Habitat classification: Discussion
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Botanists have classified terrestrial habi- tats in New Zealand, and their classifications have been used by zoologists and eco- logists, but no combined botanical and zoological classification has been attempted. In the absence of a well-developed vertebrate fauna any such classification would have to be based on invertebrates and the present inadequate knowledge of our invertebrates prohibits their use in a general classification.
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There appear to be two approaches to the subject of this symposium; the environment may be broken down into a number of categories to which the habitat of any organism may be referred, or the habitats of particular organisms may be defined and classified in relation to one another.
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Tussock is defined as any tussock species on which the insects recorded were known to feed, but unless otherwise stated, the tussocks referred to are Festuca novaezelandiae, Poa caespitosa, and P. colensoi, at altitudes ranging from 1,500-4,500 feet. Data are confined strictly to tussock itself, and do not include inter-tussock vegetation.
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To a student of vertebrate zoology tussock grassland is part of a much larger subject, that of animal-environment relations, a phase of ecosystem ecology. In the present paper the need for a synthesizing type of approach to the study of ecosystems is suggested and data, resulting from a trial of such an approach, are reviewed.
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