• Home
  • About me
  • Contact me
  • Categories
    • Curio Bay – New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest
    • New Zealand Geology
    • Supernatural
  • Places
    • Australia
    • Armenia
    • Bosnia
    • Brazil
    • Canary Island
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • Turkey
    • Estonia
    • France
    • Georgia
    • Germany
    • Lebanon
    • Mexico
    • Mongolia
    • Kazakhstan
    • Russia
    • Uganda
    • New Zealand
    • India
    • South Africa
MikePole
Travelling to understand time and place

Biogeography & Vegetation

Biogeography and vegetation are concerned with the spatial pattern of life: why particular plant communities occur where they do, how those patterns change across landscapes and regions, and how climate, history, disturbance, and human activity interact to shape them. Any one vegetation is the combined expression of environment (climate, soils, etc), odd things that have happened (contingency), and time.

Posts in this category examine forests, rainforests, wetlands, and other vegetation types from a biogeographic perspective. They draw on field observations, maps, climate data, and published works from different parts of the world. These essays explore it as a dynamic system—structured by climate gradients, geological history, evolutionary legacy, and disturbance regimes.

Many of these pieces sit at the boundary between ecology and geography, asking how present-day vegetation reflects both current environmental conditions and deep historical processes. Topics include the definition and misuse of terms such as “rainforest”, the role of seasonality and extremes.

Together, these posts form a exploration of vegetation as a connected pattern of process, and history, and the modern landscape.

  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    The Lost Forest of the Ashley River, Canterbury, New Zealand

    by Mike Pole March 21, 2017
    by Mike Pole March 21, 2017

    A gem in the heart of Christchurch is Riccarton Bush (sometimes called Deans Bush). It’s a patch of original kahikatea forest, just a …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Once a Vast Forest – Motatapu Track, New Zealand

    by Mike Pole November 12, 2016
    by Mike Pole November 12, 2016

    Early on a cool Sunday morning I sipped my latte outside Relishes Cafe, Wanaka, and thought the immediate view could be better. …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    The Honey Trees of Kalimantan

    by Mike Pole February 12, 2016
    by Mike Pole February 12, 2016

    I was sitting in a ger in Mongolia when I put up my hand to go to Indonesia. My ulterior motive was …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Lebanon – Last Gasp of the Cedar Forests

    by Mike Pole January 23, 2016
    by Mike Pole January 23, 2016

    Europe to Australasia is long-haul, and if you are not into heroics, it’s nice to break the journey somewhere. I wonder how …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Australian Grasstrees – ancient registrars of fire

    by Mike Pole December 4, 2015
    by Mike Pole December 4, 2015

    In Australia there are trees that look like inside-out chimneys. Strong but sensitive – a fungal attack can leave them as a …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    New Zealand – Beeches Invade Paradise!

    by Mike Pole October 21, 2014
    by Mike Pole October 21, 2014

    In the old days in New Zealand, you needed to add the right prefix to telephone numbers to ring the adjacent villages. Our …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Tropical Rainforest in …. South Westland?

    by Mike Pole October 19, 2014
    by Mike Pole October 19, 2014

    At Ship Creek, just a few kilometers north of Haast, in South Westland, New Zealand, there is a wonderful boardwalk though an …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Flooded Forests: sea-level rise in the Haast, West Coast, New Zealand

    by Mike Pole July 4, 2014
    by Mike Pole July 4, 2014

    I own a little patch of bush in the Haast, on the wet, West Coast of New Zealand. It was selectively logged …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Matai- vanquished giant of New Zealand’s dry forests?

    by Mike Pole June 12, 2014
    by Mike Pole June 12, 2014

    I’ve long found New Zealand’s black pine, the matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia) to be a special tree. From a dishevelled juvenile, It can …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Biogeography & Vegetation

    Canary Islands – ‘Last’ Rainforest in Europe (?)

    by Mike Pole May 18, 2014
    by Mike Pole May 18, 2014

    The fossils are clear – just a few million years ago Europe was covered in broad-leaved, evergreen forest. There were palm trees …

    Read more
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Youtube
  • Bloglovin

@2021 - All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by PenciDesign


Back To Top
MikePole
  • Home
  • About me
  • Contact me
  • Categories
    • Curio Bay – New Zealand’s Jurassic Fossil Forest
    • New Zealand Geology
    • Supernatural
  • Places
    • Australia
    • Armenia
    • Bosnia
    • Brazil
    • Canary Island
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • Turkey
    • Estonia
    • France
    • Georgia
    • Germany
    • Lebanon
    • Mexico
    • Mongolia
    • Kazakhstan
    • Russia
    • Uganda
    • New Zealand
    • India
    • South Africa
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.