David Norton

Emeritus Professor (Retired)Professor David Norton

Qualifications & Memberships

Research Interests

Research interests include conservation biology (especially fragmentation and restoration ecology, significance assessment and threatened plant conservation) and integrated land management (especially involving biodiversity in agricultural and plantation forest systems). Current research focuses on integrating pastoral and biodiversity values in the South Island high country and includes projects looking at integrated management planning, habitat use by merino sheep, photomonitoring as a management tool, effects of different management actions on biodiversity. Other research projects include assessing the affects of subsidence resulting from underground coal-mining on podocarp-beech forest, mine-site restoration, and ecology, conservation and restoration of threatened plant species.

Recent Publications

  • Blagen JR., Davies TRH., Wells A. and Norton DA. (2022) Post-seismic aggradation history of the West Coast, South Island, Aotearoa/New Zealand; dendrogeomorphological evidence and disaster recovery implications. Natural Hazards 114(3): 2545-2570. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05479-5.
  • Dominati EJ., Mackay AD., Rendel JM., Wall A., Norton DA., Pannell J. and Devantier B. (2021) Farm scale assessment of the impacts of biodiversity enhancement on the financial and environmental performance of mixed livestock farms in New Zealand. Agricultural Systems 187 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103007.
  • Maseyk FJF., Small B., Henwood RJT., Pannell J., Buckley HL. and Norton DA. (2021) Managing and protecting native biodiversity on-farm – what do sheep and beef farmers think? New Zealand Journal of Ecology 45(1): 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.45.1.
  • Pannell JL., Buckley HL., Case BS. and Norton DA. (2021) The significance of sheep and beef farms to conservation of native vegetation in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 45(1): 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.20417/nzjecol.45.11.
  • Bilgili E., Coskuner KA., Baysal I., Ozturk M., Usta Y., Eroglu M. and Norton D. (2020) The distribution of pine mistletoe (Viscum album ssp. austriacum) in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests: from stand to tree level. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 35(1-2): 20-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2020.1729402.

For international student enquiries, please note that Emeritus Professor Norton is no longer providing supervisory support for research PhD studies.