Innovations
Possum with tracking collar. Image - Sam Brown
Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
New Zealand is a signatory to both the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the newly established Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Landcare Research senior staff are actively involved in the IPBES process. One of our scientists, Dr Phil Lyver, was among just 25 experts from around the world to be elected to the Multi-disciplinary Expert Panel (MEP) by the 109 plenary countries represented on IPBES. MEP meetings in Cambridge (UK) and Norway focused on developing the Work Programme for IPBES and reviewing the many proposals submitted by the countries and stakeholder organisations. Dr Lyver was also a member of the Organising Committee for the Indigenous and Local Knowledge Workshop held in Tokyo in June 2013 to develop procedures and approaches for engaging indigenous and local communities in IPBES.
This is part of the Managing Biodiversity Change portfolio, and is supported by MBIE funding.
Invasive Animals CRC
Landcare Research is a Core Participant in the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), an extensive AU$19.7 million programme of research and extension activities. We target pest management problems of concern to both New Zealand and Australia.
We began work on four projects that will enhance our mutual capability in biological control of rabbits (potential new virulent strains of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) and overcoming immunity derived from benign calicivirus infection); widely- applicable ecological modelling frameworks that better include stakeholder needs; improved decision support systems (which include biodiversity outcomes and stakeholder needs) to prioritise pest management at local and national scales in New Zealand and Australia; and improved understanding, surveillance (including citizen science methods for monitoring) and forecasting of mouse plagues in Australia.
The projects are part of the Managing Invasive Weeds, Pests & Diseases portfolio. Participation in the CRC was supported by Landcare Research strategic investment; the research projects are co-funded by the CRC and hence provide significant return on our investment.
Global change and trade
Through this strategic investment project we are collaborating with the Computation Institute and University of Chicago to have exclusive access to global-scale simulation studies on climate impacts on crop yields for our global integrated assessment modelling work for MPI. This year, we are close to finalising forest productivity simulations, including how alternative management strategies perform under a changing climate and quantifying important uncertainties around these results – a significant step forward from previous simulation studies carried out in New Zealand. We are now focusing on developing a spatially detailed and dynamic economic model of land-based production in New Zealand and next year this will be linked to the global integrated assessment model to estimate impacts of global climate change on the production and export’s value of New Zealand’s primary sectors (i.e. agriculture and forestry).
This project is part of the Enhancing Policy Development portfolio, and is supported by Landcare Research strategic investment.
OzFlux and KiwiFlux workshop
Landcare Research hosted the annual OzFlux and KiwiFlux workshop on measuring exchange of greenhouse gases between the ecosystem and the atmosphere. The workshop (attended by over 50 researchers, mainly from overseas) emphasised the importance of emissions from agricultural sources, including measurement and mitigation of agricultural greenhouse gas from dairy activities. A key focus of the workshop was the importance and challenges in making accurate measurements and improved data interpretation. Information disseminated from this workshop will be used by universities and research organisations in Australia and New Zealand to reduce the uncertainty in greenhouse gas emissions inventories.
The research is part of the Measuring Greenhouse Gases and Carbon Storage portfolio, and was supported by Core funding.
Global Plants Initiative
The Global Plants Initiative (GPI) is an international partnership of more than 270 herbaria representing over 70 countries with the goal to digitise type specimens of plants, fungi and algae (the specimens from which a species was first described) and other holdings and make these available for scholarly purposes through JSTOR Plant Science. To date, over 1.6 million type specimens from around the world are available for viewing. For the last 10 years the US-based Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has led and funded the project.
Our Allan Herbarium became a GPI partner (as a member of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH)) in late 2012. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew sent the Herbarium a HerbScanner and the HerbScan frame; and the Netherlands sent a Leaf Aptus Camera. In addition to this equipment that the Allan Herbarium is allowed to keep, the Mellon Foundation is also funding a technician to digitise about 2000 Allan Herbarium sheets containing type specimens of vascular plants. This work also benefits users of the New Zealand Virtual Herbarium, including those from biodiversity and biosecurity sectors, as well as contributing to global sharing of high resolution digital images of type specimens.
This digitisation project is part of the Defining Land Biota portfolio, and is supported by the Mellon Foundation. The Allan Herbarium is supported by Core funding.
Antarctic Environments Portal
This year, we signed an agreement with Antarctica New Zealand to jointly develop an Antarctic Environments Portal that will provide an easily-accessible, unbiased scientific evidence base to support Antarctic policy agencies such as the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). With the increasing environmental pressures on the continent, agencies such as the CEP need to be able to access this evidence-based information quickly and efficiently to support the goals of the Antarctic Treaty.
The portal will also draw on our extensive informatics capability to provide a mapping interface with which to explore the continent and show new geospatial information. The portal will also contain short reports that summarise the state of knowledge on the priority issues and science-focused discussions on emerging issues within Antarctica. Users will be able to search, explore and browse the information, which, in turn, will continue to evolve as policy priorities change and as the science knowledge base to support the information grows.
At the recent Antarctic Treaty meetings in Belgium, the progress of the portal was highlighted in a presentation and video that we prepared for Antarctica New Zealand, to show the current state of the portal and visually showcase the work and concept to the Antarctic Treaty member countries. The response to the project was very positive, by both acknowledging the significant progress that has been made but also strongly supporting the ongoing project.
This research is part of the Characterising Land Resources portfolio, and is supported by Core funding and Antarctic New Zealand.
Supporting government initiatives overseas
We support New Zealand’s multilateral/bilateral environmental commitments, trade agreements and Official Development Assistance in Pacific Island Countries through capacity-building projects. This year, for example, we worked with AsureQuality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to develop a programme for technical cooperation to help develop biosecurity and systematics capability in the Indonesian Quarantine Agency (part of the Ministry of Agriculture).
In areas of our core capability, Landcare Research partners with New Zealand government agencies (MFAT, MBIE); international funders (private sector, philanthropists, NGOs, national governments and donors); and overseas universities and science agencies on science projects across many countries in South America, India, SE Asia, the Pacific, China and South Korea. Much of this work centres on invasive species management, biodiversity, improved land management, and methodologies for greenhouse gas – carbon storage inventory.
Our partnerships with national science agencies in Chile and China are aligned with New Zealand Government initiatives in those countries.
These projects are provided by several portfolios.
Cost–benefit analyses tools to manage invasive species
Following successful workshops on assessing the management of invasive species using rigorous cost–benefit analyses in the Pacific, two of our staff collaborated with the Pacific Invasives Initiative and CABI to develop and lead a similar workshop in Trinidad and Tobago. Participants represented the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia and Mexico. All these countries (save Mexico) are involved in the GEF-funded project entitled ‘Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean’. The course took participants through an overview of invasive species management, the steps involved in conducting cost–benefit analysis, the cost–benefit tool developed by Landcare Research, and techniques for non-market valuation. The course was well received and had a high level of participation. Participants will work on their own cost–benefit analyses case studies, which will be completed by the end of this year and be the basis for a publication.
This research is part of the Enhancing Policy Development portfolio. The project was funded by the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (which receives funding from seven organisations) and GEF (Global Environment Facility).