The Ecology and Conservation Group
Associate Professor Dianne Brunton

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research has focused on testing and developing theoretical models concerning sexual selection, mating systems, parental care and vocal communication. My research has centred on avian systems particularly involved rare and endangered species. In addition I have a strong interest and background in statistical analysis of behaviour, ecological and evolutionary data. I have also been involved both directly and indirectly in re-introduction of many species (North Island robin, fernbird, saddleback, tomtit, whitehead, tuatara, and hihi). The aim of our research group at Albany is to advance knowledge and understanding in the fields of ecology, behaviour, and conservation biology by theoretical, experimental, and field research, and to transfer that knowledge through teaching and publication. We plan to achieve this mission by carefully planning our research, promoting team-work, and setting-up collaborative studies. We encourage the involvement of undergraduate students in research activities as a way of enhancing their education, background, and job opportunities.

• Acoustic communication in birds: Cognition and function
  The cultural evolution of the North Island saddleback [PHD]
  Vocal behaviour and biology of grey warbler and shining cuckoo.[PHD]
  


• Reptilian and avian ecology and mating strategies
  Chemical communication in parrots with a specific emphasis on the kakapo. [PHD]
  The effect of population size on genetic diversity and fitness in common geckos. [PHD] co-supervisor
  Habitat use and reproductive success of translocated red-crowned kakariki. [PHD]
  Malaria prevalence in a non-migratory songbird. [PHD]
  Parasitism in little blue penguins on Tiritiri Matangi Island [MSC]
  Spatial and temporal analysis of little blue penguin foraging ecology. [MSC]
  The social behaviour of Duvaucel's gecko. [PHD]
  Social organisation and mating system of North Island brown kiwi. [PHD]
  


• General ecology and management
  An evaluation of wildlife reserves in New Zealand. [PHD]
  Role of pine plantation invertebrates in native vertebrate diet. [PHD]
  Novel applied techniques in pest management [PHD]
  Responses of South Island Hector’s dolphins to vessel activity in Akaroa Harbour. [PHD]

• 2009
  Conservation issues for Hochstetter's frog: Monitoring techniques and chytridiomycosis prevalence in the Auckland Region. - MSc |Abstract|
  Spatial ecology, habitat use and the impacts of rats on chevron skinks on Great Barrier Island. - MSc |Abstract|
  



• 2008
  



• 2007
  Mating system of New Zealand bellbird. - MSc |Abstract|
  Aspects of the impacts of mouse control on skinks in Auckland, New Zealand. - MSc |Abstract|
  The ecology of micro-oganisms in New Zealand's paradise shellduck. - MSc |Abstract|



• 2006
  The use of little blue penguins as a biological indicator. - MSc |Abstract|
  An evaluation of the behavioural response of North Island brown kiwi in reaction to playback recordings of neighbouring & distant kiwi (within a Whangarei population). - MSc |Abstract|
  Aspects of vocal behaviour in captive and wild Aptenodytes and Pygoscelis penguins. - PhD |Abstract|
  Breeding ecology of a translocated population of red-crowned kakariki on Tiritiri Matangi Island, New Zealand. - MSc |Abstract|
  Bellbird vocal behaviour. - RSNZ Teaching Fellowship.



• 2005
  Effects of Argentine ant on arthropod fauna in New Zealand native forest. - PhD |Abstract|
  Molecular systematics of the fairy tern. - Contract Work |Abstract|
  The use of translocation in tuatara conservation and relationships between the tuatara and the tick Aponomma sphenodonti. - MSc |Abstract|
  The structure, function and variation of song in the adult male hihi. - MSc |Abstract|



• 2004
  Reproductive success, population demographics, and local distribution at sea of the little blue penguins on Tiritiri Matangi Island. - MSc |Abstract|
  Distribution, habitat use, breeding and behavioural ecology of rainbow skinks in New Zealand. - MSc |Abstract|
  


• 2003
  Terrestrial invertebrates as bioindicators of habitat restoration. - MSc |Abstract|
  The habitat use, behaviour, and population genetic structure of the chevron skink. - MSc |Abstract|
  Behavioural interactions between copper and moko skinks: implications for translocations. - MSc |Abstract|
  Investigations into shorebird community ecology: Interrelations between morphology, behaviour, habitat and abiotic factors. - MSc |Abstract]
  The edge effect on arthropod communities in Rodney District forest fragments. - MSc |Abstract|



