heathland

The texture of a plant community, i.e. the range of values in functional characters across the species present, integrates the ecological and evolutionary processes that have led to that communityÕs present species composition. The idealistic prediction of ecological theory is that selection for co-adaptation and competitive sorting will lead to convergence in texture between different patches of vegetation with the same environment. This concept has previously been applied at the continental scale; here it is applied for the first time at a within community scale.

Fragments of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) forest provide a major opportunity for conservation of indigenous biodiversity in the heavily deforested landscape of the Waikato Basin, New Zealand. However, there is little documented information on what indigenous fauna survives in these fragments.

The heathland vegetation of northern New Zealand is usually regarded as a "derived" vegetation type resulting from forest destruction during the Maori and European periods of settlement. Plant species cover-abundance data from sample quadrats in the Far North are analysed using Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Two-way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and are then correlated with soil nutrient data. Variations in species composition of heaths appear to be related primarily to soil type. Age since last fire is also important but was not examined in detail in this study.