Threats and Conservation
The New Zealand Robin (Petroica australis) is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN red list. However, the Stewart Island robin ((Petroica australis rakiura) has gone through a couple of bottlenecked populations recently because of deforestation and habitat loss, as well as introduced predators such as rats, stoats, and feral cats. Because of this sharp decline in population, on Stewart Island, several attempts have been made to translocate the Stewart Island robin to other islands nearby where introduced predators do not exist or have been eradicated. Some of these islands include Ulva, Motuara, and Nukuwaiata islands. However, many of these translocations have involved 12 or fewer colonizing individuals, such that inbreeding is nearly unavoidable. This has led to some apparent immunocompetency issues, as well as reproduction problems. On Motuara Island, there have been high hatch failures, as well as fewer clutches. Also, even though the parasite loads between these bottlenecked populations and their source populations, the immune response on a cellular level is not as strong for the bottlenecked population. Therefore, there is a huge concern that, although some of these populations are indeed growing, that there might be too much inbreeding so things like immune and reproduction systems and thoroughly compromised. On the other hand, the South Island robin, although its distribution on the island is increasingly fragmented, does not show much genetic loss in comparison with historical populations. Thus, it might be a slightly better situation than its Stewart Island sister.
Read more about this topic: New Zealand Robin
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