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2024 News

  1. Celebrating our achievements

    Robyn Simcock

    Dr Robyn Simcock was part of the winning project team for the NZ Institute of Landscape Architects ‘He Iti Pounamu’ category (small ideas with significant outcomes) for an innovation in creating root zones for native forest regeneration at the O Mahurangi Penlink highway, Auckland. Ro...

  2. Gender and “man-made” disasters: the role of women in recovery

    As natural disasters become more frequent, the role of women in recovery needs to be recognised and adequately supported, a senior environmental social scientist says.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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...

  6. 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...

  7. 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...

  8. 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...

  9. 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.

  10. 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...