A Study of Some Mires in the South West Wellington Province

Abstract

Although there are extensive bogs and swamps in New Zealand, they have not been studied in detail until recently. Harris, (Pollen & Spore Circular, 1944) says that there are some 400,000 acres of peat land in New Zealand. Early accounts were floristic and no attempt was made to study the relation of the swamp or bog vegetation to its habitat. The earliest attempt to classify New Zealand plants according to habitat conditions was by T. Kirk (1870). The first account of vegetation in New Zealand based upon ecological concepts was on the Waimakariri River Basin by Cockayne (1899). This work stimulated interest in plant ecology, but it was not until 1916, (L. Cockayne & Foweraker) that any serious work was done on swamps. This paper does not deal with swamp vegetation in detail, but nevertheless outlines the probable stages in succession. Not until the publication in 1921 of Die Vegetation Der Erde XIV, The Vegetation of New Zealand (L. Cockayne) was the ecology of bogs and swamps attempted in some detail. Here again, however, the treatment was limited, the subject being treated in a broad sense only. The stages in succession were discussed and the effect of such factors as drainage, burning and stocking mentioned. A fuller account is given in Ed.II (1928).