New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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Floristics and species richness of floodplain forests, south Westland, New Zealand

Craig Miller

Department of Conservation
Hokitika, New Zealand

Present address: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia. Email: craig.miller@csiro.au

Abstract  Three distinct forest communities (kahikatea/kamahi/wheki/hen and chickens fern; rimu/kamahi-miro/wheki/rohutu/kiekie; kahikatea-rimu/kamahi/rohutu-mountain toatoa/Astelia sp.) were found to be consistent among four south Westland floodplain forests, although the proportion of each community differed between forests. Two scrub-wetland communities were also identified (kahikatea/manuka/flax-Coprosma parviflora/Juncus spp., and manuka-monoao/flax-Coprosma spp.), with species composition dependent on fertility and drainage gradients. In total 265 species, or 12% of New Zealand’s indigenous flora, occurred within these riparian forest systems. Mean species richness ranged from 37 to 44 species forest plot^–1 (c. 500 m²), with the greatest species richness in the kahikatea-rimu community.

Keywords  alpha diversity; beta diversity; disturbance; gamma diversity; floodplain; Podocarpaceae; Westland

B04003; Received 16 January 2004; accepted 23 August 2004; Online publication date 9 December 2004
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2004, Vol. 42: 847–860
0028–825X/04/4205–0847 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2004

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