Academic literature on the topic 'Fiordland National Park'

Two new species of Hemiandrus are described from alpine habitat in the Sinbad Gully of Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. H. superba n. sp. is the largest known member of the genus, and H. nitaweta n. sp. is perhaps the most brilliantly colored. Fiordland is a major centre of diversity for Hemiandrus; a photographic overview and key to the species recorded from the Park are provided.

ABSTRACT Cooperative oil spill Ecological Risk Assessment (C-ERA) is a preparedness tool that seeks consensus-based decisions regarding potential spill and spill response impacts. The established US Coast Guard ERA approach has generally used 1–2 multi-day workshops, several weeks apart, to identify and work through key issues. In New Zealand (NZ), funding limitations required a faster approach. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages encountered during a modified 1-day version of the ERA conducted for the Fiordland region. Fiordland is a highly valued and remote National Park and World Heritage Area of 1.25 million Ha, with ∼200km of exposed coastline, and ∼1800km internal coastline including 15 main fiords. The unique climate, topography, bathymetry and oceanography, in addition to limited access and infrastructure, make marine pollution response inherently difficult. Recent increases in cruise ship and commercial maritime activity has increased the spill risk, especially for fuel oil. Information previously gathered from interest/advocate groups and government agencies was used to identify priority resources and summarise the spill risk. Then, at a 1-day workshop, six experts in Fiordland ecology, spill response and ERA processes defined the most ecologically important areas and priority resources across the region, and their susceptibility to oil. Levels of concern were applied to each area and identified resource, and the preferred response options and their feasibility defined. Outputs were presented on a series of planning maps and site sheets completed for each priority area after the workshop which were circulated for stakeholder review. The approach enabled a defensible response plan to be generated quickly and cheaply. It secured input from agencies who would not have participated had a greater time input been required and generated a concise document for public consultation and a template for ongoing refinement. The success of the approach was due largely to the high level of trust between scientific and response agencies in NZ, and a shared desire to rapidly improve response planning outcomes. Disadvantages were the inability to fully review and include all available technical information, limited public consultation, and tight time pressures. Examples are given of the benefit of the plan following its use during a recent spill of marine diesel.

Ship Rats Rattus rattus were much more abundant in Silver Beech-dominated Nothofagus menziesii forest in the Hollyford Valley than in Red Beech-dominated Nothofagus fusca forest of the Eglinton Valley, northern Fiordland National Park, in 1974?78. The Hollyford also supported a small population of Kiore (Pacific Rat) R. exulans, but no Norway Rats R. norvegicus. A moderate beech seedfall in 1976 was followed by a short-lived, six to seven fold increase in a relative index of abundance of Ship Rats in both valleys. This increase, not matched by Kiore, showed up more clearly in long lines of Fenn traps set for Stoats Mustela erminea than in standard rodent snap-trap lines. Analysis of 122 carcases showed a significant upward shift in age structure of Ship Rats after the seedfall, consistent with overwinter breeding. Conservation management programmes already aiming to protect threatened species in beech forests from post-seedfall irruptions of Stoats might need to be extended to include Ship Rats. Elsewhere in New Zealand, Ship Rats were much more abundant in mixed podocarp-hardwood forests than in pure beech or pine forests.

Populations of house mice were sampled on nine grids in Fiordland National Park between May and November 1999, using live-capture and footprint-tracking tunnel methods. Trapped mice were removed from three grids (approximately 3.24 ha each), and marked and released on the other six. Density estimates were obtained using recapture data from the grids where mice were released (Mh (jackknife) model from program CAPTURE), and rate-of-capture data from grids where mice were removed (Mbh (removal) CAPTURE model). Density estimates were used to evaluate the performance of 4 indices of mouse abundance by contrasting R2-values of their regression on estimated mouse density. Indices evaluated were: minimum number of individuals known to be alive (MNA) (total number of individual mice caught over the course of a trapping session), one-night trap catch (number of mice caught on first night of each trapping session expressed as captures per 100 trap-nights), three-night trap catch (same index estimated from number of mice caught over the first three nights), and tracking-tunnel index (proportion of nine tunnels that had mouse tracks). While MNA, one-night trap catch, and three-night trap catch were all significantly correlated with estimated density, MNA was most strongly correlated, with R2 varying between 0.67 to 0.87 depending on whether 3, 4 or 5 nights’ capture data were used. Variation in tracking-tunnel index was unrelated to mouse density on our grids.

