World Land Tables - Page 4

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.

UPDATED 21/04/2017
(See "Land domain updates" page for details; www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/environment/env...)

Different land uses put pressure on the land environment and can result in changes to soil health. Healthy soil supports the productivity of agriculture and forestry, and filters water to help prevent waterways becoming contaminated. Soils are considered healthy if they fall within the target ranges for the indicators of acidity, fertility, organic reserves, and physical status.

This dataset relates to the "Soil health and land use" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

For raw data see "2015 land aotearoa soil health data for release.xlsx" at data.mfe.govt.nz/x/LTBnRL

The data identifies five classes of land in New Zealand at risk of erosion:

1. high landslide risk – delivery to stream
2. high landslide risk – non-delivery to steam
3. moderate earthflow risk
4. severe earthflow risk
5. gully risk

Landslide erosion is the shallow (approximately 1m) and sudden failure of soil slopes during storm rainfall. Earthflow erosion is the slow downward movement (approximately 1m/year) of wet soil slopes towards waterways. Gully erosion is massive soil erosion that begins at gully heads and expands up hillsides over decadal time scales.

Erosion can have negative consequences on land productivity, water quality (via increased sedimentation and turbidity), the natural form of the land, and infrastructure.

New Zealand experiences high rates of soil erosion. In the North Island, this is mostly due to the historical clearance of forest for agriculture (see also Estimated long-term soil erosion). In contrast, erosion in the South Island is mostly due to natural processes, primarily high rainfall and steep mountain slopes.

It is important to identify areas of land at risk of severe erosion to inform land-use decisions and help prioritise regional soil conservation work.

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.

Updated 21/04/2017
(See "Land domain updates" page for details; www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/environment/env...)

Different land uses put pressure on the land environment and can result in changes to soil health. Healthy soil supports the productivity of agriculture and forestry, and filters water to help prevent waterways becoming contaminated. Soils are considered healthy if they fall within the target ranges for the indicators of acidity, fertility, organic reserves, and physical status.

This dataset relates to the "Soil health and land use" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

For raw data see "2015 land aotearoa soil health data for release.xlsx" attachment below.

Industry estimates of fertiliser nutrient consumption in New Zealand 1990–2015.

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.

Eight indigenous tree species, spanning a range of ecological niches, were surveyed twice (between 2002 and 2014) as part of a vegetation monitoring programme. The data from these surveys can be used to assess changes in tree populations. Monitoring the status and trends of these widespread tree species helps us detect large-scale, long-term changes and problems for our forest ecosystems. Surveys assess the average number of trees per hectare.

This dataset relates to the "Status of widespread indigenous trees" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

Deer, goats, and possums are animal pests in New Zealand. These pests prefer to eat some tree species more than others. In the long term, the targeted species may become locally extinct and nationally much rarer than less palatable species. Resulting changes in forest composition may have profound effects on other plant and animal species. The pest impacts on a particular tree species may affect the available habitat for and food source of those other plants and animals.

This dataset relates to the "Pest impacts on indigenous trees" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

New Zealand has been divided into 500 land environments. These have been defined by their unique climate, topography, and soils. The extent to which indigenous vegetation is represented in these land environments, and how that vegetation is formally protected, is described by threatened environment categories. These can be monitored to understand the effects of land cover change on indigenous biodiversity.

Column headings:
num_envs = number of land environmnets

This dataset relates to the "Indigenous cover and protection in land environments" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

This data measures the numbers of farmed livestock (dairy and beef cattle, deer, and sheep) over time across New Zealand.

Livestock farming is a widespread land use in New Zealand and is a large contributor to our economy. High livestock numbers and the distribution of livestock across land environments can affect indigenous biodiversity and soil health (eg through erosion, habitat loss, compaction, and nutrient concentration). Water quality can also be adversely affected, as nutrients, sediment, and bacteria from urine and faeces can leach or run off the land into rivers, lakes, and groundwaters. This can affect the health of the aquatic ecosystem, as well as recreation and cultural values associated with rivers and lakes.

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 on the economic performance of the agriculture industry describes agriculture’s contribution to the New Zealand economy. It provides supporting information for the land, atmosphere and climate, and freshwater domains.

This dataset relates to the "Economic performance of the agriculture industry" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.