Threats and diseases

Aotearoa New Zealand’s native trees face a number of threats. Some threats, like deforestation and dieback due to possums, have been around for decades or more. Other threats are relatively new. New Zealand scientists are working to stop the devastation of diseases like kauri dieback and myrtle rust. Climate change and the disruption of weather patterns introduce the possibility of future threats, including forest fires.

Related articles

• Fighting kauri dieback and Kauri dieback

• Myrtle rust

• Myrtle Rust Reporter – citizen science project

• Deforestation

• 1080 – an overview

• Managing fire risk in the outdoors

• Invasive weeds and wildfires

• Low-flammability garden saves home

Related media

• Kauri Dieback: Death in the Ngahere – video

• Detecting myrtle rust in New Zealand – interactive

• Rural fires – video

• Rural fire risk – interactive

Image: Wildfire image courtesy of Scion. Myrtle rust image courtesy of Ministry for Primary Industries under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Deforestation image, public domain.