Restoration of small wetlands has big benefits in the Wairarapa

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-10 08:07

New Zealand

Jocelyn Kinghorn, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wairarapa has lost 98.7 per cent of its pre-colonial wetlands, many of which were drained to provide pasture. Lots of the remaining wetlands are small, and 75 per cent are on private land. Researchers studied wetlands that had been restored on private property in the region, and compared them to sites that were similar to the wetlands before restoration. Following restoration, the wetland plant communities gained around 13 native species, and soils became healthier. The authors say that restoring marginal farmland to wetlands could help achieve multiple improvements, including for water quality, carbon storage, and biodiversity.

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Research Elsevier, Web page

Journal/
conference: Science of the Total Environment

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Victoria University of Wellington

Funder: Funding for this work was made possible through a philanthropic donation from the Holdsworth Family Charitable Trust. SBB was supported through scholarships from the Sir Hugh Kawharu Foundation, Wairarapa Moana Trust, Ducks Unlimited, and Victoria University of Wellington.

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