Past Events

Rock and Pillar Range field trip

Full day or weekend field trip to the Rock and Pillar Range with alpine research botanists and ecologists. For the fit there is the option of a 3-4 hr walk up through changing vegetation zones from lowland pasture/tussock/scrub, through subalpine tussock with regenerating Hebe right up to Celmisia-dominated alpine herb fields and lichen-rich cushion fields. On-going botanical and ecological research has been based in this area for over 50 years, often using the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club hut, 'Leaning Lodge' as a base and refuge. See www.botany.otago.ac.nz/alpine/. There's an opportunity for those keen to extend their appreciation of the alpine flora to stay overnight, in this classic old ex-ski hut, which has been marked for destruction by DoC. Warm clothing and footwear for wet, windy conditions are advisable whatever the weather forecast. High wheel base 4WD advisable for those not walking. Some seats may be available. Contact Robyn Bridges, 479 8244 (day) if you wish to stay overnight (numbers limited).

Field trip to the Blue Mountains with Alan Mark

The Blue Mountains, although strongly modified on its lower slopes by exotic forestry, has good road access on to the summit ridge and even to its highest point at 998 m, giving easy access to a range of vegetation types, notably cushion bogs and mixed narrow-leaved snow tussock-shrubland, plus remains of a Halocarpus (bog pine) woodland exposed in eroding peat beds, all quite reminiscent of Maungatua. Its flora is also very similar but there are a few extras on the 'Bluies', notably Astelia linearis. Subalpine silver beech forest and its natural treeline at 950 m are also readily accessible. I suggested this trip as an alternative to Maungatua, given its easier (and more reliable) access. Note, however that there are some steep sections and it is advisable to take vehicles capable of handling rough terrain. It has been much less studied than Maungatua but was included by Stephan Halloy in his comparative study of alpine plant morphology (J. Veg. Sci. 1: 291-304. 1990: J. Roy. Soc. NZ 26: 41-78: 1996). Warm clothing and footwear for wet conditions are advisable whatever the weather forecast.

The All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory being carried out in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A talk by Steve Stephenson, Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Steve has recently completed a volume in the Fungi of New Zealand series on plasmodial slime moulds (myxomycetes). He has been surveying mycetozoans (protostelids and dictyostelids as well as myxomycetes) as one component of an all taxa biodiversity inventory (ATBI) of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The ATBI of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in the US has resulted in the discovery of 136 species new to science, in the Park, and an additional 1,436 that are known species, but which have not been previously identified as occurring in the In addition there is much new information on the geographic distribution of thousands of species, important for maps of species distribution. The inventory, coordinated by a support group called Discover Life in America, is conducted by scientists, student volunteers and others from all over the United States. See this article from the Smithsonian Institute for more background information. At the NEW 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.

Closing date for Audrey Eagle Prize for Botanical Drawing

Entries may be given to Audrey to take home for judging at our evening meeting on 8 March. Any medium is permitted, colour or black and white. The main criterion is that it has a botanical theme. Audrey suggests that something that has not been fully illustrated yet, like a small herbaceous plant, a lichen or a liverwort would be of added botanical interest. The president would love to have colour pictures to feature on our website, the committee is keen to have something we can use as a logo or letterhead, while the editor will be delighted to have original art to feature in the BSO newsletter, especially if there is an interesting note to go with it. (Bear in mind that the newsletter is set out in 14 pt font on A4 pages, which are photocopy-reduced to A5 for publishing in black and white.)

Start of Semester BSO BBQ!

A BBQ to welcome new botany/ecology students and new BSO members. On the front lawn, Botany House Annexe, Great King Street (across the road from the Caltex). Sausage sandwiches and juice $1 each. All BSO members welcome!

Drawing from Nature - Botanic Illustration

Eight week course Tutor: Monica Peters will encourage participants to explore different methods of representation by considering ways that plants have beed depicted throughout history, and will intoduce various drawing, watercolour and acrylic techniques for botanical illustration. The class will be suitable for beginners as well as those with some experience. Thursday 7-9 PM, February 19 - April 8.

$120 includes GST and some materials to enroll, please contact:

Cleveland Living Arts Centre
First Floor, Dunedin Railway Station
PO Box 5786, Dunedin

Nature conservation and grazing management in Europe and New Zealand

A talk by Dr Jan Bokdam, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Dr Bokdam's research interests include: Plant-herbivore interactions, especially between vascular plants and herbivorous mammals; Defensive and exploitative adaptations of plants to herbivores; Consequences of co-evolution for coexistence, survival and extinction; Effects of herbivores on plant processes, successional pathways and mosaics; Implementation of plant-herbivore interactions in conservation management strategies; Consequences of incompleteness and over-completeness of the herbivore assemblage and abiotic catena on habitat use, vegetation succession and biodiversity; Maintenance, restoration, substitution and mitigation as elements of conservation management schemes. At the NEW 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.

Mycorrhizal fungi - ubiquitous underground partners of plants

A talk by Prof. John Cairney, from the University of Western Sydney. Prof. Cairney is an expert on the population ecology and ecophysiology of mycorrhizas and mycorrhizal fungi. He is visiting Dunedin during February 2004 as a William Evans Visiting Fellow. The majority of terrestrial plants exist naturally in symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi, a form of mutualistic interaction that is thought not only to be important in enhancing the ecological fitness of individual plants, but also in shaping plant populations and communities. This talk will provide an introduction to these fascinating associations, with emphasis on the ecology of the fungi that form mycorrhizas with trees and epacrids. At the NEW 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.

