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2024 News

  1. Myrtle rust – some good news on a bad anniversary

    This month marks the 7-year anniversary of the detection of myrtle rust on mainland New Zealand. The Beyond Myrtle Rust research programme has an update on the unprecedented levels of myrtle rust infections found on pōhutukawa trees in Auckland during the 2022/23 summer: this past summer, in 2023/24...

  2. Hop to it: managing New Zealand’s marsupial menace

    Wallabies arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand in the late 19th century, courtesy of Sir George Grey (Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1853). In later life Grey lived on Kawau Island, north of Auckland, and introduced five species of wallabies among a variety of interesting animals he acquired for hi...

  3. It’s in the genes

    Researcher Dr Andrew Veale has been looking at how the population genomics of wallabies could assist control programme planning. Andrew led a landscape genomics study using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to help understand invasive wallaby ecology in Aotearoa New Zealand, and to provide tools that w...

  4. Back off, it’s mine!

    Two separate studies on the bait uptake of wallabies, one by Manaaki Whenua senior researcher and wildlife ecologist Dr Patrick Garvey, in Canterbury on Bennett’s wallabies, and another by senior researcher Dr Graham Hickling and Dr Tim Day of Day in the Bush on dama wallabies near Rotorua and on Be...

  5. Where’s wallaby?

    Underpinning Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme is the premise that to achieve effective management a deeper understanding of wallaby ecology is crucial, particularly regarding their natural dispersal patterns, says researcher and wildlife ecologist Dr Dave Latham.

  6. Smile, you’re on camera!

    The picturesque Bay of Plenty in Aotearoa New Zealand harbours the not-so-charming wallaby invaders, the dama and parma wallaby. A research team plans to capture around 30 wild wallabies at a study site there. The wallabies will be fitted with GPS collars that will provide location data to assess ho...

  7. New partnership targets deadly livestock disease

    The fungus associated with facial eczema is common worldwide, but the toxicity of the Aotearoa New Zealand strain causes much more severe problems. It’s a challenging and painful disease that attacks the liver and bile ducts of ruminants and currently has no cure.

  8. Weed-eaters: gains for weed biocontrol in Aotearoa New Zealand

    European colonists introduced more than 25,000 species of plants to Aotearoa New Zealand within a 200-year period, and many of these newly introduced species soon naturalised and began causing problems.

  9. The gospel of St John’s wort: a phenomenal weed biocontrol success story

    Like so many plants brought by Europeans to augment botanical and kitchen gardens in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in the 19th century, St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) duly escaped and by the 1930s was one of the worst invasive weeds in both countries.

  10. How data science can shape tree modelling for sustainable land management

    A four-year data science programme involving a joint Aotearoa New Zealand-Singapore research team working to accelerate the development of data science capability in both countries has wrapped up demonstrating valuable connections between remote sensing, ecology and social sciences.