Description
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 11,136 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Myer B, Jadin I, Cochrane P (2025). Nelson City Council Waterworks Reserves Browse Monitoring Data, 2013-2023. Version 1.1. Kaitiaki o te Ngahere. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.org.nz/resource?r=nelson_water_catchments_browse_monitoring_data&v=1.1
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Kaitiaki o te Ngahere. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 4836d32f-8d9a-4a6b-ad54-2b16bf2d7e77. Kaitiaki o te Ngahere publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF New Zealand.
Keywords
Occurrence; Observation; Plant; Browse Index; Water catchments; Nelson; Observation
Contacts
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Nelson Branch Manager
- 33 Vanguard Street
- 0220648599
- Metadata Provider ●
- Point Of Contact
- GIS administrator
- 33 Vanguard Street
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Environmental Programmes Adviser
- Metadata Provider ●
- Point Of Contact
- GIS Administrator
- 33 Vanguard Street
Geographic Coverage
Nelson City Council Waterworks Reserves
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-41.373, 173.258], North East [-41.284, 173.413] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
No Description available
| Kingdom | Plantae |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Pinopsida, Magnoliopsida, Polypodiopsida, Lycopodiopsida |
| Order | Canellales, Dipsacales, Cucurbitales, Asterales, Ericales, Fagales, Laurales, Ranunculales, Poales, Malpighiales, Myrtales, Asparagales, Polypodiales, Hymenophyllales, Malvales, Boraginales, Lamiales, Caryophyllales, Liliales, Lycopodiales, Osmundales, Rosales, Fabales, Saxifragales, Brassicales, Sapindales, Gentianales, Pinales, Psilotales, Oxalidales, Cyatheales, Apiales |
| Family | Coriariaceae, Monimiaceae, Araliaceae, Pittosporaceae, Myrtaceae, Thymelaeaceae, Winteraceae, Blechnaceae, Plantaginaceae, Sapindaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Cyperaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Polypodiaceae, Cunoniaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Asparagaceae, Pinaceae, Cruciferae, Pteridaceae, Polygonaceae, Ericaceae, Compositae, Rubiaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Rousseaceae, Juncaceae, Fabaceae, Violaceae, Urticaceae, Psilotaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Nothofagaceae, Boraginaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Podocarpaceae, Griseliniaceae, Asphodelaceae, Haloragaceae, Dicksoniaceae, Asteliaceae, Lycopodiaceae, Osmundaceae, Hymenophyllaceae, Primulaceae, Aspleniaceae, Apocynaceae, Gramineae, Cyatheaceae, Pennantiaceae, Ripogonaceae, Asteraceae |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2013-05-23 / 2013-07-31 |
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| Start Date / End Date | 2015-07-08 / 2015-08-06 |
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| Start Date / End Date | 2018-06-27 / 2018-08-22 |
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| Start Date / End Date | 2023-07-17 / 2023-08-04 |
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Project Data
The Nelson City Council commissioned Kaitiaki o te Ngahere to conduct browse monitoring surveys in the Maitai and Roding Waterworks Reserves, which together provide Nelson City’s domestic water supply. The project was initially established to provide short- to medium-term vegetation outcome monitoring for the Council’s goat control programme. More broadly, it serves to evaluate the impacts of introduced ungulates on indigenous forest understories and biodiversity. Understanding these impacts is critical because ungulates cause significant damage to native flora and forest ecosystems, particularly in New Zealand, where vegetation evolved without mammalian herbivores and remains highly vulnerable to browsing (Sweetapple & Nugent, 2004). The surveys, undertaken in 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2023, followed a methodology based on the Department of Conservation Goat/Pig Monitoring Strategy Sounds Area 2002 (olddm-880882) suggested by Tom Stein in 2002. This strategy uses the Seedling Ratio Index (SRI) developed by Sweetapple & Nugent (2004), along with additional indices, to provide a comprehensive assessment of ungulate impacts and abundance. Data collected include plant occurrence, browsing intensity, ungulate sign, and regeneration patterns, providing long-term ecological information to guide management interventions. Results from these surveys demonstrate that ungulates continue to have significant negative impacts on biodiversity. Recruitment of key palatable species is very low, and forest resilience to ongoing browsing and disturbance remains limited. This monitoring supports both biodiversity conservation and the protection of water quality within the catchments.
