<I>Nothofagus truncata</I>

Changes in density and breeding of the house mouse (Mus musculus) in a New Zealand forest dominated by hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) were monitored for 2.5 years. Mice bred during winter and increased dramatically in density only during a beech mast year. Mice readily ate the endosperm and embryo of hard beech seed in die laboratory and chemical analysis showed it to be a very nutritious food source, similar in quality to Fagus beech seed in the northern hemisphere.

Scattered small stands of Nothofagus truncata occur in the upper Taramakau catchment, Arthur's Pass National Park, beyond the previously assumed range of the species in north Westland. Restricted to older soils on stable north to north-west slopes, the N. truncata stands are surrounded by N. fusca dominated forest and their upper altitudinal limits at 370-500 m border N.fusca-N. menziesii or N. solandri: var. cliffortioides forest.

Vegetation and habitat descriptions are given for sites that span the very limited environmental range of southern outlier stands of hard beech (Nothofagus truncata). These are on well-drained, north to northwest aspect slopes at 44 oS in South Westland, 260km south of the species' previously assumed southern limit. Size class distributions and diameter growth rates of hard beech stems indicate that it is competing effectively with podocarp and broadleaved species, including the two other beeches present. Of the three local species (mountain beech—N. solandri var.

Tree trunks are important links between the forest floor and canopy, especially for flightless invertebrates that move from the forest floor to feed or breed in the canopy. Traps were used to sample invertebrates moving up and down on mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus), hinau (Elaeocarpus dentatus), hard beech (Nothofagus truncata), and kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa). In 19 months 22 696 invertebrates were collected. Many unexpected groups e.g.

Provenance variation was studied in the growth and morphology of seedlings of silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii), red beech (N. fusca), hard beech (N. truncata), black beech (N. solandri: var. solandri:), and mountain beech (N. solandri: var. cliffortioides). Seedlings were grown for 2_ years in replicated provenance experiments at Rangiora and Rotorua.