Scientists Galore

Waikereru was a hub of scientific activity last week, with visits by Janet Wilmhurst, palaeoecologist from Manaaki Whenua, who managed to get a fantastic 7m pollen core (hopefully showing c. 5000 years of plant life) further up the valley on Laura Watson’s farm for our ‘Let the River Speak’ project; and a team of three plant ecologists led by Jennifer Bufford who measured dated growth plots (24, 20, 15, 10 and 5 years old) at Waikereru as a basis for potential look-up tables for native forests.