Topic: Peat Shrublands
Topic type:
Peat shrublands were plentiful in the Te Arai areas right up until the 1970s. This area was referred to as 'Black's Swamp and contained lowland manuka and kanuka mire shrub, these canopies were prime habitat for the Auckland Green Gecko.
Peat shrubland in Te Arai has predominantly been cleared and drained for farmland, and this shrubland type is now so rare in the district that even small stands are classified by the Auckland Council as Significant Ecological Areas.
The understory is rich in ferns and reeds, such as tangle fern(Gleichenia dicarpa) and Eleocharis spaculata, hange hange, and many varieties of coprosmas. The shrubland serves as a habitat for both wetland and forest avifauna.
The canopy is made up of a mix of common manuka and the declining Rawiri- kanuka (Kunzea ericoides var. linearis). The Auckland Green Gecko feeds and basks in the sun courtesy of this canopy.
