A number of introduced species, some of which have become invasive species, have been added to New Zealand's native flora and fauna. Both deliberate and accidental introductions have been made from the time of the first human settlement, with several waves of Polynesian[1] people at some time before the year 1300,[2] followed by Europeans after 1769.[3]
Almost without exception,[4][5] the introduced species have been detrimental to the native flora and fauna, but some, such as farmed sheep and cows and the clover upon which they feed, now form a large part of the economy of New Zealand. Registers and lists of species that are invasive, potentially invasive, or a threat to agriculture or biodiversity are maintained by Biosecurity New Zealand.[6]
Many invasive animal species are listed in schedules 5 and 6 of the Wildlife Act 1953. Those in Schedule 5 have no protection and may be killed. Those in Schedule 6 are declared to be noxious animals and subject to the Wild Animal Control Act 1977. In 2016 the New Zealand government introduced Predator Free 2050, a project to eliminate all non-native predators (such as rats, possums and stoats) by 2050.[7]
Some of the invasive animal species are as follows.
The redback, Latrodectus hasselti, thought to have arrived with a steel shipment in the 1980s[27]
Plant and other non-animal species
The National Pest Plant Accord, with a listing of about 120 genus, species, hybrids and subspecies, was developed to limit the spread of plant pests. Invasive plants are classified as such on a regional basis with some plants declared as national plant pests. The Department of Conservation also lists 328 vascular plant species as environmental weeds.[28]
Some of the better-known invasive plant species are:
Acacia species (mostly Australian) especially wattle
^"Rudd". Department of Conservation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020.
^"Management of invasive freshwater fish: striking the right balance!"(PDF). Department of Conservation. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2017. There will be sites where the Department will want to eradicate salmonids species because they pose a significant threat to the maintenance of a threatened species or ecosystem...
^Landcare Research. "Attitude change prescribed for weedy Auckland" (Press release). Snoop. Auckland has the dubious honour of being the weediest city in the world, with 220 weeds (and climbing).
Further reading
Allen, Robert B.; Lee, William G., eds. (2006). Biological Invasions in New Zealand. Berlin: Springer. ISBN3-540-30022-8.
Hackwell, Kevin (1999). Pests & Weeds: The Cost of Restoring an Indigenous Dawn Chorus: A Blueprint for Action Against the Impacts of Introduced Pest Organisms on the New Zealand Environment. Wellington [N.Z.]: New Zealand Conservation Authority. ISBN0-9583301-8-2.
King, Carolyn M. (1985). Immigrant Killers: Introduced Predators and the Conservation of Birds in New Zealand. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-558115-7.
New Zealand Plant Protection Society (2004). An illustrated guide to common weeds of New Zealand / Bruce Roy ... [et.al.] (2nd ed.). Lincoln, Canterbury, N.Z: New Zealand Plant Protection Society. ISBN0473097605.
