scholarly journals Response of endemic and exotic earthworm communities to ecological restoration

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Boyer ◽  
Young-Nam Kim ◽  
Mike H Bowie ◽  
Marie-Caroline Lefort ◽  
Nicholas M Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Plant Restoration ◽  
Exotic Earthworms ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
The Impact

New Zealand has 23 exotic and more than 200 endemic earthworm species. Endemic earthworms disappeared quickly after vegetation clearance and land conversion to agriculture from the early C19th. Environmental changes associated with agronomic practices are believed to have been the main drivers for their disappearance. Exotic earthworms introduced from Europe have since largely replaced endemic earthworms into farming systems and have been intentionally propagated to increase production. Little is known about potential competition between endemic and exotic earthworms in New Zealand, and the capacity of exotic earthworms to extend their range into native habitats. Using two sites in the South Island of New Zealand, we investigated the impact of restoring native vegetation on earthworm communities. The study sites were Quail Island (Banks Peninsula), which has been undergoing native plant restoration for more than 30 years, and the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration Project (West Coast) where 130,000 native trees have been planted in retired pasture in the last seven years. At each site, soil samples (20 x 20 x 20 cm) were collected and hand sorted for earthworms. Sequential restoration plantings revealed that recolonisation by endemic earthworms increases with time after restoration at the two sample sites. With increasing age of the restoration, the biomass of endemic earthworm significantly increased, as did abundance at Punakaiki. However, exotic species did not disappear after restoration of native vegetation, even after 30 years in Quail Island. The persistence of exotic species leads to the cohabitation of the two communities and potential for interspecific competition.

scholarly journals Response of endemic and exotic earthworm communities to ecological restoration

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Boyer ◽  
Young-Nam Kim ◽  
Mike H Bowie ◽  
Marie-Caroline Lefort ◽  
Nicholas M Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Plant Restoration ◽  
Exotic Earthworms ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
The Impact

New Zealand has 23 exotic and more than 200 endemic earthworm species. Endemic earthworms disappeared quickly after vegetation clearance and land conversion to agriculture from the early C19th. Environmental changes associated with agronomic practices are believed to have been the main drivers for their disappearance. Exotic earthworms introduced from Europe have since largely replaced endemic earthworms into farming systems and have been intentionally propagated to increase production. Little is known about potential competition between endemic and exotic earthworms in New Zealand, and the capacity of exotic earthworms to extend their range into native habitats. Using two sites in the South Island of New Zealand, we investigated the impact of restoring native vegetation on earthworm communities. The study sites were Quail Island (Banks Peninsula), which has been undergoing native plant restoration for more than 30 years, and the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration Project (West Coast) where 130,000 native trees have been planted in retired pasture in the last seven years. At each site, soil samples (20 x 20 x 20 cm) were collected and hand sorted for earthworms. Sequential restoration plantings revealed that recolonisation by endemic earthworms increases with time after restoration at the two sample sites. With increasing age of the restoration, the biomass of endemic earthworm significantly increased, as did abundance at Punakaiki. However, exotic species did not disappear after restoration of native vegetation, even after 30 years in Quail Island. The persistence of exotic species leads to the cohabitation of the two communities and potential for interspecific competition.

scholarly journals Sea-ice edge is more important than closer open water access for foraging Adélie penguins: evidence from two colonies

2020 ◽  
Vol 640 ◽  
pp. 215-230
Author(s):  
C Michelot ◽  
A Kato ◽  
T Raclot ◽  
K Shiomi ◽  
P Goulet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Ice Edge ◽  
Sea Ice Edge ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adélie Penguins

Sentinel species, like Adélie penguins, have been used to assess the impact of environmental changes, and their link with sea ice has received considerable attention. Here, we tested if foraging Adélie penguins from 2 colonies in East Antarctica target the distant sea-ice edge or take advantage of closer open waters that are readily available near their colony. We examined the foraging behaviour of penguins during the incubation trips of females in 2016 and males in 2017, using GPS tracking and diet data in view of daily sea-ice data and bathymetry. In 2016-2017, sea-ice cover was extensive during females’ trips but flaw leads and polynyas were close to both study sites. Sea ice receded rapidly during males’ trips in 2017-2018. Despite close open water near both colonies in both years, females and males preferentially targeted the continental slope and the sea-ice edge to forage. In addition, there was no difference in the diet of penguins from both colonies: all penguins fed mostly on Antarctic krill and males also foraged on Antarctic silverfish. Our results highlight the importance of the sea-ice edge for penguins, an area where food abundance is predictable. It is likely that resource availability was not sufficient in closer open water areas at such an early stage in the breeding season. The behaviours displayed by the penguins from both colonies were similar, suggesting a common behaviour across colonies in Terre Adélie, although additional sites would be necessary to confirm this hypothesis.

