Āwhitu Peninsula
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The Awhitu Peninsula is a long peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand, extending north from the mouth of the Waikato River to the entrance to Manukau Harbour.
The Peninsula is bounded in the west by rugged cliffs over the Tasman Sea, but it slopes gently to the west, with low-lying pastoral and swamp land along the edge of the Waiuku River and Manukau Harbour. At the northern tip, the Manukau Heads rises to a 285-metre (935 ft) prominence above the entrance to the similarly-named harbour. The nearby historic Manukau Heads Lighthouse is one of the few in the country open to the public.[1]
The peninsula is relatively sparsely populated, despite its proximity to the centre of Auckland city (which lies 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the northeast). The largest settlement on or near the peninsula is Waiuku, which lies at the peninsula's isthmus.
Biodiversity
The Peninsula has a high sympatric diversity of native New Zealand land snails. Communities of >70 native species in a 4 ha patch of bush can be found here, whereas in other parts of the world, 15 sympatric land snail species would be considered high.[2][3] Grazing and other habitat disturbances can negatively impact this diversity.[4]
References
- ^ "Awhitu Peninsula," aucklandnz.com. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^ Solem, Alan; Climo, Frank M.; Roscoe, David J. (1981). "Sympatric species diversity of New Zealand land snails". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 8 (4): 453–485. doi:10.1080/03014223.1981.10427971. ISSN 0301-4223.
- ^ Barker, G.M. (2006). "The astonishing diversity of land snails". In Harvey, Bruce James; Harvey, Trixie (eds.). Waitakere Ranges: Ranges of inspiration. Waitakere Ranges Protection Society. pp. 130–139. ISBN 0476005205.
- ^ Bogich, Tiffany L.; Barker, Gary M.; Mahlfeld, Karin; Climo, Frank; Green, Rhys; Balmford, Andrew (2012). "Fragmentation, grazing and the species–area relationship". Ecography. 35 (3): 224–231. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2011.07136.x. ISSN 1600-0587.
37°10′S 174°38′E / 37.167°S 174.633°E
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