Skip to content

2024 News

  1. New flora species recorded in Niue

    Botanist Dr Peter Heenan has made a special botanical discovery on the tiny island nation of Niue, by identifying three new flora species.

  2. 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 has found that spillover of nutrients and water from adjacent inten...

  3. Nest survival drives positive responses of native forest birds to predator management

    It is well known that predation by invasive mammals is the primary threat facing Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ)’s remaining native forest birds. Past research by Manaaki Whenua ecologists has demonstrated that distributions of our treasured birds have particularly shrunk in warmer, more northern forest...

  4. TrapSim Plus: a new tool for predator control

    Scientists recently launched a free, user-friendly online application, TrapSim Plus, to help people to plan better, more cost-effective predator control.

  5. One Biosecurity on the horizon

    The COVID pandemic underscored a global need for integrated responses to combat emerging threats to human health – a so-called One Health approach. But a recent paper contributed to by Manaaki Whenua researchers – mathematical modeller Dr Rachelle Binny, molecular ecologist Dr Manpreet Dhami and soc...

  6. Kingdom of rust

    The Environmental Protection Authority approved the release of the rust fungus Uromyces pencanus as a biological control agent for the weed Chilean needle grass in July 2024.

  7. Life’s a beech

    Analysis of preserved kakapo coprolites has expanded the potential sites for future kakapo population recovery.

  8. Is it really here?

    In a recent presentation at the 2024 Fungi Colloquium, Manaaki Whenua’s Biota of NZ information system was described as the most powerful resource for fungi of its kind in the world.

  9. Geoprivacy for indigenous biodiversity management data

    Manaaki Whenua ecologists Cecilia Arienti and Dr Dean Anderson were recent co-authors, with researchers from the University of Auckland, Simon Fraser University in British Colombia, Canada, and communications consultant Waitangi Wood, on an important research paper that proposes a mechanism for scie...

  10. Nga Hekaheka o Aotearoa – Fungi of New Zealand

    The great forests of Tane Mahuta hold a treasure trove of fungi, many only found in Aotearoa New Zealand. Certain kinds of fungi were traditionally valued by Māori, like awheto (vegetable caterpillar) which was burned and used to make ink for ta moko (tattooing).