EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Ruapehu Volcano

Mt Ruapehu Stratovolcano, Tongariro National Park
North Island, New Zealand

Explanation:  On a flight from Wellington north to Rotorua, New Zealand, our small plane nearly skimmed the ridgeline of this highest point of North Island:  Mt Ruapehu.  

This is an active stratovolcano -- reaching to Tehurangi peak at 2,797 m (9,177 ft) elevation -- nestled within Tongariro National Park, in a land originally occupied by the Ngari Tuwharetoa peoples.  

Below us slides by the peak and its volcanic-created crater lake.  The mountain's occasional eruptions -- last in 1995-1996 -- have major impacts on the nearby streams, rivers, and lakes by depositing ash and mud.  In that recent eruption, some 2.3 million metric tonnes of ash entered nearby Lake Taupō, causing nutrients from phytoplankton to settle to the lake bottom. 

Meanwhile, above timberline, at least 67 species of plants have thrived (Scott 1977).  Elsewhere in the park appear populations of native bats, many birds ... and, unfortunately, also a number of invasive mammals including rats, stoats, ferrets, weasels, cats, possums, hares, red deer, and goats, none of which is native to the country and each threatening the native biota.

Information:
     Neall, VE, BF Houghton, SJ Cronin, SL Donoghue, KA Hodgson, DM Johnston, JA Lecointre, AR Mitchell.  1999.  Volcanic hazards at Ruapehu Volcano.  Wellington: Ministry of Civil Defence.  Volcanic hazards information series 8.  30 p.
     Scott, D.  1977.  Plant ecology above timber line on Mt Ruapehu, North Island, New Zealand.  New Zealand Journal of Botany 15(2):255-294.