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New Zealand is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, near the centre of the water hemisphere. It consists of a large number of islands, estimated around 700, mainly remnants of a larger landmass now beneath the sea. The land masses by size are the South Island and the North Island, separated by the Cook Strait. The third-largest is Stewart Island / Rakiura, located 30 kilometres off the tip of the South Island across Foveaux Strait. Other islands are significantly smaller in area. The three largest islands stretch 1,600 kilometres across latitudes 35° to 47° south. New Zealand is the sixth-largest island country in the world, with a land size of 268,710 km2 (103,750 sq mi).
European rabbits were first introduced to Australia in the 18th century with the First Fleet, and later became widespread, because of Thomas Austin. Such wild rabbit populations are a serious mammalian pest and invasive species in Australia causing millions of dollars' worth of damage to crops. Their spread may have been enhanced through the emergence of strong crossbreeds.
Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Myxomatosis is a disease caused by Myxoma virus, a poxvirus in the genus Leporipoxvirus. The natural hosts are tapeti in South and Central America, and brush rabbits in North America. The myxoma virus causes only a mild disease in these species, but causes a severe and usually fatal disease in European rabbits.
Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site of mixed cultural and natural values.
This is a timeline of environmental history of New Zealand. It includes notable events affecting the natural environment of New Zealand as a result of human activity.
Ōtamahua / Quail Island is an 81 ha uninhabited island within Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō in the South Island of New Zealand, close to Christchurch. The island was given its European name by Captain William Mein Smith who saw native quail here in 1842; though they were already extinct by 1875. Ōtamahua means 'the place where children collect sea eggs'. Te Kawakawa refers to the pepper trees found on the island.
Moutohora Island is a small uninhabited island located off the Bay of Plenty coast of New Zealand's North Island, about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of the town of Whakatāne. The 1.43 km2 (0.55 sq mi) island is a remnant of a complex volcano which has eroded, leaving two peaks. This is still an area of volcanic activity and there are hot springs on the island in Sulphur Valley, McEwans Bay, and Sulphur Bay.
The Caliciviridae are a family of "small round structured" viruses, members of Class IV of the Baltimore scheme. Caliciviridae bear resemblance to enlarged picornavirus and was formerly a separate genus within the picornaviridae. They are positive-sense, single-stranded RNA which is not segmented. Thirteen species are placed in this family, divided among eleven genera. Diseases associated with this family include feline calicivirus, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, and Norwalk group of viruses (gastroenteritis). Caliciviruses naturally infect vertebrates, and have been found in a number of organisms such as humans, cattle, pigs, cats, chickens, reptiles, dolphins and amphibians. The caliciviruses have a simple construction and are not enveloped. The capsid appears hexagonal/spherical and has icosahedral symmetry with a diameter of 35–39 nm.
Paul-Félix Armand-Delille was a French physician, bacteriologist, professor, and member of the French Academy of Medicine. He is best known for attempting to protect his crop from rabbits by releasing a pair of rabbits infected with Myxoma virus on to his farm in northern France. The spread of the vira lead to a plague of myxomatosis that caused the collapse of rabbit populations throughout much of Europe and beyond in the 1950s.
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), also known as viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD), is a highly infectious and lethal form of viral hepatitis that affects European rabbits. Some viral strains also affect hares and cottontail rabbits. Mortality rates generally range from 70 to 100 percent. The disease is caused by strains of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), a lagovirus in the family Caliciviridae.
A pest-exclusion fence is a barrier that is built to exclude certain types of animal pests from an enclosure. This may be to protect plants in horticulture, preserve grassland for grazing animals, separate species carrying diseases from livestock, prevent troublesome species entering roadways, or to protect endemic species in nature reserves. These fences are not necessarily traditional wire barriers, but may also include barriers of sound, or smell.
Conservation grazing or targeted grazing is the use of semi-feral or domesticated grazing livestock to maintain and increase the biodiversity of natural or semi-natural grasslands, heathlands, wood pasture, wetlands and many other habitats. Conservation grazing is generally less intensive than practices such as prescribed burning, but still needs to be managed to ensure that overgrazing does not occur. The practice has proven to be beneficial in moderation in restoring and maintaining grassland and heathland ecosystems. The optimal level of grazing will depend on the goal of conservation, and different levels of grazing, alongside other conservation practices, can be used to induce the desired results.
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.
Islands, such as the British Isles, can be adversely affected by the introduction of non-native species. Often an island will have several distinct species not present on the nearest mainland, and vice versa. The native flora and fauna of islands which have been isolated for a longer period of time such as New Zealand or Hawaii are more vulnerable than islands such as Great Britain and Ireland, which became isolated more recently.
Dairy farming in New Zealand began during the early days of colonisation by Europeans. The New Zealand dairy industry is based almost exclusively on cattle, with a population of 4.92 million milking cows in the 2019-20 season. The income from dairy farming is now a major part of the New Zealand economy, becoming an NZ$13.4 billion industry by 2017.
The European rabbit or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula, western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, often with devastating effects on local biodiversity. Its decline in its native range due to myxomatosis, rabbit hemorrhagic disease, overhunting and habitat loss has caused the decline of the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle. It is known as an invasive species because it has been introduced to countries on all continents with the exception of Antarctica, and has caused many problems within the environment and ecosystems; in particular, European rabbits in Australia have had a devastating impact, due in part to the lack of natural predators there.
Wiseana umbraculata, also known as the bog porina, is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. There are seven endemic species and three haplotypes of Wiseana in New Zealand including bog porina. It was regarded as being common in Whanganui in the early twentieth century.
Heirisson Prong is a community managed reserve established for the conservation of threatened mammals at Shark Bay in Western Australia. The reserve is at the point of a long narrow peninsula of the same name that juts into Shark Bay from the south.
Motunau / Plate Island is a small island in the Bay of Plenty, roughly 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off New Zealand's North Island at Okurei Point and a similar distance east-south-east from the much larger Mōtītī Island. The island is split into northern and southern portions by a small channel as narrow as 2 metres across, with several small sea stacks surrounding the two main parts of the island. Like many of the other islands in the Bay of Plenty, Motunau is volcanic in origin and lacks any permanent fresh water source, and as a result has not seen permanent settlement by humans.
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Page 1. The spread of rabbits in New Zealand". teara.govt.nz.
- 1 2 "Wild rabbits". Bay of Plenty Regional Council | Toi Moana. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- 1 2 "Rabbits". www.doc.govt.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Industries, Ministry for Primary (26 January 2023). "Wild rabbit control in NZ | MPI - Ministry for Primary Industries. A New Zealand Government Department". www.mpi.govt.nz. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ↑ "Page 4. 4.2; Significant Risks, Costs and Benefits" (PDF). www.epa.govt.nz. Retrieved 28 January 2024.