Vegetation pattern of a lowland raised in eastern Fiordland, New Zealand

The vegetation pattern of Borland Mire, a 250 ha lowland raised mire near Monowai, in the rainshadow of the Fiordland mountains, is described using several numerical analyses of quadrat data collected at regular intervals along parallel transects across 430 m of a typical segment. A weak zonation pattern of both flora and vegetation is revealed amolng the 24 vascular species and the more abundant cryptogams present. The most abrupt change, some 90 m from the margin, is marked by decline in importance of the "Dacrydium" and "Empodisma-Campylopus" communities and is associated with changes in slope and water table depth, as well as in the depth, colour, and the water, organic matter and ash contents of the peat.