Soils of the Inner Islands of Hauraki Gulf

[First paragraphs...]
Soils are of interest to students of ecology in two ways for not only do the soil conditions influence the flora and fauna of any particular area but in their turn the flora and fauna also modify the soils. This intimate inter-relationship merits ecological study.
The soils of the inner islands of Hauraki Gulf have not been examined in detail and what little is known of them was obtained from observations at some typical sites during a brief visit in 1940. The general survey of the soils of North Island summarises these observations together with additional information inferred from terrain in North Auckland with similar parent rocks and vegetation.
The soils of Motuihe, Waiheke, Ponui, and adjacent islets, illustrate well the zonal soils of the area (the northern yellow-brown earths and their podzolised counterparts) which are developed on freely draining relatively stable sites from ordinary siliceous rocks such as greywacke and mudstone.