ungulates

Seventeen exclosures were built by the New Zealand Forest Service within Urewera forests over the period 1961-68 to exclude ungulates. Forest structure and species composition inside and outside these exclosures were compared in 1980-81. Some relatively shade tolerant species such as the fern Asplenium bulbiferum, the liane Ripogonum scandens, the sub-canopy shrubs Geniostoma ligus,Trifolium and Coprosma australis and the canopy species Beilschmiedia tawa were less abundant in certain tiers outside the exclosures than inside.

There has been considerable ongoing debate about the extent to which the impacts of introduced deer on native vegetation have replaced those of moa, and since the 1980s there have been major changes in thinking about the impacts of deer and ratites on ecosystems. Although it has long been known that deer caused a predictable sequence of changes in forest understorey composition, recent work has shown that the foliage of species preferred by deer contains lower concentrations of fibre – and decomposes faster – than avoided species.

Himalayan thar or tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) and brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are native to the Himalaya, Europe and Australia, respectively, but are now sympatric in parts of the central Southern Alps, New Zealand. All three species are managed as pests by the Department of Conservation. We analysed the diets of 246 thar, 78 chamois and 113 possums collected in the central Southern Alps during 1988–1996.