Skip to content

Innovation articles

  1. Māori frameworks needed to recloak the whenua

    In the wake of the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and the increasing impact of climate change, there is a call to ensure a Māori world view is incorporated into risk assessment frameworks and decision-making processes.

  2. Ancient diets revealed by kākāpō scats

    Our researchers have revealed the most comprehensive analysis of prehistoric kākāpō diet ever performed.

  3. Local extinctions of kākāpō

    Kākāpō, found only in Aotearoa New Zealand, are critically endangered, flightless, nocturnal, and the heaviest parrots in the world. Kākāpō quickly disappeared from most of AoNZ after the introduction of predatory mammals, and now comprise approximately 250 individuals on three small, predator-free ...

  4. Can mosaics of trees help to reach Aotearoa’s carbon targets?

    Increasing carbon stocks in woody vegetation will be a major contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand reaching its zero-carbon emissions target by 2050. Plantation forestry has previously been promoted as the best way to achieve large-scale carbon sequestration, but a new MBIE Endeavour research program...

  5. Interactive urban tree mapping in Wellington

    “Bridging the gap between remote sensing and tree modelling with data science" – an exciting collaboration between New Zealand and Singapore – has achieved an important milestone with the launch of an interactive urban tree map of New Zealand’s capital city. 

  6. S-map reaches 10 million

    S-map has reached the halfway mark for mapping the farmable land area of Aotearoa New Zealand.

  7. Do native birds have enough to eat in mountain forests?

    With native forest bird species in AoNZ under threat from introduced mammal predators such as possums, rats, and stoats, the ranges of many native forest bird species have contracted to cooler, higher elevation tracts of forest that support fewer introduced mammals. However, while the birds are esca...

  8. The right tree in the right place? A major economic tree species poses major ecological threats

    Radiata pine is native to North America, where it is narrowly distributed along the Californian coast, but is one of the most widely planted tree species in the southern hemisphere. It had naturalised in New Zealand by 1904.

  9. Northland ngāhere mapped to help kaitiakitanga efforts

    Russell Forest on the east coast of Te Tai Tokerau/Northland is a diverse native ngāhere (forest). Researchers say it is an important example of a warm temperate rainforest in the region as it contains kauri, taraire, tawa, and totara along with threatened bird species, including the North Island br...

  10. Giving whakamana back to Māori landowners through land science tools

    A potential new kānuka industry is emerging thanks to Māori landowners partnering boldly with Manaaki Whenua to better understand their land through a te ao Māori-led approach to using land science tools.

  11. Making “un-poplar” decisions: a framework for better tree choices in our hill country

    Around 20% of Aotearoa New Zealand (5.2 million ha) is classed as “hill country” – much of it marginal pastoral agricultural land with low productive potential.

  12. Managing lucerne to fix soil N

    Lucerne is a widely used grazing fodder crop, and, like other legumes, is able to fix nitrogen in the soil. Well-managed lucerne is highly productive and the plant also has deep roots, which allow water extraction from well below 2-m depth and extract N from the soil.

  13. Getting to the root causes of soil erosion using high-res remote sensing

    Soil erosion processes are notably active in Aotearoa New Zealand: our steep slopes, generally weak sedimentary rocks, and high annual rainfall totals including frequent large rainfall events, underscored by a history of vegetation clearance for agriculture, mean that around 192 million tonnes of so...

  14. Winning against Wildings – an update

    Introduced conifers are the backbone of commercial forestry in Aotearoa New Zealand, worth around $5 billion a year. However, invasion of land by wilding conifers is arguably AoNZ’s most serious and intractable weed problem.

  15. How destructive could myrtle rust be to our trees?

    Aotearoa New Zealand has 37 native Myrtaceae species, including pōhutukawa and rātā, mānuka and kānuka, ramarama and swamp maire, of which 25 are endemic. But there are many other non-native myrtle species in AoNZ, including eucalypts, feijoa, bottlebrushes, lilly pilly, and monkey apple.

  16. Using genomics data to unlock precision pest control

    Pest control of invasive mammalian species – rats, mice, stoats, possums, and the rest – is a key priority for Aotearoa New Zealand to prevent further decline of our iconic, endangered native species, and to support the Predator Free 2050 initiative. One limitation of current vertebrate toxins for p...

  17. Natural enemy for invasive African tulip tree arrives in the Kingdom of Tonga

    The African tulip tree is considered one of the 100 worst alien invasive species in the world and one of the top 30 terrestrial invasive plants.

  18. Swapping time for space to track the impact of climate change on soil microbes

    To test the effects of climate change on species at any scale is difficult. Scientists can’t manufacture realistic global warming in a test tube or in a lab over a few hours, or a few days. As a result, a big challenge for climate change researchers has always been how to best record potential shift...

  19. Future drought could drain primary sector profit

    Research published in August 2021 by the Deep South Challenge and Manaaki Whenua, with the support of Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, has found that more intense future drought is likely to lead to drops in farm profit.

  20. He huringa āhuarangi, he huringa ao: a changing climate, a changing world

    In October 2021, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and Manaaki Whenua released a report offering new guidance for Te Ao Māori on climate change adaptation and mitigation. He huringa āhuarangi, he huringa ao: a changing climate, a changing world was produced by a multidisciplinary Māori research team working ...