The moss flora of the Auckland Islands, New Zealand, with a consideration of habitats, origins, and adaptations

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (20) ◽  
pp. 2226-2263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale H. Vitt

The moss flora of the Auckland Islands (50°40′ S latitude and 166°00′ E longitude) consists of 145 species and seven varieties in 75 genera. A detailed description of the habitat of each taxon is given. The vegetation, climate, and history of the islands, as they pertain to bryology, are reviewed. Four broad vegetational zones are recognized: forest, scrub, tussock grassland, and tundra as well as areas of herbfields and mires. Phytogeographically, the most common pattern of distribution is Australasian with 29% of the moss species found in both New Zealand and Australia. Other patterns are common as well. Discussion is orientated toward species richness variability in polar regions. The origins and adaptations of mosses in subantarctic landscapes are reviewed and correlations drawn between particular growth forms and individual moss floras and habitats.

2014 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 25-28
Author(s):  
D.R. Stevens ◽  
J.P. Garden

The Central Otago region, with its cold winters and hot summers, and valley floors with uplift mountains is definitely "a world of difference". At the NZGA conference in Alexandra in 1966 John Hercus stated "Central Otago has a lure which sets it apart from the rest of New Zealand. Its characteristics of geology, topography and climate, its history of occupation and exploitation, its scenery at once forbidding and yet strangely fascinating - these features combine to cast a spell which few who have been exposed, can ever fully escape" (Hercus 1966). The region and its high country have an iconic status epitomised by the "Southern Man" stereotype. This places Central Otago deep in the psyche of the nation. With this goes a unique and significant set of conditions under which farming must take place. Not only does the region have the biophysical challenges of soils, water and climate to contend with, but a wider set of values, often imposed from elsewhere. Fifty years after that first conference we remain challenged. What are the opportunities in front of us and how should we best accommodate the challenge of maintaining a viable enterprise and at the same time, respecting the intense public and customer interest in our use of land and livestock? Central Otago and the associated high country of the Lakes district and McKenzie basin can be divided into three farming types. These are the valley floor irrigable type, the flat and downland dryland regions, and the high country. Each of these has challenges that are at times unique, but often overlap with problems faced in other regions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN C. YALDWYN ◽  
GARRY J. TEE ◽  
ALAN P. MASON

A worn Iguanodon tooth from Cuckfield, Sussex, illustrated by Mantell in 1827, 1839, 1848 and 1851, was labelled by Mantell as the first tooth sent to Baron Cuvier in 1823 and acknowledged as such by Sir Charles Lyell. The labelled tooth was taken to New Zealand by Gideon's son Walter in 1859. It was deposited in a forerunner of the Museum of New Zealand, Wellington in 1865 and is still in the Museum, mounted on a card bearing annotations by both Gideon Mantell and Lyell. The history of the Gideon and Walter Mantell collection in the Museum of New Zealand is outlined, and the Iguanodon tooth and its labels are described and illustrated. This is the very tooth which Baron Cuvier first identified as a rhinoceros incisor on the evening of 28 June 1823.


Perfect Beat ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 111-121
Author(s):  
Bruce Sheridan ◽  
Philip Hayward
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
James Meffan

This chapter discusses the history of multicultural and transnational novels in New Zealand. A novel set in New Zealand will have to deal with questions about cultural access rights on the one hand and cultural coverage on the other. The term ‘transnational novel’ gains its relevance from questions about cultural and national identity, questions that have particularly exercised nations formed from colonial history. The chapter considers novels that demonstrate and respond to perceived deficiencies in wider discourses of cultural and national identity by way of comparison between New Zealand and somewhere else. These include Amelia Batistich's Another Mountain, Another Song (1981), Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home (1973) and Black Rainbow (1992), James McNeish's Penelope's Island (1990), Stephanie Johnson's The Heart's Wild Surf (2003), and Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip (2006).


Author(s):  
Jennifer Lawn

This chapter discusses the history of genre fiction in New Zealand since 1950. Crime writers such as Vanda Symon and Paul Cleave exploit the phenomenon of ‘glocalization’ by locating an international genre in distinctively local settings. Others, like Nalini Singh and Phillip Mann, embrace the alternative worlds of science fiction and fantasy without any sense that a local referent is necessary or desirable. The chapter first considers how New Zealand crime writers add distinctively Kiwi twists to their work before turning to crime thrillers by Paul Thomas and others. It also examines fiction featuring female detectives, including those written by Vanda Symon, as well as genre hybrids such as historical crime and domestic fiction. Finally, it analyses examples of literary noir by Charlotte Grimshaw, Carl Nixon, and Chad Taylor and political dystopias from C. K. Stead to Bernard Beckett.


1965 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-262
Author(s):  
Peter J. Coleman
Keyword(s):  

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Gladys N. Benitez ◽  
Glenn D. Aguilar ◽  
Dan Blanchon

The spatial distribution of corticolous lichens on the iconic New Zealand pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) tree was investigated from a survey of urban parks and forests across the city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. Lichens were identified from ten randomly selected trees at 20 sampling sites, with 10 sites classified as coastal and another 10 as inland sites. Lichen data were correlated with distance from sea, distance from major roads, distance from native forests, mean tree DBH (diameter at breast height) and the seven-year average of measured NO2 over the area. A total of 33 lichen species were found with coastal sites harboring significantly higher average lichen species per tree as well as higher site species richness. We found mild hotspots in two sites for average lichen species per tree and another two separate sites for species richness, with all hotspots at the coast. A positive correlation between lichen species richness and DBH was found. Sites in coastal locations were more similar to each other in terms of lichen community composition than they were to adjacent inland sites and some species were only found at coastal sites. The average number of lichen species per tree was negatively correlated with distance from the coast, suggesting that the characteristic lichen flora found on pōhutukawa may be reliant on coastal microclimates. There were no correlations with distance from major roads, and a slight positive correlation between NO2 levels and average lichen species per tree.


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