Stoats are introduced mammalian carnivores implicated in the decline of several of New Zealand�s endemic species. Most research into stoats in New Zealand has focused on beech forest habitat, especially in years of peak stoat abundance following heavy beech seedfall and peak cohorts of mice. In New Zealand, alpine grasslands occur above the altitudinal limit of beech forest (900-1000 m a.s.l.). Although previous research has shown stoats to be present there, little is known about the ecology of stoats in alpine grasslands. This research aimed to test whether alpine grasslands were a marginal habitat occupied by surplus stoats that had spilled over from beech forest populations, i.e. a sink habitat. The alternative is that alpine grasslands are a desirable habitat deliberately exploited by stoats. This question was answered using mark-recapture, radio-tracking, diet analysis and a food addition experiment. Another objective was to determine whether nest survival is higher in alpine grassland compared to beech forest and whether stoats are likely to be a frequent predator of ground nests in alpine grasslands relative to other introduced mammals that inhabit them. If nest survival is higher in alpine grassland then alpine grasslands may be a refuge from predation. However, if it is not then it is important for management to know the relative risk posed by stoats compared with other predators. An artificial nest experiment was used to answer these questions. This research was undertaken during two years of low to intermediate beech seedfall and therefore provided an opportunity to look at the ecology of stoats in a New Zealand National Park outside years of peak abundance. The principal study site for this research was the Borland Valley, Fiordland National Park. Compositional analysis showed that stoats in alpine grassland selected for it over adjacent beech forest. The range cores of these stoats were high up in alpine grassland away from the ecotone with beech forest. Stoats occurred at similar densities in alpine grasslands as they did in beech forest and observed survival was similar between the two habitats (with the exception of 2004 when it may have been higher in alpine grassland). The most frequent prey of stoats inhabiting beech forest were birds and mice. Although stoats in alpine grasslands also ate birds and mice their most frequent prey were ground weta and hare. Food addition appeared to cause diet switching but did not reduce the distances moved by stoats, suggesting that other factors may be more important in regulating their summer home range size in alpine grasslands. All of these factors lead to the conclusion that alpine grasslands in the Borland are not a marginal habitat for stoats, but may instead be a desirable one. Artificial nests had a higher probability of survival in alpine grassland compared to adjacent beech forest, but survival was too low to support the idea that alpine grasslands are a refuge. Stoats were the most frequent predator of artificial nests in both habitats, but 95 % confidence intervals overlapped the predation rate by possums, which was also high. These findings illustrate the need for a comprehensive landscape approach to stoat control in montane National Parks, for two reasons: 1) endemic biodiversity in alpine grasslands may be under threat from stoat predation, 2) alpine grasslands may act as a source for dispersing stoats that reinvade lowland stoat control areas. In the absence of heavy beech seedfall and peak mouse abundance, stoats occurred at densities of around 1 km⁻� in both habitats and there was recruitment into these populations. This raises the important question: What regulates the distribution and abundance of stoats in years of low beech seedfall and low mouse abundance? In these years birds, ground weta and hares may be as important as mice are in years of peak abundance following heavy beech seedfall.

The objectives of this study were two fold. The first was to quantify the nature and extent of current levels of human impact in alpine areas at four sites within Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Parks along walking tracks at Key Summit, Gertrude Saddle, Borland Saddle and Sugarloaf Pass. In order to do so, a survey was carried out with transects placed perpendicular to the track, and distributed among different vegetation types. In each transect, plant structural and compositional aspects, and soil and environmental parameters were measured. Transects were divided into track, transition, undisturbed and control zones, and changes to dependent variables were compared with distance from the track centre. Damage from visitor impact was largely restricted to within 1m from the track centre. The most significant impacts were to structural aspects of plant and soil properties with significant reductions in plant height, total vegetation cover and bryophyte cover, and increases in bareground and erosion on tracks. Erosion was more prevalent on slopes greater than 25°, while tracks on peat soils contained greater bareground exposure, particularly of organic soil. The second study objective was to investigate the relationship between specific levels of impact and the resulting damage to two key alpine vegetation types, tussock herb field and cushion bog. This was undertaken by carrying out controlled trampling experiments, measuring changes to plant structural and compositional aspects four weeks and one year after treatment. Both vegetation types saw dramatic reductions in total vegetation cover and height immediately after trampling, however overall composition and species richness varied little. These two alpine vegetation types showed moderate-low resistance to initial impact and low resilience, with very little recovery evident one year later. Research intothese two areas is important for managing visitor use within alpine areas in order to meet conservation and recreation goals. The survey indicates that alpine community types are very sensitive to visitor use, showing significant structural damage, however the spatial extent of impact is limited within the broader landscape. Instead, visitor impacts associated with tracks are likely to be more visually and aesthetically significant, influencing the visitor experience. The trampling experiments indicate that use levels over 25-75 passes per year within tussock herbfield and cushion bog vegetation on peat soils will result in ongoing damage to previously undisturbed sites. Methods for minimising impacts include limiting visitor numbers, public education in low impact practices, redirection of tracks and use to areas that are less sensitive, the dispersal of visitor activity at very low use intensities (less than 75 direct passes per year) and the concentration of activity on tracks above this level.