Mound, L. A., and Morris, D. C. 2007. A new thrips pest of Myoporum cultivars in California, in a new genus of leaf-galling Australian Phlaeothripidae (Thysanoptera). Zootaxa, 1495:35–45.
Mound and Morris (2007) describe a new species of thrips from California, Klambothrips myopori, where it is hammering the cultivated and wild Myoporum there, including New Zealand's ngaio tree. The species most certainly originates from Australia, or New Zealand. Its presence in California might not be such a bad thing, since ngaio was becoming widespread in the wild in parts of California and is on several Californian weed lists. The photo shows a typically damaged wild plant from the margins of the Upper Newport Bay Preserve wetland in southern California.
I've yet to see any damage comparable to this in New Zealand. It's well worth keeping an eye out for. If it is not a New Zealand native and can get from Australia to California, getting to New Zealand is perfectly feasible. Without natural controls, it is certainly capable of causing extensive damage to its host plants.
Mound and Morris's (2007) article is available, free, from http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01495p045.pdf (200 KB).
24 July, 2008
Weeds, weeds, weeds
Howell, C. 2008. Consolidated list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. DOC Research & Development Series 292, Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.
Clayson Howell of the Department of Conservation (DOC) has compiled a useful list of all the 328 vascular plant species that DOC regards as environmental weeds, and which are actively controlled on DOC-managed wildlands.
As Clayson writes, "New Zealand is a very weedy place" (p. 4). It's likely to become more so. It's well known now that naturalised exotic vascular plants in New Zealand have outnumbered native plants. There is something over two thousand native vascular plant species in New Zealand, almost all endemic (it's 2158 species according to de Lange et al.'s 2006 New Zealand indigenous plant checklist, published by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network). Howell and Sawyer (2006, New Zealand naturalised vascular plant checklist, published by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network) recognise 2391 naturalised exotic species. With DOC now managing 348 of these as weeds, that's 13% of New Zealand's naturalised plants that are nasty enough to justify control as environmental weeds. I recently combined the DOC list with all plants listed as pests on the Regional Council's various pest management strategies (RPMS), to get about 400 species. Add on that weeds being controlled by agriculture, horticulture, and forestry (plus private gardeners), and it is becoming clear that ecologist's "Tens Rule" of about 10% of naturalised plants becoming weeds (and 10% of introduced plants naturalising) is looking increasing optimistic for New Zealand.
While most of the report is a species list, Clayson also provides a useful overview of where and why these species are regarded by DOC as weeds, when they were first discovered in NZ, and an overview of which lifeforms are over- and under-repesented as weeds from the full naturalised flora.
The report is available from http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/drds292.pdf (278 KB).
Clayson Howell of the Department of Conservation (DOC) has compiled a useful list of all the 328 vascular plant species that DOC regards as environmental weeds, and which are actively controlled on DOC-managed wildlands.
As Clayson writes, "New Zealand is a very weedy place" (p. 4). It's likely to become more so. It's well known now that naturalised exotic vascular plants in New Zealand have outnumbered native plants. There is something over two thousand native vascular plant species in New Zealand, almost all endemic (it's 2158 species according to de Lange et al.'s 2006 New Zealand indigenous plant checklist, published by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network). Howell and Sawyer (2006, New Zealand naturalised vascular plant checklist, published by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network) recognise 2391 naturalised exotic species. With DOC now managing 348 of these as weeds, that's 13% of New Zealand's naturalised plants that are nasty enough to justify control as environmental weeds. I recently combined the DOC list with all plants listed as pests on the Regional Council's various pest management strategies (RPMS), to get about 400 species. Add on that weeds being controlled by agriculture, horticulture, and forestry (plus private gardeners), and it is becoming clear that ecologist's "Tens Rule" of about 10% of naturalised plants becoming weeds (and 10% of introduced plants naturalising) is looking increasing optimistic for New Zealand.
While most of the report is a species list, Clayson also provides a useful overview of where and why these species are regarded by DOC as weeds, when they were first discovered in NZ, and an overview of which lifeforms are over- and under-repesented as weeds from the full naturalised flora.
The report is available from http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/drds292.pdf (278 KB).
A glimpse of the past through kakapo poo
Horrocks, M., Salter, J., Braggins, J., Nichol, S., Moorhouse, R., and Elliott, G. 2008. Plant microfossil analysis of coprolites of the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) parrot from New Zealand. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 149:229–245.
This paper was the subject of a recent ecology journal club at Lincoln University. In it, Horrocks et al. (2008) reconstruct the diet of New Zealand's flightless kakapo using coprolites (preserved faeces). Since New Zealand's bird fauna was decimated so recently, there are still faeces to be found in places where their makers are gone. Kakapo were once common throughout New Zealand, but have now been reduced to less than 100 individuals being intensively managed on offshore island reserves. This paper uses traditional methods of identifying plant microfossils (particularly the morphology of pollen and spores) to characterise what kakapo used to eat throughout their mainland New Zealand range. Not surprisingly, the kakapo diet was broader and more varied than what is now available in their offshore island sanctuaries. There are some good tips for what other foods these island birds could be offered.
What is difficult to obtain from this study is what foods were actively sought after by the kakapo rather than which were fed on proportional to their availability in these habitats. Comparing the plant composition of the kakapo faeces with the background levels of pollen and spores at or near these sites (with some undoubtedly tricky adjustments estimating relative plant abundance from pollen and spore counts) could be an interesting follow-on from this study.
The paper can be accessed from ScienceDirect (subscription required).
This paper was the subject of a recent ecology journal club at Lincoln University. In it, Horrocks et al. (2008) reconstruct the diet of New Zealand's flightless kakapo using coprolites (preserved faeces). Since New Zealand's bird fauna was decimated so recently, there are still faeces to be found in places where their makers are gone. Kakapo were once common throughout New Zealand, but have now been reduced to less than 100 individuals being intensively managed on offshore island reserves. This paper uses traditional methods of identifying plant microfossils (particularly the morphology of pollen and spores) to characterise what kakapo used to eat throughout their mainland New Zealand range. Not surprisingly, the kakapo diet was broader and more varied than what is now available in their offshore island sanctuaries. There are some good tips for what other foods these island birds could be offered.
What is difficult to obtain from this study is what foods were actively sought after by the kakapo rather than which were fed on proportional to their availability in these habitats. Comparing the plant composition of the kakapo faeces with the background levels of pollen and spores at or near these sites (with some undoubtedly tricky adjustments estimating relative plant abundance from pollen and spore counts) could be an interesting follow-on from this study.
The paper can be accessed from ScienceDirect (subscription required).
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)