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2020 Innovation articles

  1. Rats with chips: how microchipped rats are helping scientists to protect our native birds

    Some of the highest rat densities ever measured on the New Zealand mainland are being recorded in a study run by Manaaki Whenua at Lake Alabaster in Fiordland as part of the 5-year ‘More Birds in the Bush’ MBIE Endeavour research programme. The study, carried out in collaboration with DOC, is showin...

  2. International recognition for New Zealand’s endangered fungi

    Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (www. iucnredlist.org) is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity and the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fu...

  3. A research partnership gives rise to a special mātauranga Māori journal issue

    During the year researchers at Manaaki Whenua contributed to the first special issue of the [New Zealand Journal of Ecology], focusing on ātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).

  4. Pacific Seeds for Life

    In March 2020 the New Zealand and Australian governments approved funding for the Pacific Seeds for Life (PS4L) project, in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC) Land Resources Division. Both Australia and New Zealand are members of the SPC.

  5. Gut flora could hold key to kiwi survival

    Brown kiwi ([Apteryx mantelli]) are highly vulnerable to extinction in the wild, with populations currently in serious decline. Even though ongoing conservation efforts such as Operation Nest Egg have increased their survival rate, the stress of captivity and the high density of chicks
    co-habiting s...

  6. Eradicating the last 5%

    New Zealand is a world leader in controlling and, in some areas, eradicating invasive mammalian predators. Much of that innovation has been in developing and deploying devices (e.g. traps, bait delivery), but those devices can only achieve complete eradication if all individuals in the target popula...

  7. Beyond Myrtle Rust – complex responses needed to solve complex problems

    Collaboration and communication are the key to success in solving some of our most complex environmental problems. The Beyond Myrtle Rust (BMR) programme, a 5-year effort funded by MBIE and hosted by Manaaki Whenua, is pulling together multiple experts from several institutions while working with st...

  8. Most-wanted predator’s DNA sequenced

    Assembled by teams of New Zealand scientists working with international collaborators, the complete genome of the stoat (Mustela erminea) is now available to researchers at the US-based National Center for Biotechnology Information genome database, hard on the heels of the ship rat genome.

  9. Land Cover Database v5 launched in 2020

    In the past 6 years more than half a million hectares of New Zealand’s land cover has changed, according to the latest version of New Zealand’s Land Cover Database (LCDB, version 5), launched in January 2020. Researchers say it is one of the biggest shifts in land cover since the first Land Cover Da...

  10. Regen ag: does the science stack up for New Zealand?

    Regenerative agriculture (regen ag), a term first coined in the 1970s, applies an adaptive ecological approach to agricultural landscape management, with a focus on ecosystem health. However, little research has been done to show whether, or how, regen ag delivers on claimed environmental, economic ...

  11. S-map goes from strength to strength

    Over the past 15 years S-map has transformed soil survey in New Zealand, from a mix of hard-copy soil maps and bulletins and a few regional endeavours based on old-fashioned informatics tools such as spreadsheets, into a robust, nationally consistent information system supplying soil information to ...

  12. Sharing our knowledge abroad

    For decades, soil scientists from Manaaki Whenua have been visiting Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) to collect soil samples and map soil patterns. This work is vital to help decision-makers improve their soils knowledge and land management practices.

  13. Building whakawhanaungatanga in Waikato and the Bay of Plenty

    For Māori, elements of ecosystems and their linkages form the basis of whakapapa (ancestry) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship/management) principles, and are crucial to taonga, traditions, health, and well-being. Over time, the development and intensification of land has resulted in degraded ecosystem...

  14. GIS for Māori land managers

    Iwi and conservation groups throughout the country can now track and plan the conservation progress of native taonga species in their rohe thanks to a new free software package developed by Manaaki Whenua.

  15. Tracking climate change awareness among rural decision-makers

    Over the coming decades changes in climate are likely to have serious effects on New Zealand’s productive land environments. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects a 0.8°C increase in temperature by 2040 for New Zealand, as well as more extreme rainfall events and increased dr...

  16. Decision-making in freshwater management – a social learning approach

    Scientists have long recognised that one of their biggest challenges is how to translate their recommendations into lasting management and behaviour changes among stakeholders. Individuals or people working in organisations may not be able to make changes easily, owing to a combination of norms and ...

  17. National environmental reporting – our science behind the headline reports

    The recent increase in environmental regulations in New Zealand, including the National Policy Statements for Freshwater Management (2013, 2017, 2019) and the recent National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land, is increasing demand for monitoring and assessing the impacts of land use on our...

  18. A new national soil carbon monitoring system for agricultural land

    Every year, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, New Zealand is obliged to report its national human-produced (anthropogenic) greenhouse gas emissions and removals. With average soil carbon stocks in New Zealand’s agricultural soils estimated at ab...

  19. Nitrous oxide and methane emissions: measurement and mitigation

    A renewed New Zealand Government focus on climate change in the past 3 years has sought to identify future research needs to address gaps in greenhouse gas monitoring and mitigation, thereby improving New Zealand’s national inventory for international reporting and mitigation technologies to meet pr...