New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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Native vegetation and soil patterns in the Marlborough Sounds, South Island, New Zealand

G. Y. WALLS

Botany Division, DSIR
Private Bag, Havelock North
New Zealand

M. D. LAFFAN

NZ Soil Bureau, DSIR
Private Bag, Nelson
New Zealand

Abstract The Marlborough Sounds is a con- voluted system of land and waterways formed by partial submergence of the prehistoric landscape. It has considerable geological, topographical, and climatic complexity and a long history of human settlement. Much of the original native vegetation still remains, and its patterns and groupings, along with those of the soils, are described. The vegeta- tion is clearly influenced by topography, altitude, and local climate, and is categorised accordingly. In addition, the zone of ultramafic rocks and soils in the west has its own distinctive vegetation. The marked differences in soil morphology and nutrient status are attributed mainly to topography, parent material, and climate (mean annual rainfall and degree of summer droughtiness), and soil groupings reflect that. The clear links between the vegetation and soils allow reconstruction of vegetation pat- terns in the Marlborough Sounds before human arrival.

Keywords Marlborough Sounds; vegetation; soils; patterns; topography; climate; ultramafics

Received 16 .lugust 1985; accepted 7 December 1985
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1986, Vol. 24: 293-313
0028-825X/86/2402-0293$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1986

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (4644K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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