The origin and weed status of plants in Christchurch lawns

Abstract

Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand, has varied natural environments including flood plains, sand dunes, wetlands, river banks, tidal estuaries and part of a volcanic crater rim (Christchurch City Council, 2004). Many of these environments have been modified by urban development, and currently the plant community covering the largest area of urban Christchurch is the lawn. Landcare Research received funding from the Foundation of Research Science and Technology (FRST) to develop Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD) technologies. Lincoln University, in conjunction with Landcare research, has an urban ecology team focused on unravelling the ecological processes of plant communities and classifying different biotopes in Christchurch. Through understanding the ecology, management decisions can be made to enhance biodiversity. Over the summer of 2004-2005 the most common urban biotope, the lawn, was surveyed. This article reports on the findings of this study with respect to the origin and weed status of the plant species found.