Distribution and abundance of coarse woody debris in some southern New Zealand streams from contrasting forest catchments

Abstract

Greater amounts of coarse woody debris (CWD) occurred in streams from old native forests than in streams from young native and pine forests in southern New Zealand. The size of CWD in the streams generally reflected the age of the surrounding vegetation. More wood was present in pool than in non‐pool sections of old native forest streams and the frequency of pools per unit length formed by woody debris was greatest in these streams. The volumes of pools formed by wood and those formed by inorganic substrates were similar. Amounts of woody debris in these streams were relatively small compared to values recorded from North America.

Keywords:

• New Zealand
• coarse woody debris
• stream structure
• pool formation