New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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VEGETATION OF THE AORANGI RANGE, SOUTHERN WAIRARAPA

J. Wardle

Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Research Institute, Rangiora

Abstract In primeval times the Aorangi Range supported an almost continuous forest cover broken only by occasional slips and young stream terraces. Forest still forms the most extensive cover in the area. It can be broadly classified into four main types: mahoe-hinau-rewarewa forest en the more stable slopes and flats up to an altitude of 1,700-1,900 ft; black beech forest on the drier, more exposed spur sites up to 1,600 ft; red beech forest on the mid slopes between 1,400 ft and 1,900 ft; and silver beech forest along the ridges between 2,000 ft and the highest points of the range. In recent times the vegetation of the area has been modified by fire, browsing, and erosion. Erosion has favoured the extension of serai plant communities such as are found on slips, in gully heads, and on aggrading river terraces. Burning has given rise to tall kanuka scrub at lower altitudes and to subalpine scrub and tussock grassland at higher altitudes. Browsing mammals have considerably altered the composition of each forest type and have modified succession on bared areas. The first section of this paper briefly describes the physical nature of the range; the second deals with the distribution, structure, and composition of the main forest types, and the third describes how erosion, fire, and browsing have altered these to produce the present serai and subclimax communities.

N.Z. Jl Bot. 5: 22-48.
(Received for publication 19 July 1966)

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