Kopuatai Peat Dome
Kopuatai Peat Dome | |
---|---|
![]() Kopuatai Peat Dome is the brown footprint-shaped area at centre | |
Location | North Island, New Zealand |
Area | 10,201 hectares (25,210 acres) |
Designated | 4 December 1989 |
Reference no. | 444[1] |
The Kopuatai Peat Dome is a large
History of the wetland
Kopuatai has survived extensive draining of the wetlands on the Hauraki Plains and was given protection in 1987 when it came under the administration of the newly formed Department of Conservation.[6]
Scientific and conservation value
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Kopuatai_bog.tif/lossless-page1-250px-Kopuatai_bog.tif.png)
Kopuatai contains the largest remaining population of Sporadanthus ferrugineus, a peat-forming plant that was once widespread in the upper North Island, but is now found in only a few places, in the Hauraki Plains and Waikato basin.[7] S. ferrugineus in turn provides the only known food source for the rare endemic moth Houdinia flexilissima, also known as 'Fred the thread', described as recently as 2006 and remarkable for being the thinnest caterpillar in the world.[8] A number of other undescribed insect species are thought to inhabit the peat dome. Other plant species found at Kopuatai are the peat-forming plant Empodisma robustum and the fern Gleichenia dicarpa.
Kopuatai is remarkable for being an exceptionally strong sink for carbon dioxide compared to other bogs globally.[9] Carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere by the peat-forming plants and transformed into peat which can be up to 12 meters thick in parts of the bog.[2]
See also
References
- ^ "Kopuatai Peat Dome". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b Irving, S.; Skinner, M.; Thompson, K. (1984). Kopuatai Peat Dome - A Vegetation Survey. Crown Land Series No.12. University of Waikato and Department of Lands and Survey, Hamilton, New Zealand.
- ^ "Report for Kopuatai Peat Dome, Ramsar Site No.: 444, Wetlands International Site Reference No.: 5NZ004". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Wetlands International. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
- JSTOR 43944791.
- ^ "Cyclones put focus on flood protection measures in the Waikato". Stuff. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-86941-904-2.
- doi:10.1080/0028825X.1999.9512645.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ISSN 1447-2600.
- S2CID 58588410.
External links
- Department of Conservation - Kopuatai Peat Dome
- Wetland Trust - Kopuatai Peat Dome
- Carbon exchange in restiad wetlands