Home range of stoats (Mustela erminea) in podocarp forest, south Westland,New Zealand: implications for a control strategy

The home range of stoats (Mustela erminea) was determined as part of a prog ramme to protect Okarito brown kiwi chicks (Apteryx australis) 'Okarito', f rom predation. Twenty-seven stoats were fitted with radio-transmitters and tracked in two podocarp (Podocarpaceae) forests, in south Westland, New Zea land, from July 1997 to May 1998. Home-range area was determined for 19 ani mals by minimum convex polygons and restricted-edge polygons, and core area s were determined by hierarchical cluster analysis. The mean home ranges of males across all seasons calculated by minimum convex polygon (210 +/- 28 ha (+/- s.e.)) and restricted-edge polygon (176 +/- 29 ha) were significant ly larger than those of females across all seasons (89 +/- 14 ha and 82 +/- 12 ha). The mean home range of males calculated by minimum convex polygon during the breeding season (256 +/- 38 ha) was significantly larger than th e mean home range pooled across the non-breeding seasons (149 +/- 16 ha), w hereas that calculated by restricted-edge polygon was not significantly dif ferent. The mean home range of females during the breeding season was not s ignificantly different from that in the non-breeding seasons when estimated by either method. Overlap of home ranges was observed within and between s exes in all seasons, with the greatest proportion of home range overlap bei ng male-female. The mean home range of females in spring and summer is used to guide the spacing of control stations.