Terrestrial ecology

Updated 6 December 2021 12:16pm

Monitoring and understanding our ecosystems

We monitor the health of important land-based ecosystems in the Wellington region. We have a variety of monitoring programmes and investigations in progress to help us to track the health of ecosystems over time.

We monitor:

The presence and number of birds in different habitats (forests, coasts, rivers and wetlands) and lizards at selected sites
Tree health and forest regeneration
The number and impact of pest plant and animal species

Sharing our expertise

With expertise in plants, animals, ecology and conservation planning, we provide support to community groups involved in citizen science and ecological management projects. We are also part of other local and national initiatives like Predator Free Wellington and Project Kaka.

Monitoring programmes

Region-wide biodiversity monitoring

Using an 8 x 8 km grid, we have monitored 87 sites over five years to get a regional picture of the state of our biodiversity and how it is changing. The grid was set up by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and is also used by DOC to monitor conservation land. MfE and DOC monitor additional sites in the Wellington region for the same variables (vegetation, pests and birds).

Read a report summarising data from 2014–2019

Wetland health

In our wetland health monitoring programme, we are surveying 150 wetlands across the region in five years from 2017. Thirty wetlands in the Ruamāhanga whaitua (catchment area) were assessed in 2016/2017 and thirty in the Kāpiti Coast whaitua were assessed in 2017/2018.

Kāpiti coast wetlands were generally in good condition. Many of them are important habitat for populations of spotless crake. Ruamāhanga wetlands were in a reasonable state but were affected by livestock grazing in the wetlands. These areas had lower levels of carbon and more compacted soil.

Read the Ruamāhanga whaitua and Kāpiti Coast whaitua data reports, and the Wetland Health State of the Environment monitoring programme annual data report.

Dune monitoring

We began a regional dune monitoring programme in 2017 to detect the impacts of our management and climate change (especially sea level rise) on dune ecosystems. The monitoring includes recording the vegetation, condition and pests at each dune location and rotates across different sites in different years.

In 2017/2018, dunes at Peka Peka, Whitireia Park, Makara Bay and Red Rocks were studied: these were found to be in a poor condition, with about two thirds of the plants being non-native. In 2018/2019, dunes on the Otaki Coast, Tora Coast and the coastal dunes at Mukamukaiti were assessed.

Read a report summarising data from 2017-2019

Outcome monitoring

We monitor the health of forest plants and bird species in the Wainuiomata Mainland Island and other Key Native Ecosystems to determine the outcomes of management. Lizard populations are monitored at selected sites.

Conservation planning

Our monitoring data helps us understand the Wellington region’s land-based ecosystems. It also supports the development of region-wide conservation planning tools, including the identification of high value ecological sites and threatened forest types.

Read our report about identifying high value ecological sites in Wellington

Collaborative projects

Wairarapa Moana

This project includes Lake Wairarapa, Lake Onoke and spit, and the wetlands adjacent to the lakes. Our research and monitoring is important for understanding these complex ecosystems, how the wetlands are functioning and what restoration actions are important.

Recent work included a perch egg removal trial (perch are a non-native fish) as part of ongoing work to improve the health of the wetlands. We also survey the population of Australasian bittern in the wetland complex each year, to check the status of the population and find out how well our management is working. This is the only self-sustaining population of this bird in the region – its threat status is Nationally Critical.