New Zealand's endangered birds find refuge in ancient moa habitats

Research suggests that New Zealand's endangered flightless birds inhabit areas once inhabited by extinct moa, highlighting the value of conserving these areas with minimal human impact and introducing a new way to study island extinctions.

Researchers have discovered that New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are taking refuge in the same areas as six of their own. Class The moa was last found before it went extinct.

An international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Adelaide, used fossils and computer modelling to make the discovery, shedding light on a mystery with major implications for conservation.

“Our research has overcome previous logistical challenges to track the population dynamics of six moa species at resolutions that were not previously considered possible,” said lead author Professor Damian Fordham, from the University of Adelaide’s Institute of the Environment.

“We achieved this by combining sophisticated computer models, comprehensive fossil records, palaeoclimate information and innovative reconstructions of colonisation and population expansion across New Zealand.

“We find that there are significant differences in the environment, the demographics and the moment of extinction in the areas of the moas, the parts that are effective and can convert to the memes areas on the North and South Islands. New Zealand. »

This latest discovery, published in Nature and Evolution EnvironmentHe discovered that these moa burial grounds were in the same isolated, cold mountain environments that today support many of New Zealand's most endangered flightless bird populations. These include Mount Aspiring in the South Island and the Ruahine Range in the North Island.

The last refuge of the modern flightless birds and birds

“Moa populations likely first disappeared from the high-quality lowland habitats favoured by Polynesian settlers, with rates of population decline decreasing with elevation and distance travelled inland,” said lead author Dr Sean Tomlinson, from the University of Adelaide.

“By identifying remaining populations of moa and comparing them to the distribution of living flightless birds in New Zealand, we found that these remaining refuges support many of the current persistent populations of takah, weak kiwi and spotted kiwi.”

“In addition, these ancient moa refuges overlap with the last remaining continental populations of the kakapo, a critically endangered species.”

Although the recent drivers of decline in New Zealand's native flightless birds are different from those that caused the extinction of ancient moa, this research shows that their spatial dynamics remain similar.

“The main common denominator between past and present refuges is not that they provide ideal habitats for flightless birds, but that they remain the last and least affected by humans,” said author Dr Jamie Wood, also from the University of Adelaide’s Institute of the Environment.

As with previous waves of Polynesian expansion, the transformation of habitat by Europeans across New Zealand and the spread of the animals they brought with them was directional, advancing from lowland locations to less hospitable, colder, mountainous areas.

This new research shows that the ghosts of past species can provide valuable information for conservation efforts targeting living flightless birds in New Zealand, highlighting the enormous importance of protecting remote and wild places.

It also provides an important new way to understand past extinctions on islands where fossil and archaeological data are limited, which is true for most Pacific islands.

The study was funded by the Australian Research Council.