• 2002
  The behaviour and ecology of the bottlenose dolphins of Northeastern New Zealand: A population exposed to tourism. - PhD |Abstract|
  Aspects of the ecology of forest invertebrates and the use of brodifacoum. - PhD |Abstract|
  Ecology and management of North Island fernbird. - MSc |Abstract|
  Estimating feral goat density in New Zealand using line transect sampling. - MSc |Abstract|



• 2001
  The structure and function of female song in bellbird. - MSc |Abstract|
  The impact of feral goats on Beilschmiedia forest in the Hunua Ranges, Auckland. - MSc |Abstract|



• 2000
  Bottlenose dolphin acoustic behaviour, Bay of Islands. - MSc |Abstract|
  Disturbance and breeding behaviour of fairy terns and white-fronted terns at Papakanui Spit. - MSc |Abstract|
  Life on the coast : a botanical survey of the western Waikato sand dunes and coastal forest. - MSc |Abstract|
  Near-shore habitat use by southern right whale cow/calf pairs in Port Ross Harbour, Auckland Islands. - MSc |Abstract|
  The dusky dolphin off Kaikoura, New Zealand : A long-term comparison of behaviour and habitat use. - MSc |Abstract|



• 1999
  Petrels and the terrestrial environment on Tiritiri Matangi Island. - MSc |Abstract|
  Factors affecting reproductive success of the North Island saddleback on Tiritiri Matangi Island. - MSc |Abstract|

PUBLICATIONS

Barraclough RK, Cope T, Peirce MA & Brunton DH In Press. First example of a highly prevalent but low-impact malaria in an endemic New Zealand passerine: Plasmodium of Tiritiri Matangi Island bellbirds (Anthornis melanura). Studies in Avian Biology:disease issue.

Baling M, Jeffries D, Barré N & Brunton DH 2009. A survey of fairy tern (Sterna nereis) breeding colonies in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia. Emu 109 (1): 57-61. (cover photo)

Baling M, Brunton DH & Jeffries D 2008. Marine and coastal bird survey of islands in the Southern Lagoon, New Caledonia. Notornis 55: 111-113.

Brunton DH, Evans B, Cope T & Ji W 2008. A test of the 'dear enemy' hypothesis in female New Zealand bellbirds: female neighbors as threats. Behavioral Ecology |online|.

Rayner M, Brunton DH, Clout MN, Stamp RK, & Hauber ME 2007. Predictive habitat modeling improves the population census accuracy of a burrowing seabird: a study of the endangered Cook's petrel. Biological Conservation 138: 235-247.

Brunton DH & Stamp R 2007. Seasonal and habitat-related changes in population density of North Island saddlebacks (Philesturnus rufusater) on a small island: Using distance sampling to determine variation. Emu 107: 196-202.

Baling M, Ji W & Brunton DH 2007. Categorising shore skink (Oligosoma smithi) colour patterns at Tawharanui Regional Park (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34 (3): 259.

Barr B, Ji W & Brunton DH 2007. Habitat preference and dispersal of translocated shore skink (Oligosoma smithi) populations on Tiritiri Matangi and Motuora Islands (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34(3): 259-260.

Barry M, Ji W & Brunton DH 2007. The mating system of New Zealand's largest gecko: Hoplodactylus duvaucelii (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34(3): 260.

Ji W, Baling M, Barry M, van Winkel D, Wedding C, Barr B & Brunton DH 2007. Translocation of Duvaucel's gecko and shore skinks to Tiritiri Matangi Island, Motuora Island and Massey University captive breeding facility (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34 (3): 264-265.

van Winkel D, Brunton DH & Ji W 2007. Efficiency of techniques for post-release monitoring of translocated Duvaucel's geckos (Hoplodactylus duvaucelii) and impact of native predators on island lizard populations (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34 (3): 271-272.

Wedding CJ, Ji W & Brunton DH 2007. The impacts of mice (Mus musculus), and their control using brodifacoum, on the post-harvest recovery of small lizard populations (Abstract Only). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 34(3): 272.

