| Key Achievements |
2014/15 (planned) |
2014/15 (actual) |
| Biodiversity in production landscapes – Outcome 1 |
$0.68 |
$0.66 |
- Updated the National Threatened Environment Classification, the basis for MfE’s National Priority 1 for the protection of threatened indigenous biodiversity on private land. This is widely used by management agencies, providing standardised biodiversity-relevant information across all of New Zealand's land, for example informing consents related to land use change under the Resource Management Act.
- Provided management agencies with strong evidence of the conservation benefits of shrub reversion under low-intervention management on marginal land by demonstrating that indigenous birds, lizards, and plants benefit from woody plant succession in montane grasslands that have been retired for conservation.
- Clarified Site Standard and definitions appropriate for a dryland council in its review of indigenous vegetation and clearance definitions. This informs consents, providing greater certainty for landowners and more targeted protection for indigenous biodiversity in a district undergoing rapid land-use change.
|
| Threatened species and ecosystems – Outcome 1 |
$0.74 |
$0.77 |
- Reviewed for end-users the impacts of introduced viruses on a threatened native plant species, and how different management strategies can influence the outcome of introduced diseases in rare plants. This pioneering study is changing the approach to managing remaining populations.
- Applied genetic principles to management of iconic native species ngutukaka (Clianthus maxim) to enable DOC, Maori, NGOs, and private landowners to modify revegetation plantings to ensure improved population viability over time.
- Determined the proportion of threatened naturally uncommon and significantly reduced habitats under protection in New Zealand, and applied this as basis for MfE led State of the Environment reporting.
- Provided the first New Zealand-scale classification of non-forest vegetation types based on data from >6,000 vegetation plots to enable standardised reporting by agencies and councils.
|
| Biodiversity management outcomes – Outcome 1 |
$0.63 |
$0.64 |
- Verified that a Duvaucel’s gecko accidentally caught at Maungatautari Ecological Island was the first relic mainland specimen seen for at least 60 years, demonstrating that removing all pests may change the behaviour of previously undetected rare species.
- Clarified biodiversity impacts of mice and presented results to national and international scientists and New Zealand end-users. Even when other pest mammals are removed, mice will be ecological and probably social nuisances.
- Used natural and artificial nests to show that predator control improves bird nesting success in Waikato forest fragments, supporting the widespread use of pest control.
|
| Strategic biodiversity initiatives – Outcome 4 |
$0.36 |
$0.40 |
- Developed a transparent biodiversity risk assessment for farmers who are attempting to manage the balance between farming operations and securing biodiversity gains.
- Determined the vulnerability of threatened plant species along hydro-lake-shorelines under new lake-level regimes, thereby informing the consenting process and assisting sustainable renewable electricity generation.
|
| Ecosystem resilience – Outcome 1 |
$0.65 |
$0.66 |
- Demonstrated that assigning conservation priority to wetlands, based only on rare and threatened plant species, failed to meet other conservation objectives. Results support networks of small wetlands to meet multiple priorities, including safeguarding and securing large wetlands to protect ecosystem services and to maintain populations of species. This can be used by councils to inform consents.
- Demonstrated that exotic mammals in New Zealand (deer and possum) are dispersing viable spores of invasive ectomycorrhizal fungi in their dung, which facilitate growth of invasive Contorta pine and Douglas fir. Effective long-term management of invasive conifers may therefore depend on controlling a suite of plant and animal species.
- Demonstrated how deforestation in the South Island occurred within decades of initial human arrival, and that equally rapid transitions can be expected in present-day regions wherever positive feedbacks support alternate fire-inhibiting, fire-prone stable states. Results inform fire risk assessment models.
- Applied new probabilistic ‘sightings’ methods to radiocarbon dates from all nine species of extinct New Zealand moa and showed how fast endemic avifauna can be driven to extinction, regardless of their body mass, habitat preferences, or region of origin.
|
| Biodiversity use by Maori – Outcomes 1 and 4 |
$0.25 |
$0.26 |
- Demonstrated how customary harvest management as practiced historically by New Zealand Maori contributed to sustaining populations of burrow-nesting seabirds. Operationalised by Ngati Awa and Hauraki within cross-cultural management of grey-faced petrel harvests on Moutohora and the Ruamaahua Islands, they provide an exemplary model for sustaining valued resources.
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