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Environmental Perceptions Survey

Under pressure? In a state? What do New Zealanders really think about their environment?

Conducted every three years by economists at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, and first administered back in 2000, the results of the 11...

Animal exclosure

Solving the Case of the Missing Carbon: what really drives carbon loss in native forests?

Robust, time-sequenced calculations of carbon in different landscapes across Aotearoa are essential to support sensible conclusions about...

Honey bee [Apis mellifera] on mānuka

A new national nectar map for optimum beehive management

Among at least 40 native and exotic bee species known in New Zealand, the introduced honeybee is an essential pollinator of a long list o...

190312 beehives 5604

Pollen counts…

A study co-authored by the Bioeconomy Science Institute's Dr Marion Donald and Johnathon Ridden from the Canterbury Museum has shown that...

  1. Watching the detectives: the potential of sentinel species for disease monitoring in Aotearoa

    Our longstanding expertise in modelling and measuring wildlife movements across landscapes has huge potential for application to the problems posed by disease spread in wildlife, livestock, companion animals, and also people

  2. Wild in the country: how pines sow the seeds of their own success

    Planted in the right place, introduced conifer trees can provide timber, store carbon, decrease erosion, filter soil nutrients, improve water quality, and provide shelter for stock. However, wilding pine trees are a major weed problem across Aotearoa.

  3. Urban ecological restoration: an Indigenous viewpoint

    The environmental challenges faced by urban spaces are ever-increasing, as urban populations grow, green spaces are put under pressure from development, and the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss take hold.

  4. Biocontrol takes time – but good things are worth the wait

    More than 10 years after first proposing to target the pest aquatic plant lagarosiphon for biocontrol, the Bioeconomy Science Institute is now preparing a release application for the Environmental Protection Authority on behalf of the National Biocontrol Collective, which is funding the project. The...

  5. Ka mua, ka muri: reverse engineering the tikanga, mātauranga, and historical context of Māori rock art

    A major interdisciplinary project, co-led by Amanda Symon from the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust and Dr Phil Novis from the Bioeconomy Science Institute, in partnership with Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts Trust and researchers from Otago University and Earth Sciences NZ, has won a Marsd...

  6. Applied machine learning for indigenous tree mapping at landscape scales

    Remote sensing tools show promise for measuring forest carbon stocks and forest health at large scales. Working with the Department of Conservation (DoC), our geospatial and remote sensing team, including Dr Ben Jolly, has developed cutting-edge technology for mapping indigenous tree species, applyi...

  7. News in brief

    Tool for cats: a non-lethal deterrent for nature reserves

    Playing sounds of the presence of people when a cat trips a motion detector camera in an urban nature reserve works to scare the cat away from the area and thus protects native birds. In trials, 66% of cats exposed to the human sound fled i...

  8. Celebrating our achievements

    Jessie Prebble

    Jessica Prebble has been awarded a prestigious Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand – one of only 22 such awards in 2025. During her fellowship, Jessica will explore how plants promote the persistence of climate-resilient peat bogs, in particular ...

  9. Ka mua, ka muri: reverse engineering the tikanga, mātauranga, and historical context of Māori rock art

    We are proud to announce that a major interdisciplinary project, co-led by Amanda Symon from the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust and Dr Phil Novis from the Bioeconomy Science Institute, in partnership with Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts Trust and researchers from Otago University and Eart...

  10. Hallowe’en cobwebs are frighteningly good DNA collectors

    They’re usually spun to make spooky Hallowe’en decorations, but new research from the University of Waikato and the Bioeconomy Science Institute has found that toy cobwebs can also weave surprising benefits for environmental research.
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