02/08/2013 - Revegetation Unit 21033

Actual Temperature
9 degrees Celsius
Humidity : 92%
Rainfall : 0.4mm
Wind : Calm

In the morning class was with Lisa Burton on new topic revegetation. She talk about Forest has a structure or vertical layers or strata or storeys. She explained the multiple layers such as emergent, canopy, subcanopy, under storey shrubs and ground level forest floor.

New Zealand's forests are unique. Eight million years of evolution in isolation from other continents produced a collection plants and animals essentially in a state of balance, although constantly changing, adapted to our unique and very diverse conditions. Eight percent of our plants occur nowhere else in the world, clearly placing responsibility for their survival in our hands.

About 2000 years ago, 78 per cent of New Zealand was covered in forest. By the time the first European settlers arrived in the 1840s, 50 percent of the land still carried a mantle of forest. However, from the 1850s until the early part of the 20th century New Zealand underwent considerable landscape change as forests were cleared on a massive scale to create our present agricultural landscape. Today, approximately 21 per cent of the land is in native forest, with much of this on steeper areas unsuited for agriculture.

In summary, forest remnants have many values that make their protection in perpetuity a high priority. These include :

• refuges for Native Plants and Animals
• snapshots of the "Past"
• a context for understanding our plants and animals
• representative soil types
• wildlife corridors
• genetic diversity
• importance to Maori
• New Zealand Landscape Character

At 12.00 - 1.00pm we went to Information Centre in Lower Botanic Garden regarding the Hot Talk on Tapping in to Soil Nutrient Reserves - How Compost Tea can help by Ray Annan Master Compost Tea Brewer.