Will a Predator Free New Zealand open a Pandora’s box for introduced birds?

James V. Briskie^{1 1}School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Canterbury, New Zealand. Jim.Briskie@canterbury.ac.nz Predator Free New Zealand aims to extend the success of local predator control programmes to a nation-wide scale with expected benefits to native biodiversity. However, like Pandora’s box, large-scale predator control could also bring unexpected consequences such as increased populations of introduced birds, potentially countering benefits to native spcies. What is the evidence that introduced birds in New Zealand have a negative impact on native birds? How will widespread predator control affect the populations of introduced bird species and which species will be impacted? Will greater populations of introduced birds increase the risks to native birds? In this talk I’ll review what we know about the impacts of introduced birds on native birds in New Zealand, and whether we should be concerned that programmes to control introduced mammalian predators at a national scale might run the risk of replacing one group of invasive species with another.