Animal modification of native vegetation: Sheep in the tussock grasslands

[First paragraphs...]
Much has been written and spoken about the deterioration and destruction of the tussock grasslands under European occupancy yet an appropriate opening to this paper is a conclusion drawn by A. H. Cockayne in 1910—"It is generally said that the effect of stock has been to reduce very largely what the run-holders call 'the finer and better grasses'. If a certain portion of the original vegetation has been more or less eliminated the remarkable feature of the present day montane tussock grasslands in areas of moderate rainfall is that the dominant growth form has remained permanently the same in spite of burning and grazing.