Hatching success of the Takahe
The Takahē is a flightless, endangered bird that is endemic to New Zealand (meaning that it is only found here). The Takahē used to be widespread over the country, however in the present day the only colony in a natural habitat is in Fiordland, in the lower South Island. The New Zealand Department of Conservation run a management program to monitor and protect the remaining population: some birds were translocated to islands around New Zealand, which are thought of as refuges or safe-havens for the Takahē. The Takahē are monitored on these islands, and as part of the program to help increase their population size, breeding activity is closely monitored in effort to isolate some of the issues that result in the limited breeding success.
The main hypothesis presented for this data set and the aim of this lesson is to investigate whether human disturbance of the nests (to monitor the breeding) affects breeding success (compared to the breeding success of nests without human disturbance).
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