arrivals on the island. On the nearby smaller native forested Penguin and Rabbit Islands the avifauna is predominantly native.

Individuals with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVD) are shown to be more susceptible to adverse health effects of pollutants. Rodent models of CVD are used for examining susceptibility variations. CVD models developed by selective inbreeding are shown to represent the etiology of human disease and metabolic dysfunction. The goal of this article was to review the origin and the pathobiological features of rat models of varying CVD with or without metabolic syndrome and healthy laboratory rat strains to allow better interpretation of the data regarding their susceptibility to air pollutant exposures. Age-matched healthy Sprague-Dawley (SD), Wistar (WIS) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY), and CVD-prone spontaneously hypertensive (SH), Fawn-Hooded hypertensive (FHH), SH stroke-prone (SHSP), SHHF/Mcc heart failure obese (SHHF) and insulin-resistant JCR:LA-cp obese (JCR) rat models were considered for this study. The genetics and the underlying pathologies differ between these models. Normalized heart weights correlated with underlying cardiac disease while wide differences exist in the number of white blood cells and platelets within healthy strains and those with CVD. High plasma fibrinogen and low angiotensin converting enzyme activity in FHH might relate to kidney disease and associated hypertension. However, other obese strains with known kidney lesions do not exhibit decreases in ACE activity. The increased activated partial thromboplastin time only in SHSP correlates with their hemorrhagic stroke susceptibility. Increases plasma lipid peroxidation in JCR might reflect their susceptibility to acquire atherosclerosis. These underlying pathologies involving CVD and metabolic dysfunction are critical in interpretation of findings related to susceptibility variations of air pollution health effects.

Attitudes play an important role in introduced wildlife management. The attitudes of New Zealanders to introduced wildlife and their control were surveyed in 2012, and compared with attitudes in 1994. Attitudes to widely established introduced herbivores such as deer, possums and rabbits have remained consistent, whereas those for goats, pigs and uncommon species such as thar, chamois and wallabies are changing. New Zealanders generally accept that large mammals are both a resource and a pest requiring management and control. Attitudes to small herbivores such as possums and rabbits, and predators such as mustelids and rodents, are negative and focused on control or extermination using multiple methods. Less than 1% of respondents felt doing nothing was acceptable, but acceptability of poisons has declined. Future management of introduced animals in New Zealand will need to be situational and utilise mixed management methods appropriate to different demographics and stakeholders, while appropriately resol...