New Norfolk Island mapping shows the damage of European settlement and invasive species | ABC News

Описание: About 1,000 kilometres off Australia's east coast, Norfolk Island is like nowhere else on Earth.

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It is home to the famous Norfolk Pine — the island boasts more than 40 unique plants and 15 bird species, including the critically endangered Norfolk Island green parrot.

But a first-ever island-wide mapping project has revealed the stark change in environment since human settlement.

Over two years, local and mainland botanists Naomi Christian and Kevin Mills mapped the extent of native vegetation on the island.

"The project involved identifying 14 vegetation communities — such as Pine-Hardwood Ridge Forest, Coastal Pine and White Oak Forest and Sandy Beach Herb Land," Ms Christian said.

"We then determined the current extent of these native plant communities with field surveys and aerial drones. The people of Norfolk Island were key to the success of the project allowing us onto private and public property."

There were some eureka moments.

"We found a population of 10 Melicytus latifolius trees — that's a critically endangered plant — the estimate is 50 left on the planet and we found 10 more on just one day," Ms Christian said.

"We looked at historic illustrations and photos and interviewed Island elders to determine how the island looked in the 1700s."

They produced two maps — one as the island would have looked around 1750 and the other as it looked in 2020.

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