Home > Subjects > Science > Level 2 > 2.3 NZ animal and plant evolution > Subject content
- Subject: Science
- AS: AS90772
- Level: 2
- Credits: 4
- External
Science 2.3 Describe the factors and processes involved in the evolution of New Zealand's plants and animals
Subject content
You will have a set of resources (for example, course notes and reading references) about this subject from your teacher. Keep them up to date and don’t forget to check these out.
The plants and animals of New Zealand that you may study are species of plant and animal that are endemic to New Zealand. Examples may include takahe, weta, pingao, short-tailed bat, pohutukawa, tuatara, kaka, southern rata.
Understand the factors and processes that are involved in the evolution of New Zealand’s endemic plants and animals.
Factors include:
- geological factors, such as:
- plate tectonics and the resulting effects such as the break-up of Gondwanaland.
- changing sea levels especially in the Tertiary period
- volcanism
- mountain uplift
- climatic changes especially those associated with the ice ages.
Check out how New Zealand was formed. This website also gives you information about the evolution of our most famous endemic animal – the kiwi.
Processes involved in the evolution of New Zealand plants and animals are those that affect the gene pool and could include:
- mutations
- genetic variation
- genetic isolation
- founder effect
- genetic drift
- differential selection pressures
- bottleneck effect.
Check out the information on this site about genetic variation, mutations, and genetic drift.
There is lots of information about endemic plants and animals of New Zealand on the New Zealand Department of Conservation website.
