This describes changes due to grazing that occurred in the vegetation and topography of a previously ungrazed, riparian site. Grazing made the site more susceptible to erosion by eliminating the main pioneer species, Phalaris arundinacea, a rhizomatous reedgrass
Despite the importance of forest edges in ecology, only one study has previously been carried out in New Zealand on the modification of climate across forest edges. We measured light exposure, wind speed, air and soil temperature, and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) perpendicular to a north-south aligned, mature, edge of native broadleaf rainforest adjoining grazed pasture. At a point 80 m into the forest from the edge, light was only c. 0.7% and wind speed c. 20% of that in the open, and there was much less diurnal fluctuation in soil temperature, air temperature and VPD.
