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Media Releases

  1. Pico beetle to help Vanuatu combat invasive prickly solanum

    Another milestone weed biocontrol event occurred this week with Vanuatu receiving the pico beetle to tackle the spread of the invasive weed prickly solanum, known as pico weed in Vanuatu. This follows on from the successful release of the hibiscus bur lace bug in July earlier this year. This is part...

  2. Beetle arrival brings hope against hoi, the invasive air potato in Niue

    This week Niue will be welcoming a leaf-feeding beetle that researchers hope will turn the tide against the invasive weed known as air potato, or locally as hoi.

  3. How far south did Polynesian seafarers travel in prehistory?

    Prehistoric Polynesian seafarers were highly skilled and undertook some of the longest and most technically demanding voyages in prehistory – but did they ever sail into very high latitudes with landfall in Antarctica, as some scholars have argued?

  4. Losing our edges: why reserves need to be bigger

    Native shrublands were once common across the Canterbury Plains, but over time, conversion of land to other uses including irrigated pasture have contributed to their gradual decline. Now, a new study by scientists at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research has found that spillover of nutrients and water...

  5. Fortune favours the timid: how better understanding of stoat behaviour will help predator control in Aotearoa

    It’s well-known that Aotearoa New Zealand’s native ecosystems are under threat from introduced pest predators such as rats, cats, possums and stoats.

  6. Lace bug release in Vanuatu to combat the invasive hibiscus bur

    Researchers from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research are undertaking the first global release of a lace bug species in Vanuatu at the end of July to combat the invasive hibiscus bur shrub.

  7. 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...

  8. Understanding your garden birds: who is ahead of the trend this year?

    There’s good news for South Islanders who feel they have been missing out on seeing the boisterous, honey-eating tūī in their gardens. Results from the 2023 State of NZ Garden Birds | Te Āhua o ngā Manu o te Kāri Aotearoa have just been released and the regional long-term trend shows a rapid increas...

  9. First natural enemy for an invasive weed to be released in Tuvalu

    Tuvalu has welcomed its first ever natural enemy to control the invasive weed tamalini or leucaena (Leucaena leucocephela).

  10. ANZAC gall fly release promises natural solution to weed threat

    A Kiwi-Australian collaboration with a difference is underway this ANZAC Day week on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.