<i>Nothofagus</i>

Honeydew is produced by a scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile, Margarodidae) in some Nothofagus forests of South Island, New Zealand. The quantity of honeydew present and its sugar concentration varies through the year. Honeydew is a valuable resource for bellbirds (Anthornis melanura), tuis (Prosthemadera novaesealandiae) and silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis). Bellbirds and tuis were commoner in forests with more honeydew. Bell- birds spent more time feeding on honeydew when its sugar concentration was low.

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.

The control of introduced mammalian predators has become a standard response to protecting the viability of threatened wildlife species on oceanic islands. However, examples of successful outcomes of integrated pest control in forests are few. We investigated the efficacy of a pest control programme in the Landsborough Valley, New Zealand, during 1998–2009, which used continuous trapping to control mustelids and pulsed aerial application of the toxin 1080 to control rats (Rattus spp.) and brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula).

Despite the ecological importance of tree holes as habitat for many species in New Zealand, few studies have quantified the abundance, distribution or structural characteristics of tree holes in native forests. We recorded a total of 364 tree holes in ground-to-canopy surveys on 50 trees of five endemic species in the families Fagaceae and Podocarpaceae within Orikaka Ecological Area, Buller District, New Zealand. Tree holes were not uniformly distributed throughout the forest, with more holes in the three podocarp species Prumnopitys ferruginea, P.

Leptospermum is one of only three New Zealand genera that are colonised by ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi, and L. scoparium is one of the very few New Zealand species that can be colonised by both arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and EM fungi. This study examined AM and EM colonisation on L. scoparium growing within AM grassland ecosystems or adjoining Nothofagus forest in the Rakaia catchment, Canterbury. Very low AM colonisation was found (<4%) in all samples, while EM colonisation ranged from 7 to 55% of root length colonised.