Doug
Armstrong
Professor of Conservation Biology, Massey University
Research Programme
Selected
Publications
Postdoctoral
Fellows & Graduate Students
Role
in Reintroduction Specialist Group
Teaching
Contact Information
Research
Programme
My research since 1992 has mainly focused on
population
dynamics of reintroduced forest birds, targetting questions that need
to
be answered to improve the success of reintroduction programs.
The
bulk of this research has involved toutouwai (New Zealand robins), hihi
(stitchbirds), and tieke (saddlebacks) on offshore islands or mainland
forest fragments, and has addressed four general questions:
- What habitat conditions are needed for
persistence
of the reintroduced population?
- To what extent will inbreeding depression affect persistence of
the
reintroduced
population?
- How heavily should source populations be harvested?
- Should translocation be used to compensate for isolation in
fragmented
landscapes?
These questions make of four of the 10 key questions that Phil Seddon
and
I have recently advocated in a paper on "Directions in reintroduction
biology"
in Trends in Ecology and evolution (see below). Examples of
individual
research projects are given in the selected publications below, and
information
on the reintroductions is given on the rundown
of New Zealand reintroduction projects on my reintroduction
web site. See http://www.hihiconservation.com/
for iresearch related to hihi conservation.
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Selected
Publications
Armstrong,
D.P., Wittmer, H.U.
(2009).
Quantitative targets for recovery of
threatened species. Pp 264-282 in Villard, M.-A., Jonsson, B.-G (eds),
Setting
conservation targets for managed forest landscapes, Cambridge
University Press.
Barker,
R.J., Schofield, M.R., Armstrong, D.P., Davidson, R.S. (2009). Bayesian
hierarchical
models for inference about population growth. Pp
3-17 in Thomson, D.L., Cooch,
E.G.,
Conroy, M.J. (eds), Modelling demographic processes in marked
populations. Springer, New
York.
Armstrong, D.P., Seddon, P.J. (2008).
Directions in reintroduction
biology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23: 20-25.
Boulton,
R.L., Richard, Y., Armstrong, D.P.
(2008). Influence of food availability, predator density and forest
fragmentation on nest survival of New Zealand robins.
Biological
Conservation 141: 580–589.
Armstrong, D.P., Castro, I., Griffiths,
R.G. (2007). Using adaptive management to determine requirements of
reintroduced populations: the case of the New Zealand hihi. Journal
of
Applied Ecology 44: 953-962.
Armstrong,
D.P., Cassey, P.
(2007).
Estimating the effect of inbreeding on survival. Animal Conservation 10: 487–492.
Armstrong, D.P.,
McCarthy, M.A. (2007). Big decisions and sparse data: adapting
scientific
publishing to the needs of practical conservation. Avian
Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux 2(2): 14. http://www.ace-eco.org/vol2/iss2/art14.
Seddon, P.J., Armstrong, D.P., Maloney, R.F. (2007). Developing the
science of reintroduction biology. Conservation Biology 21:
303-312.
Dimond, W.J., Armstrong, D.P. (2007). Adaptive harvesting of source
populations for translocation: a case study using New Zealand robins.
Conservation
Biology 21: 114-124.
Armstrong, D.P., Raeburn, R.M., Lewis, R.M., Ravine, D. (2006).
Estimating
the viability of a reintroduced New Zealand robin population as a
function
of predator control. Journal of Wildlife Management 70(4):
1020-1027.
Armstrong, D.P., Raeburn, R.M., Lewis, R.M., Ravine, D. (2006).
Modeling
vital rates of a reintroduced New Zealand robin population as a
function
of predator control. Journal of Wildlife Management 70(4):
1028-1036.
Armstrong, D.P., Davidson, R.S. (2006). Modelling the reintroduction
of island-marooned birds to the New Zealand mainland. New Zealand
Journal
of Ecology 30: 73-85.
Armstrong, D.P. (2005). Integrating the “metapopopulation paradigm”
and “habitat paradigm” for understanding broad-scale declines of
species.
Conservation
Biology 19: 1402-1410.
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Current
Postdoctoral Fellows & Graduate Students
Yvan Richard,
postdoctoral
fellow (spatially explicit metapopulation modelling)
Elizabeth Raeburn, PhD student (an integrated approach for developing
monitoring and management strategies for mainland reintroductions)
Wendy Shrader, PhD student (social structure and behaviour of common
and dusky dolphins)
Matt McDougall, MSc student (utility of climate covariates in adaptive
management of mallards and grey ducks)
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Role
in Reintroduction Specialist Group
I currently chair the Oceania Section of the Reintroduction Specialist
Group (RSG). The RSG is one of several specialist groups within the
Species
Survival Commission which is part of the IUCN. My role is to advise on
various issues to do with reintroduction, facilitate contact between
Oceania
reintroduction practitioners and reintroduction practioners overseas,
and
facilitate networking among reintroduction practitioners in Oceania.
My main initiative has been to create a reintroduction
web site, which provides extensive information on what's going on
in
reintroduction in Australasia, particularly in New Zealand.
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Teaching
I run a Postgraduate Programme in
Conservation
Biology which offers an MSc (coursework worth 100 points plus a
thesis)
and PGDipSc (coursework only). I am the coordinator and principal
contributor for postgraduate papers in Conservation Biology (232.701)
and Wildlife Management (232.703),
coordinate the undergraduate paper in Applied Ecology and Resource
Management (196.315)
and also contribute to undergraduate courses in Ecology and
Conservation (196.205)
,
Fauna of New Zealand (199.206)
and Community Ecology (196.317). Click HERE
to see information on these papers, including brief descriptions and
timetables.
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Contact
Information
Address: Ecology Building 624, Massey University, PB 11222,
Palmerston
North, New Zealand
Phone: +64 6 356 9099 ext 7801 (International); (06) 356 9099
ext 7801 (National)
Fax: +64 6 350 5623 (International); (06) 350 5623 (National)
Click HERE
to email me