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Small, Dynamic and Recently Settled: Responding to the Impacts of Plant Invasions in the New Zealand (Aotearoa) Archipelago

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Plant Invasions in Protected Areas

Part of the book series: Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology ((INNA,volume 7))

Abstract

New Zealand was one of the last land masses to be populated by humans, and its isolation has contributed to the large number of endemic species that the country is known for. With increased global movement of people and goods this historic advantage no longer exists. In the last several decades numerous legislative, policy and operational tools have been used to protect New Zealand’s special areas and biota from invasive alien species. With the benefit of 25 years of dedicated protection efforts by the Department of Conservation, best practice alien plant control techniques have been developed, building on lessons from animal pest eradications, trophic relationships, and on-the ground pragmatism and experience. Increasingly, an essential tool to achieving greater success will be working with other agencies, businesses and communities to harness resources. Three case studies illustrate the approaches and lessons learnt from alien plant management in New Zealand in the last 25 years: Raoul Island in the far north of New Zealand, Hen and Chicken Islands to the east of North Auckland Peninsula, and Fiordland National Park in south-western South Island.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Monica Valdes, David Havell, Michelle Gutsell, Alastair Hay, and Verity Forbes for providing data and reviewing sections of this chapter. We are grateful to Sarah Fell, Cindy Smith Yvonne Sprey and Tamra Gibson, on Raoul Island, for sending recent data on the number of individuals of some target species that have been killed. Paul Hughes was extremely helpful in providing the map of Fiordland National Park. Kevin O’Connor, Susan-Jane Owen and an anonymous reviewer also provided helpful reviews of this chapter for which we offer our thanks. Finally, we’d like to thank all those DOC staff and volunteers plus others elsewhere who do the hard work of protecting natural areas from the impacts of IAPs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation, 10-420, Wellington, 6143, New Zealand

    Carol J. West & Ann M. Thompson

Authors
  1. Carol J. West
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  2. Ann M. Thompson
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Correspondence to Carol J. West .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. South African National Parks, Centre for Invasion Biology Conservation Services, Skukuza, South Africa

    Llewellyn C. Foxcroft

  2. Department of Invasion Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Institute of Botany, prĹŻhonice, Czech Republic

    Petr Pyšek

  3. Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University Center for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    David M. Richardson

  4. ISPRA Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, and Chair IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group, Rome, Italy

    Piero Genovesi

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West, C.J., Thompson, A.M. (2013). Small, Dynamic and Recently Settled: Responding to the Impacts of Plant Invasions in the New Zealand (Aotearoa) Archipelago. In: Foxcroft, L., Pyšek, P., Richardson, D., Genovesi, P. (eds) Plant Invasions in Protected Areas. Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7750-7_14

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