Neighbourhood forest regeneration promotes colonisation of remnant forests by native understorey plant species on Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū | Banks Peninsula

Kyle Rosenblad, Jon Sullivan

Theory predicts that increasing habitat cover in the local landscape or “neighbourhood” of a habitat patch should increase colonisation rates over time. Although this prediction is widely invoked, empirical tests with longitudinal data are lacking. Here we tested this hypothesis using a 41-year repeat survey of 26 forest fragment reserves on Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū | Banks Peninsula, Aotearoa | New Zealand. Reserves with greater neighbourhood forest regeneration experienced greater native understorey plant species colonisation between 1970 and 2011. Evidence for positive effects on species richness was weak but directionally consistent. Overall, these findings provide rare longitudinal support for theoretical predictions linking neighbourhood habitat gains to community dynamics and highlight the conservation value of young secondary forest patches in fragmented landscapes.