Description: <div style='text-align:Left;'><div><div><p><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'><span>Potential ecosystem mapping across Otago used both</span></span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'> </span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'><span>existing layers and new mapping, informed by a wide range of resources</span></span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'> </span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'><span>including articles and reports, species distribution data, aerial imagery, and </span><span>Wildland Consultants Ltd knowledge. The mapping was</span></span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'> </span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'><span>based on the Singers & Rogers (2014) classification of indigenous ecosystem</span></span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'> </span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'>types, modified in some cases by adding new ecosystem types (IC1) or sub-units of</span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'> </span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'>ecosystem types (CLF4.3). Soil data from the Fundamental Soils Layer was generally used for lowland and montane mapping, while LCDB units were generally used for mapping ecosystems above treeline. Considerable new mapping was undertaken </span></span><span style='font-size:12pt;'>where existing layers were deficient</span><span><span style='font-size:12pt;'>, particularly with respect to upland wetlands and coastal ecosystems. </span></span></p></div></div></div>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Sources of spatial data used in creating this layer.
Department of Conservation (FENZ wetlands and rivers, Public Conservation areas)
LINZ (TOPO50 data, Cadastre data, Coastline and Islands)
Otago Regional Council (council boundaries, aerial photos and coastal extents of rivers)
Landcare Research ( LCDB 4.1 & 5, FSL)
zone
(
type: esriFieldTypeString, alias: Zone, length: 100
, Coded Values:
[Subtropical forest: Subtropical forest]
, [Warm temperate forest: Warm temperate forest]
, [North and South Island mild forests: North and South Island mild forests]
, ...11 more...
)
Description: <div style='text-align:Left;'><div><div><p>Current indigenous ecosystems were mapped across Otago Region using indigenous Land Cover Database polygons. These were then either classified into ecosystems defined by Singers & Rogers (2004), based on potential natural ecosystems previously mapped by Wildland Consultants, or retained their LCDB cover name where no Singers & Rogers (2004) ecosystem could be reliably assigned. The LCDB 'Manuka and kanuka' cover type was separated geographically based on distribution information for kanuka (<i>Kunzea robusta</i>), makahikatoa (<i>Kunzea serotina</i>), and manuka (<i>Leptospermum scoparium</i>) in Otago. </p></div></div></div>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Data sources for creating this layer:
Landcare (LCDB5)
Wildland Consultants (Otago potential ecosystems)
Description: <div style='text-align:Left;'><p style='font-size:16ptmargin:7 0 7 0;'><span>The mapping comprises areas identified as Important Bird Areas (IBA) for seabirds in Otago, and generally comprise the inland breeding and resting sites of seabirds. </span></p><p style='font-size:16ptmargin:7 0 7 0;'><span>Note: This data has been created specifically for the use of defining generalised habitat areas and should not be confused with the official IBA data. As the New Zealand Partner of BirdLife International, Forest and Bird adminsters the IBA Program in New Zealand.</span></p></div>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Forest & Bird (2015). New Zealand Seabirds: Sites on Land, Rivers, estuaries, coastal lagoons & harbours
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size:12pt">The mapping comprises areas that were defined as important feeding grounds for seabirds including penguins, petrels, and albatross/mollymawk. These areas were defined based on information in scientific reports and literature as well as from tracking studies uploaded to Movebank.org, databases such as iNaturalist, and Birdlife.org.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: South-east Marine Protection Forum
Birdlife International
Movebank.org
iNaturalis.org
Description: The mapping comprises areas identified as Important Bird Areas (IBA) for seabirds in Otago, and generally comprise the coastal and inland breeding and resting sites of seabirds. The species using each IBA are included in the attributes of these areas.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Forest & Bird (2015). New Zealand Seabirds: Sites on Land, Coastal Sites and Islands
Description: Estuarine habitats on the Otago coast were mapped as significant where they supported populations of cockle (Austrovenus stuchburyi) or contained seagrass (Zostera muelleri) beds.
