<I>Cervus elaphus</I>

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Transects at right angles to the shoreline are used to describe seven herbaceous, two scrub and four forest communities of the lake edge. Composition, structure, site preference and relation to lake level are given for these communities. The effect of browsing mammals on the flora and structure of mountain beech forest is shown by comparison of forest on Buncrana Island with that on the adjacent mainland. Shoreline vegetation is compared with that recorded from other areas in Fiordland.

In summer, chamois at Cupola Basin (an alpine catchment approximately 60 miles south-west of Nelson) show a marked reaction to both relatively hot and cold weather. When in winter pelage they display few signs of stress. Red deer are less affected by temperature fluctuations in summer but winter observations are inconclusive on this point. These behavioural characteristics are believed to reflect adaptations to a climate that is different in New Zealand from that of their native Europe.

New Zealand forests have been substantially modified by introduced red deer over the past century. New Zealand’s indigenous forest managers need to know if regeneration of palatable tree species can be restored following control or eradication of browsing ungulates. Aorangi Forest, Wairarapa, suffered dramatic changes in forest understorey composition by the 1950s after more than seven decades of colonisation by red deer (Cervus elaphus), feral goats (Capra hircus) and pigs (Sus scrofa).

We examined the jaw size, age and sex distribution of 324 red deer constituting a comprehensive record of all recreational hunting kills made by a single hunter of the Tararua ranges of North Island New Zealand over a period 20 years (1976-1996). The proportion of stags shot at times other than the rut (March—April) was not significantly different to that in a sample of deer obtained by commercial helicopter hunting and did not change significantly after the first three years of hunting regardless of any effect of helicopter hunting.

The diet of the North Island kokako (Callaeas cinerea wilsoni) was studied in three central North Island habitats, Pureora, Mapara, and Rotoehu, for three years. Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) diet was less intensively studied for part of the same time in Pureora and Mapara. A literature review was made of the diet of possum, red deer (Cervus elaphus), and feral goat (Capra hircus). There is considerable overlap between the diets of kokako and the three mammalian browsers; leaves and/or fruit of some species are eaten by all four, e.g.

Despite periods of extensive government-funded control, fluctuating commercial exploitation and ongoing recreational hunting, little is known about how red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus Lönnberg) in New Zealand respond to the cessation of harvesting in terms of population growth rate and resource use. We describe the population dynamics and resource use of red deer in a montane catchment over 5 years (1962–67) following cessation of intensive government-funded control in 1961.

This study uses data from repeatedly measured forest monitoring plots (20 × 20 m) (n = 32) and nine ungulate exclosures (paired fenced and unfenced plots; 20 × 20 m) to show the effects of introduced ungulates on tree regeneration in Pureora Forest Park, central North Island, between 974 and 2002.