Protection & restoration of biodiversity
Waitutu Forest. Image – Tomas Easdale.
Vision: By 2020, New Zealand is meeting its national priorities and international obligations to biodiversity protection, is providing Māori with the knowledge to manage biodiversity on their lands to meet cultural and economic aspirations, and has implemented land use policies that reflect an increased understanding of the role biodiversity plays in supporting sectorial interests.
Our work on sustaining and restoring biodiversity encompasses an enormous breadth of activity, from the fundamental understanding of the biological building blocks of New Zealand’s terrestrial ecosystems to the interventions necessary to protect and restore biodiversity for its inherent value, and to recognise the keystone role it plays in critical biological interactions
Biodiversity and healthy ecosystem processes are central to New Zealand’s natural capital. Our national identity is firmly centred in natural settings – the deep forests where Tane Mahuta instils mauri in all living things; the places where we walk, climb and paddle; or the paddocks, vineyards and orchards where we harvest produce valued by the rest of the world. Our spectacular ‘clean green’ landscapes attract visitors from overseas, and underpin the high value of agricultural exports. However, in the current climate of public and government expectations for greater sustainability, national parks and green pastures are no longer enough.
Society is increasingly demanding that production systems be more compatible with the protection and restoration of native flora and fauna in human–dominated areas. Our increasingly urbanised population is challenging planners to bring nature back to the cities, and accommodate the plants and animals that characterise our New Zealand way of life. Māori are partnering with researchers to develop the capacity to manage and restore threatened taonga species so that this legacy is passed on to future generations.
What is less well recognised is that climate change could affect biodiversity in profound ways. For example, alpine areas, drylands, and wetlands are highly sensitive to climate change. Our research into how ecosystems have responded in the past, and how and why they are changing now, enables us to develop more effective strategies, restoration initiatives, and reserve design to reverse biodiversity decline. In managing forests for specific values and products, Māori want to know the possible impacts of climate change.
Some examples from 2007/08:
As part of our Sustaining and Restoring Biodiversity OBI programme, Landcare Research facilitates an expanding network of biodiversity sanctuaries across New Zealand through a range of government– and community–led projects. Sanctuaries of New Zealand (www. sanctuariesnz.org) provides a key pathway for uptake of science such as pest management and monitoring, biodiversity assessment, conservation genetics and enhanced methods for captive breeding. The network now links about 50 sanctuary projects totalling 37,000 ha of reserve, which exceeds the area of pest–free offshore islands. Some key breakthroughs this year included new understanding of the dispersal of translocated giant weta, the behaviour of rats getting into pest–free enclosures, and recording a massive increase in beetle numbers following eradication of mammalian predators.
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a resource managed by Landcare Research to archive and provide access to vegetation survey data from across New Zealand. The databank spans 60 years, and contains data from more than 45,000 survey plots, including data from over 12,000 permanent survey plots. With global focus on reporting on carbon sinks and biodiversity, databanks such as NVS have gained immense national and international significance because they are enabling us to address issues not foreseen at the time of the original data collection. While use by New Zealand agencies continues to grow, the most rapid increase in demand for data has been from overseas – mostly for studies on global distribution patterns of specific types of plants, and understanding biophysical influences on tree mortality, recruitment and growth. Data on NVS vegetation plots are readily available via the GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) website.
Our drylands ecology research is examining the present distribution of woody plant species, succession pathways, and factors controlling their spread. Many indigenous species are regionally threatened; concentrated in small refuges with reduced regeneration, compromised genetic structure and limited resilience; and are progressively disappearing from the gene pools. This research will increase the effectiveness of restoration initiatives and also help us manage other landscapes that become drier due to climate change. Extensive public promotional efforts have significantly raised community appreciation of these unique environments.
Invasive species may become an even greater threat to New Zealand with more tropical species likely to establish here. This year we completed an assessment of risks posed by all the invasive ant species known to have established in New Zealand. This work is enabling regional councils and other organisations to prioritise resources for invasive ant surveillance and management, and to make policy decisions about including invasive ants in regional pest management strategies (RPMS). Northland Regional Council, Environment Southland, Hawkes’ Bay Regional Council, and Tasman District Council have all initiated reviews of invasive ants in their region.
Our four nationally significant biological collections (plants, fungi, invertebrates, and plant diseases) are vitally important references for introduced species as well as our native biodiversity, with biosystematics research complemented by significant expertise in ecological genetics. Using a range of techniques, we identifi ed several new plant species of four important genera on the Chatham Islands this year. Because of the significant habitat modification or loss, most of these species are very rare and require careful conservation management. Surveys also turned up many new records of mosses, lichens and liverworts for the Chatham Islands (and New Zealand), including species previously known from Australia, northern New Zealand, or tropical parts of the Pacific.
We are recognised as international leaders in the management of vertebrate pests that threaten biodiversity. During the year, our pest management scientists were contracted on projects on national biosecurity (Mauritius), planning pest eradication (beavers in Chile and Argentina, mice on the UK territory of Gough Island, a suite of pests in New Caledonia, exotic rodents on all Australian islands, overabundant native animals in Tasmania), and to audit the success of major control programmes (feral pigs in California and Hawai’i, starlings in Western Australia).
I would single out the contributions made by Landcare Research scientists as being particularly innovative and of a very high standard. The long–term research projects being undertaken by Landcare Research on complex interactions between pests and their resources in New Zealand forest and dryland ecosystems provide a clear direction for science to better manage threats to biodiversity.
Prof. Tony Peacock – Chief Executive, Invasive Animal CRC