New Zealand has several notable wetlands but 90% of wetland areas have been lost following European settlement.
The Resource Management Act 1991, the major Act of Parliament determining land use, defines wetlands as "permanently or intermittently wet areas, shallow water, and land water margins that support a natural ecosystem of plants and animals that area adapted to wet conditions". The Ramsar Convention, an international conservation agreement for wetlands to which New Zealand signed up to in 1971, has a wider definition of wetland.[1]
Since the mid-19th century, New Zealand has lost about 90% of its wetland areas due to draining for farming. Many remaining wetlands are also degraded due to pollution, grazing, drainage and presence of invasive plants. In the late 20th and early 21st century, efforts have been made towards wetland conservation.[2]
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Wetland plants and water quality
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Healthy Waterways - working together to restore wetlands on farmland
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Interactions in Ecosystems – Wetlands
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How Wetlands Work
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Ecosystems Episode 5: The Wetland Ecosystem! (4K)
Transcription
You have joined us again at Lake Heron and we are surrounded by beauty here. There are hills, mountains, glorious grasslands and Lorraine Cook who is a Flora Ranger for DOC. She is going to tell us about some of the plants in Lake Heron and how they affect the water quality. We are standing here in front of this plant and its name is Carex Secter and this is a really useful plant. I think it is a really cool plant and it is one of the few plants around here that can grow right out in the middle of the water. This plant loves to get its feet wet and so do I! This plant is a classic wetland plant; it has got qualities that are typical of lots of other wetland plants. It has this big root system that spreads out and, like other wetland plants, it soaks up all the nutrients coming into the wetlands like a sponge. So it filters what nutrients are going into the wetlands. It also soaks up all the water during the wetter times and during the dryer times it lets the water slowly out into the wetland and so it keeps it constantly wet. And that water going out has a much higher quality than the water coming in because of that purifying and sedimenting effect. With this particular plant, with all those nutrients it is taking up, it is growing really fast and really big. This plant can grow up to 100 years old. It produces all these leaves that you can see and they hang down into the water. When they finally drop off and rot, the nutrients in the leaves go back into the water and are a food source for invertebrates. The invertebrates are then a food source for the fish and the birds so it is a really important part of the food chain. So really, really well adapted – not only does it clean the water but it also provides food for the species that live around the water. These funny bits on the plant here are the seed heads. It produces tons of these every year so that it can quickly spread out and colonise new areas. There is certainly a lot of it around up here!
Ramsar sites
The Department of Conservation currently administers seven Ramsar sites protected under the Ramsar Convention, covering an area of about 56,000 hectares (140,000 acres).[3][4]
- Awarua Wetland
- Farewell Spit
- Firth of Thames
- Kopuatai Peat Dome
- Manawatu river mouth and estuary
- Wairarapa Moana Wetland
- Whangamarino Wetland
Other wetlands
Other notable wetlands in New Zealand include Ahukawakawa Swamp, Aramoana, the Kepler Mire, Kai Iwi Lakes, the Sinclair Wetlands, and Te Henga, as well as areas around the lower reaches of the Waikato River.
The Rakatu Wetlands in the South Island are part of an ecological restoration project set up address the environmental effects of the construction of the Manapouri Power Station.
Travis Wetland is a restoration project covering 116 hectares (290 acres) of land in urban Christchurch.
See also
References
- ^ Johnson, Peter; Philippe Gereaux (2004). Wetland types of New Zealand (PDF). Department of Conservation (New Zealand). ISBN 0-478-22604-7.
- ^ "Chapter 7: Key points". State of New Zealand's Environment 1997. Ministry for the Environment. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
Wetland areas have been reduced by about 85 percent in the last century and a half, from nearly 700,000 hectares to about 100,000 hectares.
- ^ "Who administers the convention?: About DOC's international wetlands role". Department of Conservation. 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- ^ "Site list" (PDF). ramsar.org. Ramsar.
Further reading
- Cromarty, P.; Scott, D.A, eds. (1995). A Directory of Wetlands in New Zealand (PDF). Wellington: Department of Conservation. ISBN 0-478-01776-6.
- Johnson, Peter N (1998). Wetland plants in New Zealand. Canterbury, N.Z.: Manaaki Whenua Press. ISBN 9780478093216.
- Johnson, Peter; Gerbeaux, Philippe (2004). Wetland types in New Zealand (PDF). Wellington, N.Z.: Dept. of Conservation. ISBN 978-0-478-22604-1.
- Hunt, Janet (2007). Wetlands of New Zealand. Random House New Zealand. ISBN 978-1-86941-904-2.
- Tanner, C.C.; Sukias, J.P.S.; Yates, C.R. (2010), New Zealand Guidelines for Constructed Wetland Treatment of Tile Drainage (PDF), NIWA Information Series No. 75, NIWA, ISSN 1174-264X
- Peters, Monica; B. R Clarkson (2010). Wetland restoration : a handbook for New Zealand freshwater systems. Lincoln, N.Z: Manaaki Whenua Press. ISBN 978-0-478-34706-7.
- "Arawai Kakariki wetland restoration programme 2007-2010: Implementation report". Department of Conservation. December 2011.
External links
- Department of Conservation – wetlands conservation page
- The National Wetland Trust of New Zealand
- Wetlands in Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
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This page was last edited on 24 June 2024, at 07:44