199103 - L31 - New Zealand's Biodiversity Today

What is biodiversity?

Variety of life on earth

• Including within a particular ecosystem

• And genetic diversity between and within species

Where/when was biodiversity first introduced as a resource management concept?

• 1992

• Rio Earth Summit

  • Also called the ‘Convention on Biological Diversity 1992’

What is endemic?

When a species only exists there.

• Could be endemic because they only evolved in one place(e.g. Kiwi).

• Or the species died off in all other places(e.g. Tuatara).

What is native?

When a species naturally came to an ecosystem (without the help of humans)

• But Is found in different parts of the world

What is an introduced species?

Species that were purposefully/accidentally brought into another ecosystem by humans.

What major taxa aren’t found in NZ's ecosystems?

• Whole groups of animal species common in other land masses are absent or very poorly represented in NZ.

• Land mammals

  • Endemic birds (eg kiwi, kakapo, moa) fill(ed) the niche of land mammals as they are ground dwelling

• Ants:

  • Poorly represented in NZ.

• Snakes and Iguanids:

  • Occasional visits by sea snakes, but no evidence of establishment.

    • For example yellow-bellied sea snakes are actually considered native species, as they came here by themselves without human involvement.

• Crocodiles and Turtles:

  • Found in the fossil record but died out over 15 million years ago as the climate cooled.

  • Five species of turtles occasionally visit New Zealand waters.

Describe the diversity of endemic birds in NZ's ecosystems

NZ parrots

Kaka, Kea, Kakapo

Kiwi)- 5 species

NZ Wattlebirds (have flaps of skin around bill)

Saddleback, Kokako, Huia (extinct 1907)

Hihi

Stichbird

NZ wrens

Rifleman, Rock wren, Bush wren (extinct 1972)

What are NZ's terrestrial mammals?

Bats are the only terrestrial mammals

- Long-tailed bat

- Lesser short-tailed bat

- Greater short tailed bat is extinct (1967)

What are NZ's marine mammals?

Dolphins

• 9 different species

• Not endemic because they are migratory

Seals

• Lots

Whales

• Almost half the world's whale and dolphin species are found in New Zealand waters at some point in their migration

At what taxonomic level are tuatara endemic to New Zealand?

At the order level.

- They are the only surviving Rhynchocephalians (taxonomic group under Lepidosaurs)

Give a basic overview of

• how much of NZ ecosystems are threatened.

• The threatened species in New Zealand.

Two-thirds of NZ's natural ecosystems are threatened by collapse

Threatened species includes

- 90% of all seabirds

- 84% of reptiles

- 76% of freshwater fish

- 74% of terrestrial birds

NZ has the highest proportion of species at risk in the world

What species in NZ aren't threatened?

Looking at the not threatened species is easier than navigating how threatened species are

- 18% beetles

- 26% fresh water fish

- 38% marine mammals

- 12% lizards

- 5% snails

- 50% plants

To summerise the amount of stuff not threatened is exstremely low:(

Do threatened species in New Zealand automatically receive protection?

No, Threatened species in NZ don't automatically receive protection.

• Legal protection of species is dictated by acts (like wildlife act, conservation act etc)

  • The Conservation Act- For everything DOC land

    • For an animal to be legally protected (rather than just DOC protected) it needs to be specified by on the Wildlife act.

      • this means the government needs to manually add the species to the list (intensive process)

  • The Marine Mammals Protection Act- marine mammals.

  • Native Plants Protection Act - plants within national parks or reserves

  Plants, invertebrates, and fish are generally not protected except where they occur in national parks or reserves.

How many of New Zealand's territorial waters are designated as marine protected areas (MPAs)

30% of NZ's waters are marine protected areas.

• However the level of protection differs greatly.

How much of NZ's costal waters are fully protected as no-take marine reserves?

0.6%

- Needs to be higher to give native marine life a chance

How much of New Zealand’s forests remain:

• Approximately 23%

  • That means 78% loss.

What group of taxa are not found in New Zealand, but have evidence that they once did?

• Found in the fossil record but died out over 15 million years ago as the climate cooled.

Crocodiles.

• Suggest that New Zealand's climate was warmer and more diverse then. 

How many endemic species are in New Zealand?

Also list what we have the most of endemically.

• Maybe even throw in how many species of that we have endemically.

20,000 native species of animal in New Zealand.

• Invertebrates, especially insects, dominate.

  • 6000 Beetles !

What percentage of New Zealand’s freshwater fish are endemic?

80%

What percentage of insects found in NZ are endemic?

90%

• Insects have the highest levels of endemism.

How many of New Zealand’s Birds are Native and how many of those are endemic.

• Endemic is a subset of native.

• Of the 168 species of bird that are native to New Zealand, 93 are endemic

Tuatara lay their eggs in soil, and the temperature of the surrounding soil determines the sex of the offspring.

With rising temperatures what does this threaten to do?

• I.e. male or female biased.

• The population is likely to become highly male biased due to rising temperatures.

  • Cooler temperatures produce females, warmer temperatures produce males.

What percentage of our native bird species are in trouble?

• 48% of our native bird species are in trouble, 32% seriously so.

Commercial whaling in NZ was between what years?

• For a bonus what whale species where hunted over these years.

The commercial whaling in New Zealand occurred between the 1790 (late eighteenth centaury) and 1965.

• 19th-century (1800-1899) whaling was based on hunting the southern right whale and the sperm whale.

• 20th-century (1900-1965) whaling concentrated on the humpback whale.

When whales became scarce, people turned their attention to seals and penguins as sources of oil.

• Joseph Hatch made his fortune on Macquarie Island by boiling ———-penguins to extract oil for lamps.

Fill in the blank. How many penguins where boiled?

3 million!