Responses of stream faunas to forestry practices in small, West Coast watersheds

[This is a resume of a paper read at the Ecological Society Conference, 1982.]

First paragraph:
A study of the effects of watershed modification on benthic stream faunas is being made in the Maimai hydrology study area, Tawhai State Forest, near Reef ton. Work is centred on six small watersheds ranging in area from 2.3 to 8.3 ha, and initially supporting dense. podocarp-hardwood-beech forest (for further details see Neary et al., 1978; Mosley and Rowe, 1981). Between 1976 and 1979, five of the watersheds were clearfelled using skidder or hauler techniques and subsequently burnt and replanted with exotic pines and eucalypts. One watershed provides a forested control and riparian strips have been left in two of the others.