Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research
New Zealand's foremost environmental research organisation.
Bio–controls for NZ farming
Farming pests that costs millions of dollars in control and lost production every year are about to find life a lot tougher.
Several new bio–controls have been released at sites throughout New Zealand by scientist Hugh Gourlay to try and control invasive weds including Scotch broom and Californian thistle. He says the releases are not a “quick fix”, instead their introduction will need to coincide with ongoing and wider on–farm management practices.
Furthermore, a bio–control introduced a decade ago to help control a pest plant in the Central North Island appears to have finally taken hold.
More: Discovery, Issue 19 »Topical IssuesCase study: Optical satellite imagery for regional monitoring Innovative remote sensing work by Landcare Research scientists is providing a wealth of information for land management in New Zealand, as this 2007 case study for the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit (CCMAU) explains. More» |
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Science in Focus - Wildlife Ecology and Epidemiology
The Wildlife Ecology & Epidemiology Team comprises 25 staff with expertise in animal pest ecology, modelling, epidemiology, and control strategies. Our work on pests and diseases include, marsupials (possums and wallabies), mustelids (stoats and ferrets), rodents (rats and mice), ungulates (deer, pigs and thar), birds (starlings and mynas), lagomorphs (rabbits and hares), and diseases as problems (bovine tuberculosis and avian malaria) and as biocontrols (rabbit haemorrhagic disease).
Work focuses on protecting native ecosystems and primary industry through improved understanding of pest responses to management, and the role of pests as disease carriers. This understanding is then used to develop better pest management regimes.
Research has been undertaken for central government (e.g. Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Department of Conservation), local government (e.g. Southland Regional Council, Environment Canterbury), national agencies (e.g. Animal Health Board, Foundation for Arable Research), international agencies (e.g. United Nations Development Programme, British Ecological Society, The Nature Conservancy), government agencies (Chile, Argentina, New Caledonia, Mauritius), and private companies and conservation initiatives.
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