Waikato Botanical Society warmly invite you to an informative and lively evening:
“How insects have influenced the way New Zealand plants have evolved”
Dr Nod Kay (SCION)
Monday 10 October 2011, 5.30 pm – 7 pm
Waikato Environment Centre, Level one, 25 Ward St, Hamilton
Please join us afterwards for discussion and then dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Plant biodiversity has been attributed to their co-evolution with insects. New Zealand has a very distinct biota, assembled and evolved only from those organisms capable of long-distance dispersal. A flora, as the foundation of an ecosystem, reflects the character of the component species that make up a community. For example, it is considered that the dull floral display of many New Zealand plants is because we have few insect pollinators. Other elements of the New Zealand fauna, because there was no mammalian competition or predation, evolved typical dodo-like characteristics and became unregulated grazers of the plants. Some plant characteristics typical of many species in New Zealand e.g. divarication and juvenility, have been attributed to that pressure. However, there are a number of less obvious floristic quirks of the New Zealand flora that may be attributed to unregulated grazing by insects.
For your diaries:
“Is Maungatautari restoring pollination and dispersal services to native plants?” Jenie Isles. Monday 14 November 2011, 5.30pm - 7.00pm
Please start thinking about our last meeting for the year 12 December 2011: Show and tell your botanical highlights of 2011. Ten slides and 5 minutes
Contact Cynthia Roberts, email: croberts@doc.govt.nz; 07 858 1034 (day), 07 849 4935 (evening).
