Modelling the spreading of wilding conifers

Abstract

In many parts of the Canterbury high country, conifer seeds are spreading on the wind from exisiting plantations and shelterbelts, leading to a serious weed problem. Environment Canterbury set the task at MISG to model this spread, and thus provide a basis for prioritising control operations on a limited budget. The study group provided increased understanding of topographic and climatic factors involved in seed dispersal, and of the distribution of the resulting seed rain. In addition a simulation framework was developed for comparing the effectiveness of different control strategies.