Past Events

Alpine Gems of the South Island

Speaker Dave Toole. Dave Toole is a landscape gardener from Otatara, Invercargill who has a passion for New Zealand alpine plants. He has made many trips to various out of the way places in the South Island to find and photograph rare native alpines. Dave will talk about his adventures on these plant hunting trips and show pictures of a spectacular variety of alpine plants. At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Ascension Island: A Lesson in Terraforming

Prof. Steven Stephenson, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA. At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Beyond New Zealand: Global Biodiversity of Myxomycetes

Prof. Steven Stephenson, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA. Union St Lecture Theatre, Cnr Union St West & Great King St

Propagation of New Zealand Native Plants

A workshop conducted by Alice Lloyd-Fitt, propagation specialist, Dunedin Botanic Gardens. Alice will talk about the collection of seed from New Zealand native plants. She will show how it is processed, stored and sown. She will also show how to propagate native plants from cuttings. We have arranged to have a display of cultivated New Zealand alpines in conjunction with the workshop. Place: Propagation Department at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. Meet at the upper visitors car park off Lovelock Avenue, Dunedin Botanic Gardens.

Are reproductive characteristics of Wahlenbergia albomarginata dependent on environment?

A Botany Dept seminar by Olivia Sawrey, MSc Candidate. Union St Lecture Theatre, Cnr Union St West & Great King St.

Floral biology and genetic variation in Euphrasia dyeri

A Botany Dept seminar by Vicky McGimpsey, MSc Candidate. Union St Lecture Theatre, Cnr Union St West & Great King St.

Keeping it hot when it's cold outside: plant sex in the Arctic and Sub-Antarctic

A Botany Dept seminar by Lorna Little, PhD Candidate. Union St Lecture Theatre, Cnr Union St West & Great King St.

Field trip to Craigieburn Reserve, Ross Creek

A proposed joint trip with Forest and Bird. Details to be announced.

AGM and Photographic Competition

At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Deadline for entries for the Photographic Competition

Entry forms are available from the Department of Botany Office, or can be downloaded from the BSO website.

Field trip to Knight's Bush, Tuapeka

The Knights are stewards of some of the last remaining native vegetation on the banks of the Clutha River from the lakes to the sea. Their 228 ha block opposite Birch Island and the Blue Mountains encompasses a surprising variety of ecosystems. On the river flat and stream sides kahikatea, totara, matai & pokaka grow amongst gnarly old beech trees, with a broadleaf/divaricating shrub understory. In places the podocarps dominate, higher up there are almost pure stands of Nothofagus solandri and N. menziesii. Stands of huge old kanuka are evidence of early milling. On the sunniest northerly faces are remnants of original dry land shrub and kowhai community, including the uncommon Teucridium parvifolium. John, Allison and Ben worked hard last year to build a 2 km long fence to protect examples of these communities from browsing and foraging animals. They hope this new biodiversity reserve will encourage regeneration of the understory and allow vulnerable plants to re-establish. Come and help to create a base-line species list, clear around the fence-line or just look around. Wear strong footwear with good grip for the steep slopes. Bring pen, hand-lens, lunch etc. 113 km drive each way. Return late afternoon. Rain-date Sunday.

Hidden Wealth—the Biodiversity of the Denniston Plateau

A talk by Rod Morris. Rod will present a 50 min powerpoint on the plants and animals (many of them poorly known or scientifically undescribed) that are at risk from the 'Escarpment Mine' proposal put forward by Australian mining company Bathurst Resources.

Rod writes: "Until now my career has been in film-making and wildlife photography, and I have not felt the need to become an activist as well, however after visiting Stockton, NZ's largest open-caste coal mine near Denniston 18 months ago, I became increasingly troubled at what I see happening—ecological destruction proposed on a massive scale, and all in one of NZ's most important areas for biodiversity.

I wrote an article for the August 2010 issue of Forest and Bird magazine about my impressions of Stockton and I have been collaborating with F & B on publicising the hidden biodiversity of the Denniston, and the threat open caste mining poses since then. Your members will also have read an evocative piece more recently on the Denniston by Debs Martin in the latest (Feb 2012) issue of F&B."

At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Free BSO BBQ!

BBQ to welcome new botany/ecology students and new BSO members. At the front lawn, Botany House Annex, Great King Street (across the road from the main Botany building). Sausage sandwiches and drinks provided free by the Botanical Society of Otago. All BSO members welcome!

Structure of plant communities in edaphic and alpine deserts of the Japanese Archipelago

A talk by Zaal Kikvidze from The University of Tokyo co-authored with M. Suzuki,¹ Y. Shimono,² M. Sukeno³ and G. Kudo³ (¹The University of Tokyo; ²Kyoto University; ³Hokkaido University).

Abstract

Desert-like landscapes, created by recent volcanic activity (volcanic deserts) or directional, strong and frequent winds (often in alpine areas), are not uncommon for Japanese archipelago. In these severe environments we can see primary successions (such as colonisation of exposed, bare ground, facilitative effects among plants). Only a few tolerant species can colonise these harsh environments. Among them are plants that can function as foundation species, which actually initiate the process of primary succession and facilitate invasions of other, less tolerant species at later stages of succession. The signature of the presence of these foundation species can be seen in strongly non-random spatial distributions of other members of plant communities, some species strongly associated with the foundation species, but other neutral or even not occurring with the pioneer colonisers. We present two examples of such communities—(i) Polygonum cuspidatum moss and Cirsium purpuratum thistles as facilitators of successions in volcanic desert of Mt. Fuji, central Japan; (ii) Pinus pumilum pines and the low shrub Diapensia lapponica in alpine deserts of Hokkaido, northern Japan. We also show that facilitative effects includes transmissions of mycorrhizal fungal infections from one species to another.

At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

End of year dinner at the Asian Restaurant

Always a fun and popular event! This year we return to the fabulous Asian Restaurant, 43 Moray Place, Dunedin. Make sure you let Bill Wilson know if you'd like to come.