Where and why have all the flowers gone? Depletion and turnover in the New Zealand Cenozoic angiosperm flora in relation to palaeogeography and climate

2001 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne E. Lee ◽  
William G. Lee ◽  
Nick Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Environmental Filters ◽  
New Zealand Flora ◽  
The Impact

The modern New Zealand angiosperm flora has many notable characteristics, such as a predominance of evergreen, perennial life forms, few nitrogen-fixing species, despecialised floral features and asymmetric genus—species relations. The origin of these features has been attributed to antiquity of the flora, isolation and/or environmental history. Using evidence from palynology and macrofossils, we investigate the characteristics of the mid–late Cenozoic angiosperm flora and the impact of environmental changes in land area and configuration, physiography and climate on the depletion and composition of the New Zealand flora. Climatic cooling, increasing isolation and tectonism have each acted as important environmental filters, contributing to regional extinctions and decreasing floral diversity, and inducing major turnover in the floristic composition of New Zealand. During the Miocene and Pliocene at least 15 families and a minimum of 36 genera were lost from the New Zealand flora. These included a range of life forms and physiognomically important taxa such as Acacia, Bombax, Casuarina, Eucalyptus, Ilex, many Proteaceae and several palms. The extinction and decline in richness of subtropical families was caused by the onset of cooling conditions in the Late Miocene—Pliocene, and exacerbated by the absence of significant land areas to act as refugia at lower latitudes. Many of these genera/families persist today on islands to the north (e.g. New Caledonia), reflecting mid-Cenozoic land conduits, and in Australia. The close floristic links with New Caledonia were probably maintained by intermittent island stepping-stones which facilitated interchange of subtropical taxa until the Late Miocene. The Pleistocene extinction of some genera, tolerant of warm-temperate environments (e.g. Acacia, Eucalyptus) may be a reflection of the fact that persistent mesic conditions favoured widespread dominance of dense rainforest during interglacials. The loss of these groups, containing diverse life forms and floral structures, suggests that many of the present characteristics of the New Zealand flora reflect strong selective pressures, mainly driven by climate change, in the Late Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene, rather than events of greater geological antiquity.

scholarly journals Agriculture and forestry impact assessment for tephra fall hazard: fragility function development and New Zealand scenario application

Volcanica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-367
Author(s):  
Heather M. Craig ◽  
Thomas M. Wilson ◽  
Christina Magill ◽  
Carol Stewart ◽  
Alec J. Wild
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Fragility Functions ◽  
Chemical Toxicity ◽  
Loss Assessment ◽  
Tephra Fall ◽  
Fragility Function ◽  
The Impact

Developing approaches to assess the impact of tephra fall to agricultural and forestry systems is essential for informing effective disaster risk management strategies. Fragility functions are commonly used as the vulnerability model within a loss assessment framework and represent the relationship between a given hazard intensity measure (e.g., tephra thickness) and the probability of impacts occurring. Impacts are represented here using an impact state (IS), which categorises qualitative and quantitative statements into a numeric scale. This study presents IS schemes for pastoral, horticultural, and forestry systems, and a suite of fragility functions estimating the probability of each IS occurring for 13 sub-sectors. Temporal vulnerability is accounted for by a ‘seasonality coefficient,’ and a ‘chemical toxicity coefficient’ is included to incorporate the increased vulnerability of pastoral farming systems when tephra is high in fluoride. The fragility functions are then used to demonstrate a deterministic impact assessment with current New Zealand exposure.

scholarly journals Ipomoea alba (white moonflower).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Plant Species ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental Weed

Abstract Ipomoea alba is a fast-growing vine native to the Americas, which has been widely introduced across tropical and subtropical regions of the world where it has become naturalized and invasive. Once naturalized, this species behaves as an environmental weed with the potential to outcompete native plant species for nutrients, water and sunlight. It climbs using other plants for support and forms a dense canopy that shades out native vegetation. It also spreads over the ground, forming a dense mat of vegetation that inhibits the establishment and growth of other plant species. Currently this species is included in the Global Compendium of Weeds and it is listed as invasive in China, South Africa, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific region.

scholarly journals Micro-habitat and season dependent impact of the invasive Impatiens glandulifera on native vegetation

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 109-131
Author(s):  
Judith Bieberich ◽  
Heike Feldhaar ◽  
Marianne Lauerer
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Impatiens Glandulifera ◽  
The Impact

The impact of invasive species is often difficult to assess due to species × ecosystem interactions. Impatiens glandulifera heavily invaded several habitat types in Central Europe but its impact on native plant communities is rated ambiguously. One reason could be that the impact differs between habitat types or even between environmentally heterogeneous patches (micro-habitats) within one habitat type. In the present study a vegetation survey was performed within heterogeneous riverside habitats in Germany investigating the impact of I. glandulifera on native vegetation in dependence of environmental conditions. The vegetation was recorded in summer and spring because of seasonal species turnover and thus potentially different impact of the invasive plant. We found that the cover of I. glandulifera depended on environmental conditions resulting in a patchy occurrence. I. glandulifera did not have any impact on plant alpha-diversity but reduced the cover of the native vegetation, especially of the dominant species. This effect depended on micro-habitat and season. The native vegetation was most affected in bright micro-habitats, especially those with a high soil moisture. Not distinguishing between micro-habitats, plant species composition was not affected in summer but in spring. However, environmental conditions had a higher impact on the native vegetation than I. glandulifera. We conclude that within riparian habitats the threat of I. glandulifera to the native vegetation can be rated low since native species were reduced in cover but not excluded from the communities. This might be due to patchy occurrence and year-to-year changes in cover of I. glandulifera. The context-dependency in terms of micro-habitat and season requires specific risk assessments which is also an opportunity for nature conservation to develop management plans specific to the different habitats. Particular attention should be given to habitats that are bright and very wet since the effect of I. glandulifera was strongest in these habitats.

