GLOSSARY

Awns: A stiff bristle-like projection (on a grass), usually at the tip of an organ.

Bat detector: Electronic instrument used to detect high frequency bat calls and convert to audible frequency for humans.

Branchlets: the smallest, outermost branches of a woody species.

Call count surveys or monitoring: Listening for bird calls to detect presence or to obtain a standardised index of populations. Commonly undertaken for kiwi - generally from wide vantage points for the first two hours after dark in calm weather during the dark phase of the moon in May-June. Also used for bittern.

Calyx: the outer, usually green or brown flower parts which protect the developing inner flower parts in bud.

Capsules: A dry fruit which splits to release the seeds.

Corm: A short swollen underground plant stem that serves as an organ of propagation.

Corridor: Vegetation used by biota for dispersal or refuges. Particularly important during and following harvesting when weak dispersers (e.g. lizards, some bird species) are more dependent on riparian corridors (e.g. stream edges, gullies) to get access to alternative habitat. Provide key linkages to other habitats.

Diurnal: Active during daylight hours.

Divaricating: Form of a plant. Spreading at a very wide angle, used especially for shrubs with stiff, wide-angled, more or less intertangled branching.

Eutrophication: Excessive nutrient inflows into streams, wetlands, and lakes (from fertilisers and other chemicals, animal waste, septic tanks), causing algal growth, a decrease in oxygen, and other negative impacts.

Fenn traps: A kill trap, used for small mammals such as stoats.

Hermaphroditic: Bisexual, as in many invertebrates.

Inflorescence: Plant part – a floral system consisting of more than one flower.

Integrated Pest Control: A pest control programme that uses a range of techniques and timings of application to protect and enhance a suite of habitats and/or species.

Leaf axils: The upper angle between the leaf stalk and the stem.

Mustelid: Ferret, stoat or weasel. Members of the mustelid family, introduced to New Zealand.

Nocturnal: Active at night.

Omnivorous: Feeding on a variety of foods, including plant and animal material.

Prostrate: Lying on or along the ground.

Pulsed poisoning: Targeted poisoning of a pest or a suite of pests at a sensitive time of the year (e.g. breeding season) to maximise benefits to sensitive indigenous biota, e.g. kereru, kaka. Pulse treatments and removal of unused baits also minimises the risk of potential non-target impacts of toxins.

Residual trap catch index (RTC): An index of abundance of a pest species (e.g. possum, black rat) as measured by numbers of animals caught per 100 trap nights (e.g. 50 traps operated for two nights or, more usually, 100 traps for one night). Often related to a tracking index for rodents where rodents are tracked by footprints left on sensitive tracking paper in a tunnel.

Riparian: Vegetation along the edge of a wetland or stream, often heavily utilised by resident or dispersing animals.

Spike: An unbranched, elongated inflorescence of stalkless flowers.

Spikelets: A shorter spike. There may be more than one spikelet.

Tree banding: Wrapping sheet metal around a tree or trees (c.f. power poles) to prevent access by predators climbing to nests.

Virkon: A viruncidal/fungicidal disinfectant.