A Summer Scholarship meant she was able to do 10 weeks of research in her chosen field at Wario
with the title for that part of her research being “Temporal & Spatial Patterns of Wetland Vegetation
during the Summer Desiccation Period at Wairio Wetlands, Wairarapa”. In addition to the summer
scholarship, Bridget has started preparing a second site at Wairio for a large scale experimental
project where around 2400 trees have been planted.

The summer study programme provided an introduction to the Wairio Wetland for Bridget where she
continues the research for her thesis on factors contributing to wetland restoration. Flight, with help
from Jim Law, has been able to follow Bridget’s research so far.

A poster she produced she said was just a snap shot of some of that research. “Due to the limiting
size of the poster, I only talked about rare species vulnerability.” All the summer scholars got to
show their posters at a poster evening. Her poster included the following information plus a number
of illustrations.

Introduction
Small in size, New Zealand’s native wetlands plant species are repeatedly outcompeted by more
aggressive weeds. The surrounding vegetation invades when wetland plants are most vulnerable,
during the desiccation (dry) period. A number of threatened low-lying plants (Pratia and Glosso)
inhabit the Wairio Wetlands. To conserve these native plants a greater understanding is required
of their optimal conditions and their spatial and temporal dynamics. “My aim was to investigate the
temporal scale of the native species, and which abiotic factors affect their spatial distribution.”

Methods
Vegetation composition was sampled in 20 quadrants over a 10 week summer period. The quadrants
were set five metres apart along two 50 metre perpendicular transects. The first transect followed
a moisture gradient, whilst the other ran parallel. Additional abiotic variables were measured, such
as soil moisture, soil pH, percentage open ground, sunshine hours and rainfall. Water Plantain was
chosen as a comparative species as it is a common invader and an indicator of high soil moisture.

Discussion
The rare species are restricted to a small band of high moisture sites. A smaller number of invasive
species can grow in these moist soils, so there are fewer competitors for the natives. In drier soils,
the invasive species can spread easily, giving the vulnerable natives little chance of survival. This
means the natives have truly specialised ecological requirements, as their time frame of existence
and habitat preference is small. This is a contributing factor to what makes them vulnerable. Further
research can be expanded from this study, for example: Should water plantain (and other invasive
high moisture soil species) be managed to decrease the competition on the native species?

Illustrations on the poster included Glasso, Pratia and Water plantain.
Glosso and Pratia grow in soil with high moisture content and Water plantain grows more abundantly
in high moisture soil but is adaptable to a greater variance of soil moisture.

Bridget said the native species emerge later in the summer season, whereas water plantain is a
consistent species. When the natives start emerging they have a higher percentage cover than
the invasive water plantain.

“I would like to thank Dr Stephen Hartley, Tony Silbery (Department of Conservation Wairarapa),
Jim Law (Ducks Unlimited) and Don Bell (Greater Wellington Regional Council) for their technical
support,” said Bridget.

References:
New Zealand Plant Conservation. 2010. Plant identification 2010. Retrieved from www.nzpcn.org.nz.

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