| Research activity 2015/16 Key Achievements |
Core Funding Investment ($M excl GST) |
| |
2015/16 (planned) |
2015/16 (actual) |
| Enhancing Biodiversity |
$5.02 |
$5.23 |
| End users: DOC; MfE; MPI; MFAT; regional councils; non governmental conservation organisations (NGOs); community conservation/restoration groups; local government; Environment Court; Fonterra; researchers; Māori; T ūhoe Tuawhenua Trust; consulting firms; community conservation groups; landowners/managers; QEII National Trust; philanthropists; Kiwis for kiwi; Aotearoa Foundation; National Wetland Trust. |
| Biodiversity in Production Landscapes – Outcome 1 |
$1.04 |
$1.09 |
- Found that species that evolved for longer in New Zealand are more vulnerable to novel threats than more recent arrivals. This novel, national scale work on bird occupancy changes across NZ in the 1970s to 2000s was presented at two national conferences (EDS Wild Things and NZES) with widespread public interest. It underlines the urgency required for predator control to save our iconic (deep endemic) species.
- Held a workshop for key representatives of primary industry organisations from which the principal outcome was an agreement to begin to benchmark on farm biodiversity. The next step is to scope what the benchmarking needs to deliver to meet domestic and international market access demands.
|
| Threatened Species and Ecosystems – Outcome 1 and 4 |
$1.04 |
$1.09 |
- Resolved the long standing conundrum over the distribution of significant genetic units in kiwi populations in the North Island. It is now clear that some of the historic boundaries applied in kiwi management are not valid, whereas other significant population divisions are clearer. This determines which evolutionarily significant units should share translocation and population management strategies. We also presented our novel kiwi faecal monitoring methods to the Kiwi Recovery Group, captive breeding facilities, community groups, and DOC, supporting kiwi recovery.
- Mapped the genetic patterns of kānuka on the landscape, showing the distribution, high diversity and striking differentiation in some populations north of Auckland. The emerging kānuka oil and honey markets will access this information to inform decisions about production and local provenance. This is one of the most comprehensive landscape genetic studies in New Zealand to date.
- Investigated the fauna of one of New Zealand's rarest ecosystems, namely granite sand plains. The fact that up to five new taxa were identified suggests that some rare taxa do indeed correlate with rare ecosystems.
|
| Biodiversity Management Outcomes – Outcome 1 |
$0.72 |
$0.73 |
- Attended the translocation of the first 12 kōkako to be returned to Maungatautari Ecological Island in 35 years, after initiating a kōkako recovery strategy in 1988 and many years of preparation. Kōkako is an iconic species returning to Maungatautari, a 3400 ha pest free mainland sanctuary in the Waikato.
- Demonstrated that mice are deterred by light, supporting earlier anecdotal work. This means that re invasion by unwanted pest mammals to pest free areas may be limited with a light based tool. This may be a significant addition to current tools that protect fenced sanctuaries, jetties on pest free islands, food warehouses, etc.
- Working with Kiwis for Kiwi and DOC, we derived estimates of growth rates of all ten 'kinds' of kiwi for the first time, and estimated the cost of achieving an average 2% increase of all kiwi taxa by 2030. We found priority taxa for management and research effort are in remote parts of the South Island. We also studied national roles for 'kohanga' (kiwi farms) in kiwi recovery and concluded that while current kohanga should be sustained with some provisos, the best national strategy for kiwi recovery is in situ population management.
|
| Ecosystems Resilience – Outcome 1 |
$0.77 |
$0.79 |
- Showed that rats prevent ecosystem recovery after fire. Since the arrival of humans, NZ’s landscapes have been irrevocably altered by changes in fire regime, invasive plants and animals. We now understand how fire, seed predation, dispersal failure and invasive plants can interact to completely arrest forest succession. Our modelling also suggests that reduction of fire, which is critical to reinstate old forest, requires the control of voracious exotic seed predators such as rats.
- Found a lost ecological link (i.e. pollination) between kākāpō and Dactylanthus (a rare wood rose) through analysis of kākāpō coprolites. With reduced pollination and seed dispersal now major threats to the plant this is important information for its survival. Previously, the only known native pollinator of Dactylanthus was the short tailed bat.
|
| Māori and Biodiversity – Outcome 1 and 4 |
$0.33 |
$0.33 |
- Used evidence from many disciplines to prove that New Zealand’s grey faced petrel (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi), a species of particular importance to Māori, should be regarded as its own species, rather than a subspecies of the great winged petrel (P. macroptera A.). This has added another endemic seabird to New Zealand’s avifauna.
- Integrated traditional Māori knowledge with fossil pollen records to create a new framework for restoration. Using information from western palaeocological baselines and mātauranga knowledge systems, we developed bio cultural restoration goals for coastal ecosystems. This framework is already being picked up by post settlement entities planning their futures.
- Developed a Te Ao Māori framework for assessing forest health in New Zealand. This framework was co developed with Tūhoe forest users and elders. Many of the concepts were later generalised into a framework that MfE and Statistics New Zealand will use to report on environmental impacts on Te Ao Māori in national environmental reports.
|
| Measuring Biodiversity Change – Outcome 1 and 4 |
$1.55 |
$1.69 |
- Used the National Vegetation Survey databank and big data techniques to help resolve the question of how many trees the world has. Nature published a paper mapping tree density at a global scale, and estimating the number of trees in the world at c. 3 trillion – eight times higher than previous estimates. Trees provide essential services to people, including watershed protection, carbon storage, critical habitat for much of the world’s biota and provision of wood, fuel, and food. Knowing how many trees we have and how rapidly we are reducing this resource is critical for our long term survival and well being. It was found that humans are responsible for a loss of 15 billion trees per year.
- Collaborated with the Global Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network to develop a new approach to invasive species risk prioritisation. The Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) includes a target to ‘identify and prioritise invasive alien species and pathways’. We demonstrated how signatory countries to the CBD can prioritise invasion policy and management by simultaneously focusing on species most likely to invade, the most likely pathways of invasion, and the sites most at risk of invasion.
- Modelled forest dynamics using simple, easy to collect data. We co authored a Nature paper that used global data from 3 million trees to show that high growth rate is correlated with easily measured traits. An overwhelming challenge for modelling forests to date has been modelling how each species can affect every other species. The paper demonstrates that we can generalise the outcomes of competition in forests by describing each species in terms of its traits, rather than its species identity.
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