Hamilton Ecological District is part of the Waikato Ecological Region in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

. It occupies the Hamilton basin and surrounding foothills, and has been heavily modified with less than two percent of its indigenous vegetation remaining. This location has been studied significantly including the process of restoration ecology

Restoration ecology

-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...

. C. Michael Hogan has classified the undisturbed portions of the woodland area as a beech and podocarp forest with associate understory

Understory

Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...

 ferns being Blechnum filiforme

Blechnum filiforme

Blechnum filiforme or thread fern is an endemic New Zealand fern species in the hard fern family, Blechnaceae. The species authority is Ettingsh.Thread fern has a creeping and climbing habit...

, Asplenium flaccidum

Asplenium flaccidum

Asplenium flaccidum is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. The plant common name is Drooping Spleenwort or Weeping Spleenwort, and the species name flaccidum derives from the Latin root meaning drooping. An example occurrence of A...

, Doodia media

Doodia media

Doodia media, also known as rasp fern , is a species of fern in the Blechnaceae family. The genus authority is R. Br.. Distribution of the species includes New Zealand's North Island and the upper part of the South Island...

, Hymenophyllum demissum

Hymenophyllum demissum

Hymenophyllum demissum is a species of fern in the family Hymenophyllaceae. H. demissum is found in New Zealand, with a specific example occurrence being in North Island's Hamilton Ecological District in a Nothofagus-podocarp forest in association with other fern species understory plants, Crown...

, Microsorum pustulatum

Microsorum pustulatum

Microsorum pustulatum is a species of fern within the Polypodiaceae family. This species occurs widely in New Zealand and also in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in Australia...

and Microsorum scandens

Microsorum scandens

Microsorum scandens is a species of fern within the Polypodiaceae family. This species occurs in parts of New Zealand and Australia. An example occurrence on North Island, New Zealand is in the Hamilton Ecological District where it is associated with a number of other ferns including Blechnum...

, and some prominent associate shrubs being Olearia ranii and Alseuosmia quercifolia.