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2021 News

  1. Winning against Wildings – an update

    Introduced conifers are the backbone of commercial forestry in New Zealand, worth around $5 billion a year. However, invasion of land by wilding conifers is arguably New Zealand’s most serious and intractable weed problem.

  2. Next-level possum control

    The Australian common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) has invaded most New Zealand landscapes and has established itself as a ravenous and problematic pest. Introduced in 1837 by settlers looking to start a trade in possum fur, the marsupials faced no natural predators and quickly got out o...

  3. Fake clues: using misinformation about odour to protect rare bird species

    Mammalian predators primarily rely on smell as their main cue, enabling them to detect food from a distance. Smell is – usually – a reliable strategy for locating food.

  4. An update on Eradication Science

    Invasive species control routinely removes roughly 95% of a target population. However, as part of the Predator Free 2050 initiative, control operations require complete eradication to be successful.

  5. Tucking into Tongariro heather

    Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was deliberately introduced into New Zealand, on the Central Plateau of the North Island, from 1912 to 1923 in an attempt to re-create Scottish grouse moors. By the 1990s it had spread to cover around 60,000 hectares of land in what is now Tongariro National Park.

  6. New biocontrol tools for wasp pests

    Introduced Vespula wasps – the German wasp (Vespula germanica) and the common wasp (V. vulgaris) – are generalist predators that attack a wide variety of arthropods, including honeybees, butterflies, flies, and spiders. Where they are invasive, these wasps have detrimental effects on normal ecosyste...

  7. Tracking lake snow across Aotearoa

    Lake snow is a sticky, mucus-like substance extruded like threads from cells of the alga Lindavia intermedia. Suspended in water, it sticks to fishing gear, boats, motors and people, and if it gets into residential water supplies it can clog filters in household appliances. First noticed in Lake Wān...

  8. Building social licence to operate

    Social licence to operate (SLO) is an essential ingredient in successful applied research, and is sought after by groups and organisations wishing to bring about environmental change. For example, if New Zealand’s ambitious predator-free goals are to be realised, SLO will need to be built around the...

  9. Modelling the nation’s COVID-19 response

    Test, trace, and isolate is a strategy used widely in the fight against COVID-19. On its own, contact tracing is unlikely to contain a COVID-19 outbreak, but it may reduce transmission enough to allow population-wide social distancing measures, including lockdowns, to be relaxed. Our researchers hav...

  10. Te Reo o Te Repo cultural wetland handbook launched

    A new cultural repo (wetland) handbook has been launched to help give a voice to repo throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Reo o Te Repo – Kei konei tonu au | The voice of the wetland – I am still here is the second volume of the Te Reo o Te Repo cultural wetland handbook series published by Manaaki ...