| Title | Nelson City Council Waterworks Reserves Browse Monitoring Surveys |
|---|---|
| Funding | The project is funded by Nelson City Council (NCC), which commissioned Kaitiaki o te Ngahere Ltd to carry out browse monitoring surveys in the Waterworks Reserves in 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2023. |
| Study Area Description | The study area is the Nelson City Council goat control area within the Maitai and Roding waterworks catchments, located south and east of Nelson City. Together, these catchments cover approximately 14,500 hectares (excluding roads, lakes, riverbeds, and pine plantations). The ongoing 22 transects are located within the 4,675-hectare goat control area, which lies within the larger waterworks catchment boundary. |
| Design Description | In May 2013, the Nelson City Council (NCC) commissioned Kaitiaki o te Ngahere to establish and survey 15 transects that were randomly located and permanently marked in the Maitai and Roding catchments. Each transect consisted of 20 plots spaced 20 metres apart along a true north bearing, giving a total length of 400 metres per transect. The first survey was carried out between 23 May and 31 July 2013. The same transects were revisited between 8 July and 6 August 2015. A review of the survey design in 2018 resulted in the removal of 5 of the original 15 transects and the addition of 12 new ones, resulting in a revised network of 22 “ongoing” transects. While some of the 2013–2015 transects were incorporated into this new network, the 2018 survey measured 12 different transects between 27 June and 22 August 2018. The full revised network of 22 transects was subsequently surveyed between 17 July and 4 August 2023. Within each plot, observers recorded all plants taller than 0.3 m but shorter than 2 m within a 1.4 m radius (“Browse Tier”). Only species capable of attaining a free-standing height of at least 30 cm in the absence of ungulates were included. Seedlings shorter than 0.3 m were recorded within a 0.49 m radius (“Ground Tier”), with cotyledon-only seedlings excluded. Species were also categorised into habit classes such as climbers, herbs and woody species. Following a review of the methodology by Sweetapple in 2022, a few changes were applied in the 2023 survey compared with previous surveys to increase the efficiency and robustness of data collection and analysis. In addition to the increased number of transects, the Browse Tier was redefined as plants 15–200 cm above the ground, and only the presence/absence of each species per plot was recorded rather than counts. All annual-herbs, ground-ferns, tall-monocotyledons, short-woody and climbing species were also excluded. Ripogonum scandens (supplejack) was included as an exception due to its self-supporting growth habit. For Browse Tier species, a Browse Index (BI) was visually assessed to quantify ungulate browsing intensity on individual plants, providing an index of ungulate abundance. A BI value was assigned to each plant species with foliage using a 5-point scale: - 0: No ungulate browse - 1: 0–25% of stems or shoots browsed - 2: 26–50% of stems or shoots browsed - 3: 51–75% of stems or shoots browsed - 4: 76–100% of stems or shoots browsed Observers also recorded: - physiography characteristics (drainage, aspect, slope, and altitude), - location of transect origin and plot centre, - vegetation type, - the percentage of the 1.4 m plot with recent pig digging, - the percentage of the plot potentially available for pig digging, - animal sightings and signs, - site-specific comments, - from 2018 onwards, the presence/absence of faecal pellets within the 0.49 m plot (noting species, quantity, and condition), and - the presence of weed species (species name, age class, and estimated distribution). Additionally, from 2018, plant species were assigned to palatability classes (high, moderate, low) based on existing literature. All collected data were checked, sorted, and cleaned for provision to NCC and for future analysis. This included calculating the Faecal Pellet Index (FPI) and the Seedling Ratio Index (SRI). FPI measures the ratio of faecal pellet presence to absence by species per transect. SRI is the ratio of species richness of tall seedlings (Browse Tier, 30–200 cm) to that of short seedlings (Ground Tier, <30 cm), calculated across species or palatability preference classes. Developed by Sweetapple and Nugent (2004), this index is used to assess and monitor the impact of introduced ungulates on indigenous forest understories. The method assumes that short seedling richness is largely unaffected by browsing, whereas palatable tall seedling richness is reduced due to selective browsing and growth suppression. Higher SRI values indicate stronger ungulate impacts. Sweetapple and Nugent demonstrated a strong negative correlation between SRI of high-preference plants and ungulate abundance, confirming this method as a reliable indicator of browsing pressure and, by extension, the effectiveness of animal control efforts. |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Author
- Reviewer
- Reviewer
Bibliographic Citations
- Sweetapple, P. J., & Nugent, G. (2004). Seedling ratios: A simple method for assessing ungulate impacts on forest understories. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 32(1), 137–147. https://doi.org/10.2193/0091-7648(2004)32[137:SRASMF]2.0.CO;2
- Sweetapple, P. (2022). Evaluation of seedling ratio monitoring in the Nelson City Council Waterworks Reserve: Evaluation of seedling ratio data from an ungulate control area, Nelson (Contract Report No. LC4162). Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. https://envirolink.govt.nz/
Additional Metadata
| Acknowledgements | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | |
| Purpose | |
| Maintenance Description | This dataset will be updated to include the results of any future Browse Monitoring Surveys undertaken in the Waterworks Reserves by Kaitiaki o te Ngahere. |
| Alternative Identifiers | 4836d32f-8d9a-4a6b-ad54-2b16bf2d7e77 |
| https://ipt.gbif.org.nz/resource?r=nelson_water_catchments_browse_monitoring_data |