Matt Rayner

• PhD
• Senior Researcher Natural Sciences at Auckland Museum

Pelagic seabirds are highly mobile, reducing the likelihood of allopatric speciation where disruption of gene flow between populations is caused by physically insurmountable, extrinsic barriers. Spatial segregation during the non-breeding season appears to provide an intrinsic barrier to gene flow among seabird populations that otherwise occupy nea...

Identifcation of breeding sites remains a critical step in species conservation, particularly in procellariiform seabirds whose threat status is of global concern. We designed and conducted an integrative radiotelemetry approach to uncover the breeding grounds of the critically endangered New Zealand Storm Petrel Fregetta maoriana (NZSP), a species...

Globally, human population growth, its associated pollution and the vast scale of industrialised fisheries are having negative impacts on oceanic food webs, affecting top predators such as seabirds. We used stable isotope (δ ¹⁵ N and δ ¹³ C) analyses of feathers to investigate the contemporary structure and long-term changes in a near-shore communi...

The Te Moananui-ā-Toi / Tīkapa Moana / Hauraki Gulf is regarded as an international area of significance for many of New Zealand’s seabirds. This is due to the diversity and number of species that rely on the area to survive, including the endemic species that breed in the marine park and the wider region – the tākoketai / black petrel, tītī / Pycr...

Aim To identify the broad‐scale oceanic migration routes (‘marine flyways’) used by multiple pelagic, long‐distance migratory seabirds based on a global compilation of tracking data. Location Global. Time Period 1989–2023. Major Taxa Studied Seabirds (Families: Phaethontidae, Hydrobatidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Laridae and Stercorariidae)...

The New Zealand storm petrel (NZSP; Fregetta maoriana), thought to be extinct for over 150 years, was rediscovered in 2003. In 2013, a single NZSP breeding population was identified on Te Hauturu-o-Toi (Little Barrier Island) in the Hauraki Gulf off the east coast of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island. Expeditions in 2021 to the Far North of New Z...

Plastic pollution is distributed patchily around the world’s oceans. Likewise, marine organisms that are vulnerable to plastic ingestion or entanglement have uneven distributions. Understanding where wildlife encounters plastic is crucial for targeting research and mitigation. Oceanic seabirds, particularly petrels, frequently ingest plastic, are h...

Long-term changes in the life history and behaviour of seabirds during the non-breeding season can reflect shifts in environmental conditions. However, long-term marine studies are scarce, particularly on southern hemisphere seabirds. Here, we used moult scores from 86 Brown Skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus lonnbergi), a large predatory seabird bree...

The cover image is based on the Letter AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds by Tobias et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. The sword‐billed hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is exquisitely adapted to its trophic niche as an aerial pollinator of flowerings plants (angiosperms) in the high Andes. A new global data...

Functional traits offer a rich quantitative framework for developing and testing theories in evolutionary biology, ecology and ecosystem science. However, the potential of functional traits to drive theoretical advances and refine models of global change can only be fully realised when species-level information is complete. Here we present the AVON...

Grey-faced Petrels (Pterodroma gouldi) are a colonial burrowing seabird predominantly nesting on offshore islands of the upper North Island of New Zealand. We studied their annual breeding biology and the impact of Southern Oscillation Index climatic effects by measuring colony productivity and chick growth rates from 2011 to 2015 on Te Hāwere-a-Ma...

The Hauraki Gulf, Tīkapa Moana, Te Moananui-ā-Toi is a place of striking seabird diversity. With its combination of multiple predator-free breeding sites on islands, and productive waters close to seabird colonies, the Hauraki Gulf region is a globally significant seabird biodiversity hotspot. This is remarkable given its proximity to the country’s...

Every year, billions of birds undertake extensive migrations between breeding and non-breeding areas, facing challenges that require behavioural adjustments, particularly to flight timing and duration. Such adjustments in daily activity patterns and the influence of extrinsic factors (e.g., environmental conditions, moonlight) have received much mo...

The Noises are an island group of outstanding biodiversity and cultural value positioned on the outer edge of the inner Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana / Te Moananui-ā-toi. Whilst terrestrial habitats of The Noises have been protected for decades, declines in the marine environment have brought together The Noises Trust, iwi, scientists and the wider c...