scholarly journals Diversity and impacts of key grassland and forage arthropod pests in China and New Zealand: An overview of IPM and biosecurity opportunities

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 137-168
Author(s):  
Mark R. McNeill ◽  
Xiongbing Tu ◽  
Colin M. Ferguson ◽  
Liping Ban ◽  
Scott Hardwick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Insect Pest ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Forage Species ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
The Impact

For both New Zealand and China, agriculture is integral to the economy, supporting primary production in both intensive and extensive farming systems. Grasslands have important ecosystem and biodiversity functions, as well providing valuable grazing for livestock. However, production and persistence of grassland and forage species (e.g. alfalfa) is not only compromised by overgrazing, climate change and habitat fragmentation, but from a range of pests and diseases, which impose considerable costs on growers in lost production and income. Some of these pest species are native, but increasingly, international trade is seeing the rapid spread of exotic and invasive species. New Zealand and China are major trading partners with significant tourist flow between the two countries. This overview examines the importance of grasslands and alfalfa in both countries, the current knowledge on the associated insect pest complex and biocontrol options. Identifying similarities and contrasts in biology and impacts along with some prediction on the impact of invasive insect species, especially under climate change, are possible. However, it is suggested that coordinated longitudinal ecological research, carried out in both countries using sentinel grass and forage species, is critical to addressing gaps in our knowledge of biology and impact of potential pests, along with identifying opportunities for control, particularly using plant resistance or biological control.

scholarly journals Current and planned research for managing the risk of Xylella fastidiosa to New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 284
Author(s):  
Sandra B. Visnovsky ◽  
Robert K. Taylor ◽  
David A.J. Teulon
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Xylella Fastidiosa ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Homalodisca Vitripennis ◽  
Native Plant Species ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Olive Trees ◽  
The Impact

Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), a xylem-limited bacterium native to the Americas, has a devastating impact on many crops internationally. In California, Xf causes over USD 100 million in yearly losses to the grape industry and infects an estimated 200 million citrus trees in Brazil. More recently, Xf killed around one million olive trees on the Italian peninsula of Salento. Xylella fastidiosa is not known to be present in New Zealand. The glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis), an important vector of Xf in California, is also not present in New Zealand. However, the meadow spittle bug (Philaenus spumarius), an important vector of Xf in Italy, is present. Many economically important horticultural, viticultural, agricultural, amenity and indigenous/native plant species, including taonga, are likely to be susceptible to Xf. Aspects of our research on Xf to understand the impact, reduce the likelihood of entry into New Zealand and/or minimising its impact in New Zealand will be presented. The research listed on the poster spans risk assessment, diagnostics, surveillance and biological control but could certainly be increased across the biosecurity continuum given the magnitude of the threat from Xf to New Zealand’s valuable plant systems.

scholarly journals The impact of a biomanipulation experiment on the ichthyofauna diet from a neotropical reservoir in Brazilian semiarid

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane de Carvalho Ferreira Lima Moura ◽  
Jônnata Fernandes Oliveira ◽  
José Luís Costa Novaes ◽  
Rodrigo Silva da Costa ◽  
Darlan Dantas Alves de Araújo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Oreochromis Niloticus ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Similarity Matrix ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Brazilian Semiarid ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Local Species ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Aim To evaluate the impact of a biomanipulation experiment on the feeding of fish species from a neotropical semiarid reservoir, before and after the removal of the exotic species Oreochromis niloticus. Methods The values of Food Index were analyzed for six species: Oreochromis niloticus , Prochilodus brevis Steindachner,1875, Hypostomus cf. paparie Fowler,1941, Hoplias gr. malabaricus Bloch,1794, Astyanax bimaculatus Linnaeus,1758 and Leporinus piau Fowler,194. All data were obtained in two periods, before of the removal O. niloticus (May 2012 to January 2013) and after its removal (April 2013 to November 2013). The Morisita-Horn index was used to evaluate the feeding similarity among the six species and determine trophic categories (insectivorous, omnivorous, iliophaga and piscivora). To establish the probable variations due the presence of O. niloticus species, the Food Index of the six species was used in a Bray-Curtis similarity matrix. Through the Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) we could not observe any differences among items consumed by different species. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was used to assay the influence of environmental variables on the dietary, from the Food Index data. Results All species were classified in four trophic categories that do not shown any variation among the formed groups during studied periods. After the removal of Nile tilapia some species showed changes in food items, according to NMDS. The CCA indicated low association among the monthly Food Index of species and the environmental changes. Conclusion The process of biomanipulation on the Ecological Station from Serra Negra reservoir, which compares the dietaries from five local species before and after removal of exotic species Oreochromis niloticus, resulted in modification of dietary composition from three of five studied species.

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