Help rare and odd flightless birds .....

Donate to Terra Nature Fund for Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust breeding programs for endangered Kiwi.....

..... and Threatened Species Trust critically endangered Kakapo and Takahe programs.

.....working to conserve and protect
New Zealand's unique biodiversity

Podocarp-broadleaf native forest, King Country © Graeme Woodhouse 2009

What makes the 'edge ecology' internationally important ......

New Zealand was one of the last places on Earth colonized by humans, with one of the worst biological losses. Unique ecological events occurred during the archipelago's 80 million year isolation from the rest of the world, after the Zealandia continent broke away from the Gondwana super-continent.

As mammals developed in most places, New Zealand's exceptionally odd ecology evolved with three bats as the only land mammals. With the world's most extensive collection of flightless birds, 80 percent endemism in plants, gigantism in insects, and prehistoric living fossils preceding dinosaurs, the country is a biological treasure chest.

	Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea level rise Ice is melting faster than expected, and may be responsible for 25% of global sea rise More
	Kakapo population breaks 100 The long campaign to save critically endangered kakapo has reached a milestone with 103 birds. More
	Explorers marvel at thriving brittlestar colony on a Macquarie Ridge seamount A rare brittlestar colony has been found on a subantarctic seamount. More
	Critically endangered seabird losing its pulling power 95 percent of non-breeding male Chatham Island taiko, one of the world’s rarest seabirds, are male More

	Arctic is literally on thin ice After less winter cover, Arctic sea ice has begun its seasonal decline, with a lot of thin first-year ice More
	Permafrost threatened by rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice Arctic warming could triple with rapid sea ice loss, raising concerns about permafrost thawing More
	Earth impacts linked to human-caused climate change Natural systems are impacted as Siberian lakes disappear over 25 years and permafrost thaws More
	Tasman Glacier retreat is extreme The glacier is retreating faster and will disappear. There was no lake in 1973, but one 7km long and 2km wide has now formed More


	Antarctic ice shelf disintegration
	No environmental consideration of bottom trawling in orange roughy allowable catch decision
	Orange roughy commercial catch reduced to an all time low
	Melting Arctic summer sea ice reaches lowest level
	Agreement to restrict South Pacific high seas bottom trawling - is it enough?
	The incredible journey of sooty shearwater from New Zealand to the north Pacific...
	UN stark predictions of impact of climate change
	Global companies, states and city government react to climate change

.....working to conserve and protect New Zealand's unique biodiversity

What makes the 'edge ecology' internationally important ......

.....working to conserve and protect
New Zealand's unique biodiversity