Campbell Island

Cattle (Bos taurus) were introduced to 11 268 ha Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku in 1902 as part of a short-lived farming venture that was abandoned by 1931. The cattle were left to fend for themselves and a small feral population of 10–20 animals persisted for 53 years. The population was largely limited to a small area (c. 440 ha) of the island noted for its limestone geology. Ecological damage was pronounced with churning of the soil, damage to vegetation and probable impact on seabird nesting.

Feral sheep were eradicated from Campbell Island (Motu Ihupuku) – a National Reserve, Nature Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site in subantarctic New Zealand – in three distinct stages from 1970 to 1991. The sheep derived from farming attempts on the island, starting in 1895 and abandoned by 1931. The potential genetic and commercial value of the isolated sheep population meant proposed eradication plans were not wholly supported.

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a recognised threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services. With increasing tourism and projected 21st century climate changes across the mid- to high-latitudes of the southern hemisphere, subantarctic islands are potentially highly vulnerable to IAS, but suffer from a dearth of baseline monitoring. Here we report tree-ring measurements from a lone exotic Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr) on subantarctic Campbell Island to determine past growth rates and likely future response to climate changes.

[First paragraph...]

A modern pollen-vegetation data set of 46 samples is presented from subantarctic Campbell Island, 600 km south of the New Zealand mainland. The sampled vegetation includes all major community types: maritime turf and grassland, sedge flushes, dwarf forest, scrub, cushion bog, tussock grassland, and high altitude graminoid turfs and tundra. Macrophyllous forbs—characteristic plants of subantarctic islands—are common throughout. Most taxa have highly restricted pollen dispersal, largely due to the short stature of the vegetation and the high proportion of insect-pollinated species.

The vegetation of Campbell Island and its offshore islets was sampled quantitatively at 140 sites. Data from the 134 sites with more than one vascular plant species were subjected to multivariate analysis. Out of a total of 140 indigenous and widespread adventive species known from the island group, 124 vascular species were recorded; 85 non-vascular cryptogams or species aggregates play a major role in the vegetation. Up to 19 factors of the physical environment were recorded or derived for each site.

Sheep introduced to Campbell Island in 1895 for farming reached numbers of over 8000 in 1916 then declined to 1000 by 1961 (exponential growth rate r = -0.05 p.a.). Numbers increased to around 3000 from 1961 to 1969 (r = 0.14 p.a.). The island was divided into halves by a fence in 1970, and all sheep north of it were killed. The southern population continued to grow from 1970 to 1984 (r = 0.053 p.a.). The southern half of the island was cleared of sheep in 1984 except for about 800 fenced off on a peninsula.

Growth of Avena sativa L. and Agrostis tenuis Sibth was measured on peat and mineral soils from sites on Campbell Island in the New Zealand subantarctic. For the peat soils, growth was strongly positively correlated with both pH and Mg levels and less strongly with Ca and Na. With the inclusion of the mineral soil data, only the fit between growth and Ca levels was significant.