Tokomairiro Mouth with Janice Lord

Grade easy - suitable for all ages. First stop will be the Lower Tokomariro Wetland. This QEII covenanted area is managed by Fish and Game for waterfowl. No formal assessment of the vegetation exists and Fish and Game are very keen for any information we can provide. Fernbirds are often sighted here. The main area to be visited is the dune complex to the south of Toko Mouth settlement which supports probably the largest pingao population in Otago and numerous other native species in dune slacks. Hot water etc is available at Janice's crib. Bring lunch and suitable beach, sun and rain gear. A hand lens is recommended. Return to Dunedin, approx. 5-6 pm. Field trip leaves from Botany car park 464 Great King Street. Meet there to car pool (10c/km/passenger, to be paid to the driver, please).

Wellington Botanical Society New Year's Field trip: West Coast and Murchison

This is the Wellington Botanical Society Summer Field trip. Several BSO members are going. 31 Dec - 6 Jan: Kokiri Lodge, 8 km east of Stillwater, near Greymouth. 6 Jan - 11 Jan: Mataki Lodge, Tutaki Valley, 33 km east of Murchison. Botanise West Coast forests, Nelson Lakes National Park, and Lake Matiri/Thousand Acres Plateau. If you would like to be the organiser of food supplies, we can provide you with ideas for menus and quantities. Please contact Barbara Clark ph 04 233 8202/fax 04 233 2222, or Chris Horne ph/fax 04 475 7025. A registration form is available from the BSO notice board in the Department of Botany. More details will be available in the December BSO newsletter.

Mt Watkin podocarp forest

Trip leader: Ralf Ohlemüller. After recent trips to the area of Mt. Watkin north of Dunedin and the discovery of its significance for a number of rare species (see BSO newsletter 38), we will now have a closer look at the forests near the 'bottom' of this remarkable volcano. These sheltered forests in the gullies running off Mt Watkin harbour a wide range of mature specimens of podocarp, such as matai, rimu, totara and kahikatea - rare remnants of the magnificent lowland forest that once clothed much of eastern Otago. Ralf has studied species richness patterns in forest fragments in coastal Otago and also tried to reconstruct the potential natural forest vegetation of the area. He will talk about his work on the day. We will be walking off track, so bring solid shoes, outdoor equipment, rain gear and lunch. A hand lens is recommended. Return to Dunedin, approx. 5-6 pm. Meet 9 am, Botany car park 464 Great King Street to car pool (10c/km/passenger).

Flora and Vegetation Zones of Washington State, US

A talk by Dr Fayla Schwartz. Fayla will discuss the geological and geographical bases for vegetation distribution in the area and then show slides and talk about a number of plant species in western Washington/Puget Sound area, the montane and subalpine areas on Mt. Rainier, and in eastern Washington. Fayla is a biology and botany instructor at Everett Community College in Washington, and has a PhD in Botany from the University of Washington. At the NEW 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.

Living off the land (sort of) in Mongolia 2001-2002

A talk by Monica Peters. Images of Mongolia - a land in transition. At the NEW 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.

Nugget Point and Cannibal Bay, Catlins

Led by John Barkla, DOC Otago. A full day trip, first to Nugget Point and then to nearby Cannibal Bay. Nugget Point is the premier wildlife viewing site in the Catlins but also has fantastic vegetation. Windshorn shrubby vegetation contains a large population of Olearia fragrantissima and herbfields have the megaherb Anisotome lyallii and the Catlins endemic Celmisia lindsayi. Just south of Cannibal Bay are ephemerally wet dune slacks with large populations of the threatened herbs Mazus arenarius and Libertia peregrinans and the small shrub Pimelea lyallii. NZ sealions are regularly encountered here. Trip departs from Botany Department car park. Carpool rates 10c/km/passenger payable to driver. Return mid-late afternoon. Bring lunch and drinks and warm, wind-proof clothing. Following the trip John and family are planning to spend Saturday night at the lighthouse keepers house at Nugget Point. Others are most welcome. Mattressess and cooking facilities are available but you'll need a sleeping bag and food etc.

2nd Annual Geoff Baylis Lecture. Distinguished Guest speaker Dr Peter Wardle

New Zealand's forest limits and the vegetation above them, compared with South America and other regions.

Species introductions and climatic comparisons show that hardy trees from the northern hemisphere can grow well above the altitudinal limit of native forest in New Zealand. Instead of the subalpine conifer forests of the northern hemisphere we have a belt of tall tussocks, shrubs and large forbs, occupying an environment very similar to that occupied by deciduous beeches in the southern Andes. While this tall-tussock belt is essentially unique to New Zealand and its subantarctic islands, it does share features with vegetation on tropical high mountains. As well as large tussock grasses, these features include temperature climates with muted seasonal variations, and large-leaved rosette plants, some of the tropical examples being arborescent. On the tropical high mountains, this vegetation zone also contains low forest which has been reduced by fire, and as in New Zealand it is receptive to introduced tall-tree species. The term tropicalpine has been used because this vegetation does not fit the altitudinal zonation that has been derived for north temperate mountains; to recognise the similarly special nature of New Zealand vegetation lying between the upper forest limit and typical alpine vegetation, I have proposed the term penalpine.

Peter Wardle is one of New Zealand's foremost plant ecologists with an unrivalled knowledge of how New Zealand's vegetation, environment and ecological processes compare with the rest of the world. His highly regarded book, Vegetation of New Zealand, covers succession, invasion, disturbance, regeneration and many other complex processes. The book is dedicated to Professor Geoff Baylis, whose contribution to botany is honoured in this lecture series.

Seminar room 2.25 Commerce Building, cnr Union St East and Clyde St. Meet in the atrium for nibbles and drinks (gold coin donation). You are invited to join Peter for dinner after. Please email Trish Flemming if you would like to attend the dinner at Indian Summer, Upper Moray Place.