Using adaptive management to determine requirements of re‐introduced populations: the case of the New Zealand hihi

Summary Adaptive management involves the development of predictive models, strategic manipulation of management actions to gain information, and subsequent updating of the models and management. The paradigm has several characteristics that make it an effective approach for determining requirements of re‐introduced populations. Adaptive management was applied to the re‐introduction of hihi Notiomystis cincta , a New Zealand forest bird that had been reduced to a single island population. Following three previous failed re‐introductions, we initiated an 8‐year series of management manipulations when hihi were re‐introduced to Mokoia Island in 1994. We developed a population model for projecting outcomes under potential management scenarios, and updated it on an annual basis. The population model combined submodels for survival and reproduction that were…