Brunton DH, & Li X 2006. Comparisons of song structure and vocal behavior of male and female bellbirds (Anthornis melanura). Journal of Ethology 24(1): 17-25.

Parker KA, Brunton DH & Jakob-Hoff R 2006. Avian translocations and wildlife disease; implications for New Zealand conservation. Pacific Conservation Biology 12(2): 155-162.

Peace J & Brunton D 2006. Diet and foraging behavior of native insectivorous birds in New Zealand native and exotic pine plantation forest (Abstract Only). Journal of Ornithology 147 (5): 226 Suppl 1.

Ziesemann B, Brunton DH & Castro I. 2006. Social behavior, interactions and the social mating system of a high-density North Island krown kiwi population (Abstract Only). Journal of Ornithology 147 (5): 278 Suppl. 1.

Chan YK, Poppitt SD, Dissanayake AM, Leahy F, Keogh GF, Frampton CM, Gamble GD, Brunton DH, Baker JR & Cooper GJ 2005. Dose-response effects of Trientine hydrochloride on urinary transitional metal excretion in diabetic & non-diabetic subjects. Diabetes 54: A507-507.

Cooper GS, Chan YK, Dissanayake AM, Leahy FE, Keogh GF, Frampton CM, Gamble GD, Brunton DH, Baker JR & Young AA 2005. Demonstration of a hyperglycemia-driven pathogenic abnormality of copper homeostasis in diabetes and its reversibility by selective chelation - Quantitative comparisons between the biology of copper and eight other nutritionally essential elements in normal and diabetic individuals. Diabetes 54: 1468-1476.

Cooper GS, Phillips ARJ, Choong SY, Leonard BL, Crossman DJ, Brunton DH, Saafi E, Dissanayake AM, Cowan BR, Young AA, Occleshaw CJ, Chan Y, Leahy FE, Keogh G F, Gamble GD, Allen GR, Pope AJ, Boyd PDW, Poppitt SD, Borg TK, Doughty RN & Baker JR 2004. Regeneration of the heart in diabetes by selective copper chelation. Diabetes 53: 2501-2508.

Constantine R, Brunton DH, & Dennis T 2004. Dolphin-watching tour boats change bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behaviour. Biological Conservation 117: 299-307.

Parker KA & Brunton DH 2004. Predation of banded rail (Rallus phillippensis) nests in a saltmarsh habitat. Notornis 51: 240-241.

Constantine R, Brunton DH & Baker CS 2003. Effects of tourism on behavioural ecology of bottlenose dolphins of northeastern New Zealand. Department of Conservation Science Internal Series 153. Department of Conservation, Wellington, p.26.

Castro I, Brunton DH, Mason KM, Ebert B & Griffiths R 2003. Life history traits and food supplementation affect productivity in a translocated population of the endangered Hihi (Stitchbird, Notiomystis cincta). Biological Conservation 114 (2): 271-280.

Ross E & Brunton DH 2002. Seasonal trends and nightly variation in colony attendance of grey-faced petrels (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi). Notornis 49:153-157.

Stamp RK & Brunton DH 2002. An investigation into the mpacts of mites and nest box design on the reproductive success of the North Island saddleback. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 29:285-292.

Jeffries D & Brunton DH 2001. Attracting endangered species to 'safe' habitats: attractiveness of decoys to fairy terns. Animal Conservation 4:301-305.

Brunton DH 1999. Optimal colony size for least terns: An inter-colony study of opposing selective pressures by predators. Condor 101: 607-615.

Brunton DH 1997. Impacts of predators: center nests are less successful than edge nests in a large nesting colony of least terns. Condor 99: 372-380.

Brunton DH 1990. The effects of nesting stage, sex, and type of predator on parental defence by killdeer (Charadrius vociferous): Testing models of avian parental defense. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 26: 181-1903.

Brunton DH 1988. Energy expenditure in reproductive effort: The reproductive strategies of male and female killdeer. Auk 105: 553-564.

Brunton DH 1988. Sexual differences in time budgets of killdeer during the breeding season. Animal Behaviour 36: 705-717.

Pierotti R, Brunton D & Murphy CC 1988. Parent-offspring and sibling-sibling recognition in gulls. Animal Behavior 36:620-621.

Brunton DH 1988. Sequential polyandry by a female Killdeer. Wilson Bulletin 100:670-672.