wetlands

Gumlands are a critically endangered ecosystem, restricted to Auckland and Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) in Aotearoa | New Zealand. Gumlands usually form in areas once dominated by kauri, where slow decomposition produces poorly drained, infertile soils with a siliceous hardpan. These harsh edaphic conditions result in heathlands dominated by mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium agg.), tangle fern (Gleichenia dicarpa), and sedges (Machaerina teretifolia and M. brevifolia).

The global Human Footprint Map is a measure of human pressures on the environment that has been linked to changes in species extinction risks and the loss of intact ecosystems. Previous work assessed the utility of downscaling the global map to more precise regional scales using a 90 m resolution, and found that doing so supported conservation-based land-use planning. We created a New Zealand human pressure layer in a resolution (100 m) and projection (New Zealand Transverse Mercator 2000) suitable for national-scale analysis for the years 2012 and 2018.