Lesson 4: Introduced Predators & Invasive Species Impact on Taonga Species
Exploring NZ ecosystems, biodiversity, energy flow, invasive pests, kaitiakitanga, and field restoration projects.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Impact of introduced mammalian predators (possums, stoats, rats, feral cats) on flightless/ground-nesting NZ native species, competition for food resources, and habitat destruction.
Analyse population collapse graphs of native birds post-predator introduction, compare predator hunting adaptations with bird vulnerability, and evaluate pest threats.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Invasive Predators & NZ Native Wildlife Crisis
Video Clip: New Zealand's Most Wanted: Possums, Rats, Stoats — The Wall Street Journal (Watch in full — declared full-watch).
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
Why were Aotearoa's native birds completely unprepared for the arrival of stoats, rats, and possums?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- As you watch: Which introduced predators are featured, and what specific damage does each cause to native wildlife?
- Note: How have stoats and rats exploited the vulnerability of ground-nesting or flightless birds?
- Consider: What conservation methods are being used, and how effective have they been at protecting native species?
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Display tracking tunnel ink pads and chew cards used by rangers to detect pest presence.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 4 of your Ecology Field Journal: Invasive Pest Impact Matrix & Tracking Tunnel Data Analysis.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Red Arrows (10 mins)
Open your Section 3 food web from last lesson. Add a rat and a stoat, drawing their feeding links in red — eggs, chicks, wētā, lizards, seeds, whatever they take. Count: how many native species do the red arrows touch? Write one sentence predicting which native in your web disappears first, and why.
📖 Activity 1: Tracking Tunnel Data & Pest Impact Matrix (25 mins)
- Identify (8 min): in pairs, examine the tracking-tunnel cards on display (real cards or printed images). Use the footprint ID chart to name each visitor: rat, mouse, stoat, hedgehog — or a native like wētā.
- Calculate (5 min): tally the class set — how many tunnels out of the total show pest prints? That percentage is the tracking rate, the same measure DOC and community trapping groups report.
- Matrix (8 min): build the Invasive Pest Impact Matrix: one row each for possum, rat, stoat and feral cat; columns for what it eats, which natives it hits hardest, and how and when it got here. Fill it from the video, the footprint work and your food web.
- Decide (4 min): pairs answer — if you could remove only ONE of the four pests from your local bush, which, and what evidence from your matrix says so?
📝 Activity 2: Field Journal Section 4 — Pest Impact & Tracking Data (20 mins)
Write up Section 4 of your Ecology Field Journal: your completed pest impact matrix, the class tracking rate with the working shown, and a short analysis — why are ground-nesting and flightless birds hit hardest, and what does the red-arrow count from your Do Now add as evidence? Use invasive predator, tracking rate and ground-nesting correctly, and close with your one-pest-removal decision and its justification.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Prep: if you have no real tracking cards, a local trapping group or Predator Free NZ hub will usually share images — print a class set with a footprint ID chart. Some ākonga trap with their whānau: treat that knowledge as expertise and let them lead the identification step. The tracking rate feeds Section 4 and returns in Lesson 8's method evaluation. Curriculum anchoring for the unit sits on the unit page (verbatim Te Mātaiaho statements).