Ecology & Gardening class

Another shot of the water in the Firth of Thames!


Today we spent our morning in lecture learning about the biogeography of New Zealand. We learned that are two major tectonic plates (the Australian and Pacific) which rotate against each other and cause multiple fault lines to create mountains. Because New Zealand is so isolated, the biota was evolved with the absence of land mammals. Many species are endemic to New Zealand which means that they are only found here.

I found it interesting that endemic birds and invertebrates are usually:
-flightless
-giant
-lacking color
-long-lived (some live up to 90 years!)
-fragrant
-naive

When people first arrived on New Zealand with dogs and stoats (weasel-like critters), the giant birds did not run away or flee, but were eaten since they do not sense danger. Sad! There are so many large, beautiful parrots and seabirds here, and I hope I get a chance to see a few. I REALLY want to see a kiwi. They are the most peculiar birds, apparently, and have large heavy legs, hunt by smell, have whiskers, have the biggest eggs in comparison to it's body (as big as an ostrich egg!) and has shaggy, fur-like feathers.
There might even be a chance that we'll see orca whales since they've been known to come right into the Firth of Thames (the large body of water in our backyard)! In fact, New Zealand has half of the world's species of whales and dolphins!

For the second part of the day, we split up into groups and fixed up gardens around campus. My job was to save the native species on the riverbank by ripping up the invasive weeds. The biggest hassle were the morning glory vines! They suffocated the poor native tea tree and flax plants!

All in all, there are so many incredible species that I hope I encounter. I'm beginning to sound like a New Zealand travel representative persuading everyone to come here :)

The red snapper salad I prepared :) (the snapper was leftover, and I cooked it while I was on kitchen crew last night.. and we have avocados every day!)