May 7,2020
Biodiverse; the Forbes Ecology Blog
February 10,2020
Restoring Old-Growth Forest Tree Species Through Enrichment Planting
Our paper makes the following key points: Old-growth trees species have been lost from many of New Zealand's lowland environments, Reincorporating old-growth species into secondary native vegetation, exotic vegetation, or restoration plantings requires deliberate and careful interventions by either...
October 19,2019
Coastal Forest Establishing on Former Seabed Following Kaikoura Earthquake
The 2016 magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake meant many different things to many different people. GNS reported the quake started at Waiau in North Canterbury and travelled northeast at about 2 km a second ending up off Cape Campbell in Marlborough, covering 174 km in about 74 seconds. Along 110 km...
October 15,2019
Maintaining Existing Forests is Important for the Carbon Cycle
There’s currently lots of discussion in climate change and forestry circles about how best to sequester and store carbon in new forests (e.g. pines vs. natives etc). While there's no arguing that's an essential objective, we must remember that our existing forests are an important part of the carb...
July 10,2019
New Forest Restoration Paper Available: Opportunities and limitations of exotic Pinus radiata as a facilitative nurse for New Zealand indigenous forest restoration
There has never been a more urgent need to restore forest cover on deforested areas of New Zealand’s landscape. Restoring a permanent native forest cover provides multiple benefits, including boosting biodiversity and ecosystem services such as carbon storage and protecting soils and water quality...
July 27,2018
Evaluation of Regeneration Potential Project Report
Large-scale (100's ha) forest restoration is an essential part of restoring forest cover in the New Zealand lowlands. Yet restoring forest cover at landscape scales is challenging due to the variability in regeneration potential and the variable distribution of weed cover. Knowledge regarding where...
August 14,2017
Ecology: Entering the Drone Age
To Plot, or To Fly?For surveys of vegetation and habitats, plot-based measures yield a tremendous level of detail, revealing the species present, their relative quantities, aspects relating to stature, and also provide an opportunity to collect important covariate data such as landform details.Howev...
July 5,2017
Missing the Wood and the Trees: Welcome to our New Normal
Take a drive through today’s pastoral New Zealand landscapes. What is it that you see?Now think, what do you not see?Listen-in on the simmering debates regarding the dire state of New Zealand’s freshwater quality. What is it that is seldom mentioned?Now…contemplate New Zealand’s approach for...
April 16,2016
Exotic Bitter Willow (Salix eleagnos): A Paradoxical Opportunity to Restore Shade-Tolerant Native Species?
The invasive exotic tree bitter willow (Salix eleagnos; Salicaceae) was naturalised in New Zealand in 1968; being native to central and southern Europe and south west Asia; and today the species colonises riparian margins and wet soils in many regions of New Zealand1. The tree is deciduous, has a...
March 26,2016