Movement of exotic plants into coastal native forests from gardens in northern New Zealand
The number and abundance of exotic weeds in native forest fragments are known to correlate with the distance to the nearest large town. This is of concern as land near lowland forest is increasingly being subdivided for housing throughout much of New Zealand. We quantified the relationship between settlements and exotic plants for the coastal forests in eastern Northland, New Zealand. Exotic plant species were sampled in 18 coastal forest areas of varying size, and related to attributes of nearby settlements (housing proximity, density, age, and the exotic plant species present).