Native vegetation and soil patterns in the marlborough sounds, South Island, New Zealand

Walls, G. Y.; Laffan, M. D.

doi:10.1080/0028825x.1986.10412679

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Hill-slope angles are typically 5Á358 with the steeper slopes at, or close to, the angle of repose (Fig. 4 & 5) (Walls & Laffan 1986; New Zealand 1:50 000 Topographical maps NZMS 260 P26, Q26, P27 & Q27; Queen Charlotte Sounds bathymetry map NZ6153 1987). These slopes contrast with those of the main arterial valleys, which are relatively flat and typically have slopes of B0.28 (e.g.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nicol 1988;Mortimer & Little 1998). The depth of bedrock weathering and the thickness of the overlying soil are inversely related to altitude suggesting increased erosion (and decreased deposition) on higher altitude slopes (Walls & Laffan 1986;Laffan et al 1989). Coastal outcrops in the inner Sounds are strongly weathered, despite the fact that in places they were probably greater than 20 m below the ground surface prior to Holocene coastal erosion (Fig.…”

Section: Age and Formation Of Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landscape history of the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

Nicol

2011

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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The Marlborough Sounds is a large and spectacular network of rias or drowned valleys. The Sounds were formed by stream incision and dissection of uplifting rocks followed by subsidence and marine incursion into the valleys. The evolution of the Marlborough Sounds is examined using a combination of seismic-reflection lines from the offshore Wanganui Basin, topographic data and seafloor bathymetry. Drainage incision produced valleys and ridges in the Sounds that were part of a mountainous region which reached maximum altitudes of c. 2000 m and extended northwards across the basin to the Wanganui coast. Sedimentary strata as old as c. 5 Ma infill this palaeotopography in the basin, suggesting that topography in the Sounds formed primarily during the Miocene. This topography started to submerge in the Sounds at c. 1.5 Ma when the Wanganui Basin stepped southwards by about 50 km. At the present outer edge of the Sounds, the average rates of subsidence since this time have been low (c. 0.3 mm a (1) and the resulting accommodation space in the valley system filled by sediments. As a consequence of sedimentation, the absolute altitude of valley floors remained approximately constant relative to a fixed earth datum. Thus, while subsidence was important for bringing strongly dissected topography close to sea level, isostatic sea-level rises are inferred not to have been responsible for submergence of the Sounds region. Instead, marine inundation may have been primarily driven by eustatic sea-level changes which resulted in ephemeral submergence during interglacial periods when sea levels were highest. The present coastline in the Marlborough Sounds formed c. 7 ka ago, and similar highstand sea-level configurations probably occurred about every 100 ka throughout the Late Quaternary.

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Age and Formation Of Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape history of the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

Nicol

2011

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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“…Temporal changes in forest composition and biomass (carbon) were measured through studying representative stands of different stages of a previously determined successional sequence (described in Wassilief 1982; Walls & Laffan 1986). This successional sequence had been documented by detailed surveys of communities differing in age, but having similar slope, aspect, soil type and climate (Wassilief 1982).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf palatability and decomposability increase during a 200-year-old post-cultural woody succession in New Zealand

Mason¹,

Carswell²,

Richardson³

et al. 2010

Journal of Vegetation Science

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Question: How do aggregate trait values and functional diversity of leaf traits linked to palatability and decomposability change during a woody post‐cultural succession spanning 200 years? Location: Coastal Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand. Methods: The biomass of all woody species was determined in 32 20‐m × 20‐m plots ranging from 10 to 200 years in time since last disturbance. Species abundances were combined with data on leaf nutrient, secondary metabolite and structural carbohydrate content to calculate biomass‐weighted trait means (i.e. aggregate trait values) and functional diversity index values for each plot. Aggregate trait values and functional diversity were regressed on successional age and total live above‐ground carbon content to examine functional shifts with succession and one consequence of succession – increasing above‐ground carbon. Results: Almost all significant regressions between aggregate trait values and both successional age and above‐ground carbon indicated a shift toward increased leaf palatability and decomposability during succession. The relationships were all non‐linear, with aggregate trait value shifts occurring relatively early in the successional sequence. There was weak evidence for an increase in functional richness with succession, but this was a secondary effect relative to the shifts in aggregate trait values. Conclusions: These results are in direct contrast with studies of the early stages of herbaceous post‐cultural successions from grasslands to shrublands, which have found a shift towards communities of decreasing palatability and decomposability, suggesting that functional shifts in woody succession may be fundamentally different.

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“…As we did not have samples of North Brother Island soils, we selected values for their physical properties that were similar to those of related New Zealand soils (soils below 200 m in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand are mostly silty or clay loams derived from siliceous rock or greywacke; Walls & Laffan 1986). We then compared the soil temperatures predicted by the microclimate model for the middle day of each month with average monthly soil temperatures that we had measured in duplicate in 2001 at the same depths (100 and 200 mm) at four experimental sites on the island (Hobo/StowAway temperature loggers; hourly measurements for 10 months).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the fate of a living fossil: how will global warming affect sex determination and hatching phenology in tuatara?

et al. 2008

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How will climate change affect species' reproduction and subsequent survival? In many egg-laying reptiles, the sex of offspring is determined by the temperature experienced during a critical period of embryonic development (temperature-dependent sex determination, TSD). Increasing air temperatures are likely to skew offspring sex ratios in the absence of evolutionary or plastic adaptation, hence we urgently require means for predicting the future distributions of species with TSD. Here we develop a mechanistic model that demonstrates how climate, soil and topography interact with physiology and nesting behaviour to determine sex ratios of tuatara, cold-climate reptiles from New Zealand with an unusual developmental biology. Under extreme regional climate change, all-male clutches would hatch at 100% of current nest sites of the rarest species, Sphenodon guntheri, by the mid-2080s. We show that tuatara could behaviourally compensate for the male-biasing effects of warmer air temperatures by nesting later in the season or selecting shaded nest sites. Later nesting is, however, an unlikely response to global warming, as many oviparous species are nesting earlier as the climate warms. Our approach allows the assessment of the thermal suitability of current reserves and future translocation sites for tuatara, and can be readily modified to predict climatic impacts on any species with TSD.

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Native vegetation and soil patterns in the marlborough sounds, South Island, New Zealand

Cited by 14 publications

References 3 publications

Landscape history of the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

Landscape history of the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

Leaf palatability and decomposability increase during a 200-year-old post-cultural woody succession in New Zealand

Predicting the fate of a living fossil: how will global warming affect sex determination and hatching phenology in tuatara?

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