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| Innovation Flooding The Hakarimata Road site runs parallel to the Waikato River for a distance of one kilometer. In February 2004 the river was in flood and took over 3 weeks to return to it's normal level. There had been significant planting events in July to September each of the previous three years. Some of the young plants were completely covered by water for most of those three weeks providing a unique opportunity to observe the effects of flooding. Flooding is well known to cause waterlogged soil and tolerance of plant species to water logging is well known. In this case the submersion of the leaves and stems appeared also significant because plants completely submerged were less likely to survive than plants with some leaves and stems above the water level. and plant species tolerant of waterlogged soil suffered in this flood. The table summarizes the survival of species planted. Good indicates most or all of the specimens survived, Moderate indicates some of the specimens survived or in the case of Cordyline australis and Carex virgata the foliage died but the roots survived to grow new leaves. In the case of larger cabbage trees, the foliage below the water level died but the rest of the tree was unharmed. Poor indicates most or all of the specimens died. Some of the species in the poor category are common in this habitat but may possibly only occur between major flood events, may be found above the flood level or may acclimatize to these conditions.
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