It looks like the work of a small alien race. On the moonscape slopes of Mount Ruapehu, hexagon shapes enclose small patches of scrubby plants.
But these are not UFOs. These strange contraptions are more like time travel machines.
Pindrop biomass survey at low elevation site. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ
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The alpine habitat here plays host to an ongoing climate change experiment investigating what will happen to alpine plants in a warming world. The hexagonal plastic chambers heat the soil and air temperature by 2°C – the predicted average rise in temperature in alpine regions up to 2070.
The site is just one of 20 worldwide that form the WaRM network – Warming and Removal in Mountains. Dr Julie Deslippe of Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, leads the research on these sites in Tongariro National Park.
Indira ties down the warming chamber. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ
In some ‘removal’ plots, the most prevalent plant in the area has been taken out to see how this impacts plant biodiversity. At the low-elevation site in New Zealand, this dominant plant is invasive heather, so these plots give a window into what the future might be like if ongoing heather control methods prove successful. The research has been going underway for eight years now, and with all this data the team are starting to figure some things out.
Listen to the episode to find out what they have learned about the future of our alpine plants.
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Listen to the full Our Changing World episode to learn more about the WaRM network, research and the alpine plants of Tongariro National Park.