Cook’s Petrel Pterodroma cookii is an endemic New Zealand seabird that has experienced a large range decline since the arrival of humans and now only breeds on two offshore islands (Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island and Whenua Hou/Codfish Island) at the extreme ends of its former distribution. Morphological, behavioural, and mitochondrial cyto...

Between 2014 and 2018 a mark-recapture/ resighting study was conducted to ascertain the size of the population of New Zealand storm petrel (Fregatta maoriana) at their breeding grounds on Hauturu, Little Barrier Island, New Zealand. A total of 415 New Zealand storm petrels were captured and marked with individual colour bands using acoustic playbac...

Seabird foraging behaviour can reflect prey abundance at sea, and is influenced by stress hormone levels, thus providing a potential indicator of at-sea conditions. Using common diving petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix, hereafter CDPs), a procellariform that preferentially forages on crustacean zooplankton, we sought to understand how spatially separ...

Rising to the highest point in the Hauraki Gulf, Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island stands sentinel over its rare and endangered birds, plants and animals. It is home to New Zealand’s most diverse native bird and reptile communities, a prodigious number of seabirds and a vast array of invertebrate fauna. New Zealand’s first nature reserve, it...

The distributions of migratory species in the ocean span local, national and international jurisdictions. Across these ecologically interconnected regions, migratory marine species interact with anthropogenic stressors throughout their lives. Migratory connectivity, the geographical linking of individuals and populations throughout their migratory...

Genetic data are increasingly being used to prioritize species conservation in a fiscally constrained age of seemingly boundless conservation crises. Such data can also reveal previously cryptic biodiversity requiring further revision of conservation management guidelines. Using a combination of mitochondrial (control region) and nuclear (beta fibr...

We present the first study to examine the year-round distribution, activity patterns, and habitat use of one of New Zealand’s most common seabirds, the fluttering shearwater (Puffinus gavia). Seven adults from Burgess Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, and one individual from Long Island, in the Marlborough Sounds, were successfully tracked with combined...

Threats to seabird species breeding and visiting the northern Aotearoa New Zealand region.

The Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria beckii is a ‘Critically Endangered’ seabird whose breeding sites remain unknown. Historic observations suggest the species’ distribution is concentrated in the Bismarck Archipelago and particularly southern New Ireland. Over the course of two research expeditions in 2016 and 2017 we used on-land and at-sea observati...

Considerable benefits can be achieved for indigenous biodiversity when invasive vertebrates are removed from islands. In New Zealand, two logistically challenging eradications were undertaken, one to remove cats (Felis catus) and the other Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) from Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island (Hauturu). Here we document the shor...

Common Diving Petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix urinatrix) are distributed widely around coastal New Zealand and breed primarily on predator-free offshore islands. Despite their ubiquity, little is known of their at-sea foraging movement, as their small size and frequent diving behaviour have presented logistic challenges to obtaining high-resolution...

The order Procellariiformes, or albatross and petrels, face declining populations and many species hold threatened species status. Translocations of petrel chicks are increasingly recognised as a powerful conservation tool with multiple benefits: restoring species to their former range, restoring lost land-sea ecological linkages and 'spreading the...

Handling of avian study species is common in ecological research, yet few studies account for the impact of handling in nestlings where exposure to stress may result in negative lifetime fitness consequences. As a result, our understanding of stress reactivity in free-living avian young is limited. In this study we examined the cumulative impact of...

The Fluttering Shearwater (Puffinus gavia) is an abundant seabird endemic to breeding colonies in northern and central New Zealand. The species remains poorly studied, and here we present the first study to examine its breeding biology in detail. Fluttering Shearwater nests were monitored from laying in September to fledging in January 2016 on Burg...

New Zealand's endemic King Shag (Leucocarbo carunculatus) has occupied only a narrow portion of the northeastern South Island for at least the past 240years. However, pre-human Holocene fossil and archaeological remains have suggested a far more widespread distribution of the three Leucocarbo species (King, Otago, Foveaux) on mainland New Zealand a...

