ABSTRACT Kiore (Pacific rat; Rattus exulans) is both a target for eradication and a taonga or highly valued species in New Zealand, and its abundance and distribution vary considerably throughout the country. We investigated reports of an abundant kiore population on Slipper Island (Whakahau), off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, in March 2017. We trapped kiore to examine their distribution across a range of habitats with varying degrees of human activity. Kiore were captured in all habitats, with particularly high abundance at a campground with a fruiting fig tree (50 kiore per 100 trap nights corrected for sprung traps). We found no evidence of other rat species; Slipper Island appears to remain one of few New Zealand islands with kiore but without ship rats (Rattus rattus) and Norway rats (R. norvegicus), the two other rat species present in New Zealand. Slipper Island potentially provides opportunities to research kiore behaviour and population dynamics in a New Zealand commensal environment, and genetics of an isolated island population.

中文翻译：

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Kiore (Rattus exulans) 分布和相对丰度在一个小的高度改造的岛上

摘要 Kiore（太平洋鼠；Rattus exulans）既是新西兰的根除目标，也是 taonga 或高价值物种，其数量和分布在全国各地差异很大。我们于 2017 年 3 月调查了新西兰北岛东海岸附近的拖鞋岛 (Whakahau) 上大量 kiore 种群的报告。我们捕获了 kiore 以检查它们在人类活动程度不同的一系列栖息地中的分布。Kiore 在所有栖息地都被捕获，特别是在一个有结果的无花果树的露营地（每 100 个陷阱夜 50 kiore，校正弹簧陷阱）。我们没有发现其他老鼠种类的证据；拖鞋岛似乎仍然是新西兰为数不多的岛屿之一，但没有船鼠（Rattus rattus）和挪威鼠（R. norvegicus），新西兰存在的另外两种老鼠。Slipper Island 可能为研究新西兰共生环境中的 kiore 行为和种群动态以及孤岛种群的遗传学提供机会。