Description: The mapped sites comprise significant kelp beds, generally of giant kelp (<i>Macrocystis pyrifera</i>), that comprise important habitat for marine fauna. Sea Sketch, and information source developed by the South-east Marine Protection Forum, was an important source of information for this mapping.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: South-east Marine Protection Forum
Description: The mapping identifies significant habitats of marine mammals in Otago Region. Data on these sites was gathered from interviews with marine mammal experts from the Department of Conservation and New Zealand Sea Lion Trust, and by reviewing published information on important marine mammal sites in Otago. Sites were categorised depending on their value as feeding, breeding, resting, or refuge sites for different marine mammal groups.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Department of Conservation
New Zealand Sea Lion Trust
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>In order to map marine habitats consistently across all bioregions, Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets were sourced, where possible, that extended across all of the New Zealand Territorial Sea. The intent was to avoid bias in the representation of habitats associated with differences in the extent and detail of surveys in different regions. The disadvantage of this approach, however, is that the more detailed surveys available or underway in some regions (Neale et al. 2007, WCMPF 2010, Benn 2009; Kettles & Hughes 2009; Kerr 2010, Morrison et al. 2010) are not included in this broad scale analysis. These surveys should be included in more detailed regional assessments. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>The extent of habitat mapping was mainly defined by the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) coastline, the LINZ boundary (2004) to the New Zealand Territorial Sea (within 12 nautical miles of the coast and islands), estuaries from the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) New Zealand Estuary Environment Classification (Hume 2007) and bioregions defined in the Marine Protected Areas Policy and Implementation Plan (Department of Conservation and Ministry of Fisheries 2005).</SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>Within these bioregions, spatial data layers for depth, substrata and exposure were overlaid in ArcGIS to approximate the habitat categories described in the Coastal Classification and Mapping Scheme (Appendix 1, Ministry of Fisheries and Department of Conservation 2008). In some cases, categories were modified according to what data were available and to provide consistent, justifiable, readily interpreted habitat descriptions that adequately reflect major patterns in marine environments. The data sources and habitat categories that were used are described </SPAN><SPAN>in the report: </SPAN><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>Department of Conservation and Ministry of Fisheries</SPAN><SPAN>(2012)</SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN><SPAN>"</SPAN><SPAN>Coastal marine habitats and marine protected areas in the New Zealand Territorial Sea: a broad scale gap analysis. Wellington, New Zealand. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>More detailed descriptions of source data within the New Zealand Territorial Sea are described in separate coverages for NZ marine bioregions; NZ depth, NZ substrata and NZ exposure. </SPAN><SPAN>The GIS datasets were combined using the </SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;">union</SPAN><SPAN>command in ArcGIS and ArcINFO 9.3. This command overlays and dissects the intersections between overlapping areas from different datasets. The function creates polygon features attributed with fields of variables from each of the source data sets. These fields were used to create composite categories derived from combinations of the different levels in the depth, substrata and exposure fields. The ArcGIS ‘eliminate’ command was used to minimise the large numbers of elongate ‘sliver polygons’ resulting from overlaying disparate datasets. Slivers less than 1 hectare in area were dissolved into the adjacent polygon with the longest joint boundary.</SPAN><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>Because of the number of small slivers and extent of the data set, boundaries between habitats classes were sometimes generalised resulting in small departures (usually <50m) from the lines of the original habitat data including the coastline. Regard should then be given to the fitness for use of this data for use other than its intended purpose as a broad scale classification and gaps analysis. This should be taken into account particularly for viewing and analysis at fine spatial scales.</SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN>In some cases, </SPAN><SPAN>the source </SPAN><SPAN>datasets did not completely overlap and for some areas a full classification using all environmental drivers was not possible. In most cases the area involved was small and polygons were merged with the nearest feature with the longest joint boundary. For parts of some estuaries, no nationally consistent data on substrata were available. These areas were mapped simply as unclassified estuary. This category was not however included within habitat counts for each bioregion.</SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN /></P><P /><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 0;"><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;text-indent:20;margin:0 0 8 3;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 8 163;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: We acknowledge the contributions of data and advice from many sources including: the Ministry of Fisheries Spatial Information Management Team; the Marine Conservation Team and Marine Technical Support Officers from the Department of Conservation; Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) for topographic databases; the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) for bathymetry and other data; S. Bardsley, S. Nodder, M. Kemp, and A. Goh for the New Zealand Combined Ocean Sediments data set; Terry Hume (NIWA, for the New Zealand Estuary Environment Classification; Richard Gorman (NIWA) for access to data from wave exposure models; Chris Wild and Clinton Duffy (DOC) for data on near shore reefs; B. Robertson and L. Stevens (Wriggle Coastal Management) for data on estuarine vegetation; S. Byers and K. Sivaguru (DOC) and the scientists they interviewed for data on biogenic habitats; reviewers for comments on drafts; and the many scientists who have so far provided data for this and related projects. Data editing, mapping and spatial analysisby D Breen 2012.
