[First paragraph(s)...]
These recommendations are aimed at providing the maximum water use for both Lake Manapouri and Lake Te Anau commensurate with the conservation of those features of their natural shorelines which provide ecological stability and a high aesthetic quality.
At non-rocky sites on the shorelines of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau floristic composition was recorded for one-foot intervals of elevation above and below lake level. Mean daily levels recorded since 1932 have been analysed to find the longest periods of submergence and emergence experienced at each level. A hypothesis that species distribution is governed by extremes of submergence and emergence is supported by the similar periods recorded at the limits of each species at both lakes.
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.
[First paragraph(s)...]
Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri, the two largest lakes in Fiordland National Park, are connected by the Upper Waiau River (Fig. 1). They have been the centre of a decade-long controversy involving the harnessing of their large hydro-electric potential—primarily to smelt bauxite brought from Weipa in Queensland, Australia to the smelter at Bluff.
This is a preliminary account of the wetlands near Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, New Zealand. It discusses briefly the vegetational history of the area and describes the general nature and vegetation of certain of the mires