The Common Diving Petrel (Pelecanoides urinatrix) is an abundant seabird species within New Zealand waters. Breeding in this species occurs from late July through to December and adults are thought to remain in New Zealand waters during non-breeding months. Yet no studies of the spatial ecology of the species within New Zealand have been undertaken...

As ecosystem engineers, petrels are integral to ecological restoration schemes seeking to restore land sea nutrient pathways. Yet the current ranges of many petrel species are vastly reduced due to marine and terrestrial threats. Chick translocation is a demonstrated management tool for establishing seabird populations but is dependent on detailed...

Passive bioacoustic recording devices are now widely available and able to continuously record remotely located sites for extended periods, offering great potential for wildlife monitoring and management. Analysis of the huge data sets generated, in particular for specific biotic sound recognition, remains a critical bottleneck for widespread adopt...

Niche divergence is expected for species that compete for shared resources, including migrants that occupy similar regions during the non-breeding season. Studies of temperate seabirds indicate that both spatial and behavioural segregation can be important mechanisms for reducing competition, but there have been few investigations of resource parti...

Niche divergence is expected for species that compete for shared resources, including migrants that occupy similar regions during the non-breeding season. Studies of temperate seabirds indicate that both spatial and behavioural segregation can be important mechanisms for reducing competition, but there have been few investigations of resource parti...

New Zealand Geographic magazine article by Chris Gaskin as supporting information for World Seabird Conference talk by Rayner et al "Fregetta in a haystack: a ten year research program to attract, find and study New Zealand storm petrel at an unknown breeding site"

We provide a first assessment of various on-land capture methods for a procellarid seabird, the New Zealand Storm-Petrel Fregetta maoriana, which had been presumed extinct but for which a breeding site has just been discovered on Little Barrier Island. In the vicinity of an active breeding site, playback only, also involving a newly isolated call f...

Within breath-hold diving endotherms, procellariiform seabirds present an intriguing anomaly as they regularly dive to depths not predicted by allometric models. How this is achieved is not known as even basic measures of physiological diving capacity have not been undertaken in this group. To remedy this we combined time depth recorder (TDR) measu...

In an effort to promote population recovery, translocations of the endemic Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) from remote offshore islands to the mainland are planned within New Zealand. To optimise these efforts we studied chick growth, adult provisioning and meal size for this species and report the results of a simulated translocation under...

Following breeding, sooty shearwaters Puffinus griseus leave New Zealand waters and migrate to 1 of 3 distinct areas in the North Pacific Ocean, effectively exploiting environmental resources across a large proportion of this northern ocean basin. In this study, we combined electronic tracking technology with stable isotope analyses (delta N-15 and...

Conservation of gadfly petrels, some of the most threatened seabirds, is frequently dependent on long-term research and management. We review 20 years of a program preventing the extinction of the Chatham petrel (Pterodroma axillaris), a New Zealand endemic once declining due to intense burrow competition from another native seabird. Breeding succe...

Opportunities to monitor natural island ecosystem recovery following the eradication of introduced predators are rare, and provide a useful comparison for recovery programmes aided by active habitat restoration and species translocations. We present an assessment of the current avifauna on Burgess Island, Mokohinau Group, 2 decades after kiore (Pac...

This study describes and compares the pelagic distribution and migratory patterns of the two subspecies of Gould’s Petrel (Pterodroma leucoptera), and contrasts data obtained from tracking birds at sea using geolocators with observational data (shipboard sightings, by-catch records and beachcast specimens). While breeding, tracked individuals of bo...

The Wider Hauraki Gulf Region’s (WHGR) striking seabird diversity, together with the combination of multiple predator-free breeding sites on islands and (increasingly) on the mainland with productive waters close to colonies, makes the WHGR a globally significant seabird biodiversity hotspot, remarkable given its proximity to the doorstep of the co...

We used measurements of brood patch and moult status to estimate the breeding phenology of New Zealand Storm-Petrel, using birds caught at sea within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park near Auckland, New Zealand. Birds caught October–January had completely downy brood patches, whereas birds caught February–April had bare brood patches with an observed ma...

Petrels are highly mobile seabirds that face many threats and whose conservation is frequently hampered by a lack of understanding of their biology at sea. We used a combination of data from burrow monitoring and geolocation-immersion loggers to study the intra- and inter-seasonal distribution and behaviour of the endangered Chatham Petrel (Pterodr...