Description: The mapping identifies biogenic reefs and rocky reefs in the marine environment within Otago Region. Biogenic reefs were identified from scientific literature as well as reports by consultants and government agencies. Some of the sites for bryozoan reefs are based entirely on modelling, but the locations of these reefs are supported by the co-located feeding grounds for pelagic birds, yellow-eyed penguins, and marine mammals.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: South-East Marine Protection Forum
NIWA
Description: Significant rivers and river segments in Otago were identified using the Freshwater Habitats of New Zealand (FENZ) framework and locations of indigenous fish with a threat status of Threatened. The existing FENZ rankings were compiled using the spatial conservation prioritisation software, Zonation. Streams from the FENZ rivers layer within catchments that were ranked highly (roughly the top 10% of sites) on a regional basis (ranked 1-151) or a national basis (ranked 1-2,697) were mapped as significant. In addition, stream reaches where Threatened indigenous fish had been recorded in the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database were also mapped a significant. Where there was overlap between these factors, reaches with Threatened fish overwrite all other factors, while national FENZ ranking overwrites regional FENZ ranking.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Department of Conservation - Freshwater Ecosystems of New Zealand database
NIWA - New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database
Description: A variety of sources were used to seek additional records of bats and prioritise sites for survey within the Otago Region. These included discussions with locally- and nationally based bat ecologists and Department of Conservation staff, searches via the internet for bat sightings, and Wildlands expert knowledge. This resulted in two additional records being located, and the areas around these locations were identified as priorities for further survey. We also assessed areas where no bat surveys have been undertaken, and where these areas contained extensive potential bat habitat, mapped these areas as priorities for survey.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Wildland Consultants Ltd
Land Cover Database v5
Color: [0, 0, 0, 255] Background Color: N/A Outline Color: N/A Vertical Alignment: bottom Horizontal Alignment: left Right to Left: false Angle: 0 XOffset: 0 YOffset: 0 Size: 9 Font Family: Trebuchet MS Font Style: normal Font Weight: bold Font Decoration: none
Description: Likely bat habitat was determined from the locations of recent bat records (of long-tailed, lesser short-tailed, and unknown bat species) obtained from the Department of Conservation bat database. A buffer of 11 km was created around these locations, corresponding to the median maternal home range span (from one side to the other of the home range) for both long-tailed bat and lesser short-tailed bat. The buffer was extended by a further 12 km (23 km in total) to capture habitats that are potentially significant for bats, based on the largest home range spans that have been observed for bats. Forest habitats within these buffer distances were mapped as likely (<11 km) or potentially significant (>11 km <23km) bat habitat.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Department of Conservation bat database
Land Cover Database v5
Description: Significant habitats of terrestrial invertebrates were mapped based on collated records from numerous terrestrial invertebrate surveys undertaken across Otago from 1984 onwards. Many of these surveys were undertaken on conservation land, or on areas that were surveyed under the Protected Natural Areas Programme. Thus these sites form the bulk the significant habitats identified.
Description: Spawning habitat of inanga (Galaxias maculatus) was mapped as significant habitat, based on a database of inanga spawning habitat provided by the Otago Regional Council. Raw location data was amended where necessary for accuracy, and represented by Freshwater Ecosystems of New Zealand (FENZ) river reach segments.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Otago Regional Council - inanga spawning habitat data
Department of Conservation - Freshwater Ecosystems of New Zealand database
Description: Mapping of significant South Island fernbird (<i>Bowdleria punctata punctata</i>) habitat in Otago Region was done by collating fernbird distribution information from databases and Wildlands knowledge. Polygons were then defined around significant fernbird habitat based on a high density of records, a long time sequence of records, and/or delineation of known fernbird habitats (e.g. wetlands with dense vegetation). This approach captures regularly used fernbird habitat.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Ebird database maintained by Cornell University.
