Trial Site Zones and their subdivisions - Background to Zone names and Fields

The Kaipatiki Ecological Restoration Project site of 1997-99 was recorded in images filed by geographical zones from Aa to Zd, ie from its piped outfall under Easton Park Parade at its Kaipatiki Rd intersection, to the coastal cliff point where a road bridge joins Kaipatiki and Beachhaven roads above the Kaipatiki Estuary.

These Zones are roughly-parallel segments of the stream's length - if the stream were a railway line, the Zones' adjoining boundaries would be railway line sleepers.

For 2019-20 we identified a Tradescantia Trial site extending from Zones Bd to Zone Fa.

Our iNaturalist observations are collected in the Project for their Zone according to their GPS coordinates either as recorded by digital device or as assigned manually at upload to iNat. Each Zone Projects contains all the observations falling within that Zone, from Kaipatiki roadside, down the bank, across the stream and up the opposite bank to the boundary of the Witheford Reserve.

Each Zone holds a similar range of ecologies based on proximity to road and sunlight, canopy by planted natives, canopy by wild revegetation, steepness, proximity to the stream, and soil type from clay to sedimentary sandstone.

AAfter upload, each observation is assigned a Zone Field (visible by clicking on the "Fields" tab at lower right of observations). This Field contains values corresponding to location in relation to road, planted/wild canopy, contour, stream.

eg "Zone CaKSS" = Zone Ca, on the Kaipatiki StreamSide.
"Zone FbTWWS" = Zone Fb (ie quite a bit further downstream) on the Witheford (ie opposite bank to Kaipatiki) StreamSide, on or beside Taraire Walk (the Native Plant Trail).

Since Zones overlap with one another, Zone Fields overlap with one another, and wide camera views often cross boundaries, neither Zone Fields nor Values are completely exclusive, and are also sometimes incorrectly assigned due to errors in GPS recording, file management or during upload.

However, in general we find it gives a useful and often fascinating picture of the distribution of species and their formation of communities, spontaneous spread over time, and individual or group decline. We have devoted much time to exploring the potential of iNaturalist's various multiple-filter Search functions, and the labelling of observations to enable them to be found in various types of Search. We hope that the time spent so far will speed up production of, and make more easily-accessible for a variety of purposes, our observations of the site and of the restoration methodology applied throughout the Kaipatiki Creek restoration site in 1997-2000 and in the RENH Project Trial Site currently.

Posted on August 28, 2019 03:14 AM by kaipatiki_naturewatch kaipatiki_naturewatch

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