The flesh-footed shearwater Puffinus carneipes is a medium-sized shearwater and transequatorial migrant within the Pacific Ocean. We used archival data loggers to study the non-breeding migration and diving behaviour of three flesh-footed shearwaters following breeding in New Zealand. In early April, the birds migrated to the western North Pacific...

The long breeding period and high reproductive investment of seabirds make use of resource-rich foraging areas pivotal both during and between breeding seasons. We tracked adult Australasian Gannets (Morus serrator) from their New Zealand breeding colony at Cape Kidnappers to Australia during the non-breeding period to assess wintering behavior and...

Knowledge of the dynamics of long-distance migrations of pelagic seabirds is limited. Recent advances in tracking technology have yielded detailed, continuous accounts of the movements of individual seabirds over large spatial and temporal scales. We studied the timing of migration and year-round distribution of the Westland Petrel (Procellaria wes...

A variety of bioacoustics distance metrics have been used to assess similarities in the vocalizations of different individuals. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of several acoustic similarity indices, some of which have been developed with the specific aim of characterizing the sensory coding of auditory stimuli. We compare different approaches...

The endangered Cook’s petrel (Pterodroma cookii) is restricted to two separated populations at the extremes of its former range across New Zealand. Prior work revealed morphological, foraging, and reproductive isolation between these two remnant populations. To aid the conservation management of the species, additional information is required on th...

Pelagic seabirds are central place foragers during breeding and variation in foraging trip duration and range reflect differences in diet and chick provisioning, through the exploitation of divergent habitats of varying productivity. We tested whether these relationships hold in small procellarriids by equipping chick-rearing Cook’s petrel Pterodro...

The effect of 4.5-g dummy geolocation loggers on the foraging ability of Cook's Petrel (Pterodroma cookii) was assessed over single foraging trips from Little Barrier Island, New Zealand. I compared foraging trip duration and chick provisioning between equipped and unequipped birds and could not detect a detrimental effect of loggers on either para...

Motuora is a highly modified island in the Hauraki Gulf that is currently being re-vegetated. It is envisaged that the island will eventually be restored to a native forest system with strong seabird influences. The island retains a small breeding population of grey-faced petrels (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi). In 2005 a survey of the accessible ar...

This study examined divergence in the foraging distribution, at-sea behaviour and pro- visioning strategies of a small procellarid, the Cook's petrel Pterodroma cookii, during chick-rearing at 2 islands off New Zealand, separated latitudinally by ~1000 km. There was little overlap in forag- ing distribution between adults from Little Barrier Island...

Codfish island is the southernmost breeding location for Cook's Petrel (Pterodroma cookii), endemic to the New Zealand archipelago. To provide a population estimate and indication of population growth following introduced predator eradications we conducted an island-wide survey of Codfish island within two a priori defined strata. Plot Surveys reve...

Predator–prey communities are ubiquitous in ecology, but introduced predators can drive native species to extinction within island systems, prompting the eradication of such exotics. Ecological theory predicts that elimination of top-introduced predators from islands can lead to the counterintuitive decline of native prey populations through the ec...

Inaccurate population data remain a major problem in the conservation of burrow-nesting Procellariiform seabirds. We evaluated the potential of predictive habitat modelling, in con-trast with traditional surface-area based strategies, to estimate the population size of the endangered Cook's petrel (Pterodroma cookii), breeding on one of two islands...

Cook's Petrel (Pterodroma cookii), a trans-equatorial migrant endemic to the New Zealand archipelago, is today endangered and restricted to island habitats at the northern and southern extents of its former range. To improve the limited knowledge of the breeding habitat of this species, we combined an island-wide survey, the mapping capabilities of...

The influence of the Earth's magnetic field on locomotory orientation has been studied in many taxa but is best understood for homing pigeons (Columba livia). Effects of experimentally induced and naturally occurring perturbations in the geomagnetic field suggest that pigeons are sensitive to changes in geomagnetic parameters. However, whether pige...

Thesis (MSc--Biological Sciences)--University of Auckland, 2004.