Expert knowledge of Wildland Consultants staff
Description: Significant habitats of rock wren were mapped where there were concentrations of eBird records. The distribution of rock wren is wider than this, but these sites contain most of the recent records.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Cornell University for eBird database records
Land Cover Database v5
Description: The mapping identifies significant habitats of Australasian bittern (<i>Botaurus poiciloptilus</i>) across Otago Region. The mapping was done by assembling bittern distribution data, then delineating polygons around sites that had a high density of bittern records, a long time sequence of bittern records, and/or contained known wetland habitats of bittern. The mapping comprises regularly used habitat of bittern in Otago.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Cornell University for Ebird database
Department of Conservation for bittern database
Wildland Consultants expert knowledge
Description: Significant habitats of South Island kaka and mohua/yellowhead were mapped using eBird records and land cover data. Records for both of these two species were strongly associated with the presence of indigenous forest in the Caples, Greenstone, Dart, Rees, Matukituki, Wilkin and Makarora Valleys, while mohua was also associated with indigenous forest in the Blue Mountains and in the northern Catlins. Both species were largely absent from the Richardson Mountains.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Cornell University for eBird database records
Land Cover Data Base v5
Description: Significant whio/blue duck habitats were mapped based on records obtained from the Department of Conservation’s ‘Whio Manager’, a database with extensive, up-to-date information on whio sightings and management, and from eBird records, where high concentrations of observations were found.
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Department of Conservation - whio database
Cornell University - eBird database
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><P><SPAN>This layer describes conservation rankings for New Zealand's lakes calculated both within national and regional contexts, and taking account of human pressures. Estimates of human pressures were estimated from a range of data including descriptions of the catchment cover of both native vegetation and impervious surfaces, the modelled nitrogen load, the presence of introduced plant and fish species, and the effects of artificial impoundments - see deWinton et al. (2009) for details. The likely impacts of each of these factors on the ecological integrity of lakes was estimated using expert judgement, and these impact scores were combined using two different approaches. Because of the lack of consistent information about the presence of introduced plant species, values for each approach were calculated both including and exclusing this factor. Conservation rankings were calculated using pressure estimates calculated using equation one, with macrophyte data excluded. These estimates of pressure were then combined with data describing classification membership for each lake at the Natural.4 level of detail (67 groups), and analysed using Zonation (see Leathwick et al. 2010) to calculate rankings of conservation importance. This approach ranks all sites in order of decreasing importance according to their ability to contribute to a representative set of protected sites. For example, protecting the top 10% of sites would achieve the maximum possible degree of representation across environmental groups, given that degree of protection. Rankings are calculated both for all NZ lakes, and for lakes within each WONI biogeographic unit. A second set of rankings were calculated in which lakes having 80% or more of their area protected were held back until all other lakes had been removed - this indicates both the relative value of protected lakes, and those lakes currently lacking protection that would best complement those already protected. References deWinton, M., Kelly, D., Leathwick, J.R., Julian, K. (2009). Production of pressure estimates for New Zealand lakes. NIWA Client Report HAM2008-127 prepared for the Department of Conservation. Leathwick, J.R., Moilanen, A., Ferrier, S., Julian, K. (2010). Complementarity-based conservation prioritization using a community classification, and its application to riverine ecosystems. Biological Conservation 143: 984-991.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
Description: <p>The mapping identifies significant habitats of forest birds across Otago Region. The<br />mapping was done by assembling forest bird distribution data, then delineating<br />polygons around forest habitats that had these features:</p><p>Indigenous and exotic forests that contained recent records of long tailed cuckoo (<i>Eudynamus taitensis</i>), South Island kaka (<i>Nestor meridionalis meridionalis</i>), rifleman (<i>Acathissita chloris</i>), robin (<i>Petroica australis</i>), mohua (<i>Mohoua ochrocephala</i>).</p><div>All other areas of indigenous forest >1 hectare in size classified as such in the Land Cover Data Base version 5 (LCDB)</div><div><br /></div><div>All other areas of LCDB cover types 'manuka and/or kanuka' and 'broadleaved indigenous hardwoods' >10 hectares in size. </div>
Service Item Id: 725fdc0188674abb8ba8df5ae689c742
Copyright Text: Cornell University for Ebird database
Wildland Consultants expert knowledge