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nesting colonies. Meaning that these birds numbers could decrease hugely as their eggs become threatened by the floods.
4. An especially threatened specie is the tuatara. Tuataras have low genetic diversity which means that they are associated to vulnerability to new pathogens as they will find it much harder to adapt with their low reproductive success. This is then topped off by the fact that even if they did achieve genetic diversity through breeding, with the increased number of pests it is highly likely that they would be stolen and eaten before they could hatch in the first place. Their eggs are also climate sensitive, and the warmer it is, the more males hatch. This is an increasing problem as males already outnumber females in places like on the Cook Strait’ s North Brother Island, making breeding again, a problem.
5. And finally there is plant life like the ranunculus grahamii. This is a buttercup found nowhere else in the world and it only exists on Mt Cook’ s Tasman glacier. They only grow on rock cliffs, ledges and crevices between 2,300 to 2,800 metres in altitude on the surrounding glacier. But they have been forced to retreat rapidly over the past 100 years due to the increasingly warming climate, making them even more difficult to find.