World Species Data

The status of our bird communities is an important indicator of the condition of our ecosystems. Many indigenous birds play key ecological roles, including dispersing seeds and pollinating flowers. In some situations, exotic (not indigenous to New Zealand) bird species can partially fulfil these roles. Measuring the composition of bird communities across public conservation land allows us to monitor how those communities are changing over time.

This dataset relates to the "Bird species on public conservation land" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

The status of our bird communities is an important indicator of the condition of our ecosystems. Many indigenous birds play key ecological roles, including dispersing seeds and pollinating flowers. In some situations, exotic bird species (not indigenous to New Zealand) can partially fulfil these roles. A reduction in the distribution and/or decline in numbers for common and widespread species can equate to large losses of individuals and ecosystem integrity. By measuring the composition of bird communities across public conservation land (forest and non-forest sites) we can monitor how they change over time.

This measure reports on the estimated abundance of seven common bird species on public conservation land, 2013–2016.Common species are species having occupancy over half of public conservation land.

The status of our bird communities is an important indicator of the condition of our ecosystems. Many indigenous birds play key ecological roles, including dispersing seeds and pollinating flowers. In some situations, exotic bird species (not indigenous to New Zealand) can partially fulfill these roles. A reduction in the distribution and/or decline in numbers for common and widespread species can equate to large losses of individuals and ecosystem integrity. By measuring the composition of bird communities across public conservation land (forest and non-forest sites) we can monitor how they change over time.

This measure reports on the occupancy of indigenous and exotic bird species on public conservation land, by wood cover, averaged over surveys from 2013 to 2016.

The number of indigenous animal and plant species with a change in conservation status is reported as an impact of changes in the state of our fresh water, land, and marine environments. A change in a species’ conservation status reflects a change in their risk of extinction.

This dataset relates to the "Changes in the conservation status of indigenous species" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

New Zealand has unique indigenous plants and animals that are our national taonga (treasures). Because most are endemic (found nowhere else in the world) New Zealand makes an important contribution to global biodiversity. Biodiversity is important for ecosystem processes, te ao Māori including mahinga kai (customary food gathering), and culture and recreation.

The conservation status of our biodiversity represents their risk of extinction. This data covers the conservation status, and most-recent change in status, of native and resident taxa for which we had sufficient information on abundance and distribution. This includes bats, birds, earthworms, lichens, plants, reptiles and frogs, snails, spiders, and insects.

We also include the number of species that have had a genuine change in conservation status between assessment periods.Where conservation status changed, this measure also looked at the NCTCS listings done in 2012 for birds (Robertson et al, 2017); 2012 for reptiles (Hitchmough et al, 2015); and 2010 for Orthoptera (Trewick et al, 2012). A change in a species’ conservation status reflects a change in its risk of extinction.

For more information on the Department of Conservation’s Threat Classification System (NZTCS) please refer to: www.doc.govt.nz/nztcs

Many of New Zealand’s indigenous plants and animals are endemic – found nowhere else in the world – and are our national taonga (treasure). New Zealand species make a significant contribution to global biodiversity, which is important for ecosystem processes and resilience, mahinga kai (traditional food gathering), and culture and recreation.

Conservation status is a representation of the threat classification of resident indigenous plant and animal species. The Department of Conservation (DOC) developed the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) to provide a national system that is similar to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List.

We report on four conservation status categories: threatened, at risk, not threatened, and data deficient. Conservation status categories ‘threatened’ and ‘at risk’ are divided into subcategories that provide more information on the species’ threat of extinction classification (adapted from Townsend et al, 2008). Species are classified as ‘data deficient’ if we lack information on the species, making threat classification assessment not possible.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

DATA SOURCE: Department of Conservation (DOC)

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency

Dataset used to develop the "Extinction threat to indigenous land species" indicator [available at www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/extinction-threat-to-...]

​

We report on the extinction threat to indigenous, resident, living land species that have been assessed by expert panels under the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). They include bats, frogs, reptiles, terrestrial invertebrates, vascular plants, non-vascular plants (mosses, hornworts, and liverworts), lichens and terrestrial birds (which exclude seabirds and shorebirds, which are reported under extinction threat of indigenous marine species).

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.