Tagged: Environment and Ecology

An Inventory of Citizen Science - Up and Atom

Kimberley Collins • Aug 22, 2016 •

• citizen science,
• community,
• Environment,
• research

The New Zealand Landcare Trust has launched ‘An Inventory of Citizen Science in New Zealand‘ to understand what’s happening in the citizen science space. An Inventory of Citizen Science, which was published earlier this month. The inventory, written by Dr. Monica Peters, includes a range of projects studying everything from children monitoring long-tailed bats, to patrolling beaches for dead seabirds and monitoring … Read More

Mātauranga Māori and kererū conservation - Mātau Taiao

Laura Goodall • Aug 18, 2016 •

• bird,
• conservation,
• Environment,
• indigenous knowledge,
• kereru,
• Len Gillman,
• mātauranga māori,
• native,
• sustainable,
• traditions,
• Treaty of Waitangi,
• wood pigeon

Letting people harvest New Zealand’s protected wood pigeon can create a win-win outcome for all, says conservationist Len Gillman. Len Gillman For centuries, Māori carefully managed and harvested kererū as an important food source. As kaitiaki (environmental guardians), communities will place a rāhui (temporary ban) on specific animals or plants if numbers get too low, to allow them to recover. This mātauranga Māori (indigenous knowledge) dates back to well … Read More

Govt asks: ‘Conservation science – are we doing it right?’ - News

John Kerr • Jul 18, 2016 •

• conservation,
• conservation and environment science roadmap,
• Department of Conservation,
• DoC,
• Environment,
• MfE,
• Ministry for the Environment,
• policy,
• research,
• research funding,
• research priorities,
• roadmap

The Government funds millions of dollars’ worth of conservation and environment research each year – and it needs your help to make sure that research is heading in the right direction. A planned conservation and environment science ‘roadmap’ will lay out the Government’s research priorities of for the next 20 years. The Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ministry for the Environment (MfE) have jointly … Read More

Deciphering Matariki: science lessons from star lore - Mātau Taiao

Laura Goodall • Jun 09, 2016 •

• ecology,
• Environment,
• indigenous knowledge,
• māori astronomy,
• matariki,
• mātauranga māori,
• rangi mātāmua,
• star knowledge,
• star lore,
• stars

For astronomy researcher Dr Rangi Matamua, traditional Māori star knowledge and Western science are not enemies but allies. His latest project uses historic star lore to shed light on modern environmental issues – and is also a deeply personal quest that began with a dying grandfather’s wish. Rangi Matamua Rangi Matamua’s path is literally written in the stars. Rangi (Ngai … Read More

Lessons from our worst oil spill - News

Erica Mather • May 20, 2016 •

• Astrolabe reef,
• Bay of Plenty,
• cargo,
• ecology,
• Environment,
• lessons,
• oil,
• Rena,
• wreckage

As thick heavy fuel oil washed ashore in the wake of the Rena grounding on the Astrolabe reef, smothering beaches and birds along the Bay of Plenty coast, public outrage mounted. Intense media coverage put pressure on environmental managers to answer difficult questions: what was the extent of the impact? How long would it take for the marine environment … Read More

Virtual reality brings new dimension to conservation - Guest Work

Guest Author • May 11, 2016 •

• camera,
• Environment,
• virtual reality,
• wildlife

By Ivy Shih, The Conversation Virtual reality technology is introducing a new dimension to wildlife conservation by helping researchers anywhere in the world assess the conditions of distant species and environments as if they were on location. The first application has been to better understand the environment of endangered jaguars living in the Peruvian Amazon. This information is … Read More

Part 9 Vision: Biodiversity loss is not inevitable: it is a choice – your choice! - The Nature of Things

Marie Brown • Mar 24, 2016 •

• Biodiversity,
• conservation,
• Environment,
• New Zealand

New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity is in crisis – a crisis of state and trend, a crisis of governance and a crisis of public engagement – because the fundamental drivers of loss have not been addressed. What follows is the vision articulated in Vanishing Nature to bring solutions together and identify progress in communicating it. New Zealand has … Read More

Book review: Pacific – The Ocean of the Future - Scibooks

Peter Griffin • Mar 07, 2016 •

• climate change,
• Environment,
• History,
• marine,
• ocean,
• Pacific,
• Science,
• Simon Winchester

I took incredible pleasure in slowly working through Simon Winchester’s new book Pacific, which serves as a sort of companion piece to his 2010 effort Atlantic. And what better a place to delve into a book about the world’s greatest ocean than in the middle of that ocean – Tahiti, where I was lucky enough to spend a week recently, with … Read More

Kids Greening Taupō: A Step Towards Transformation - Curious and Curiouser

Victoria Metcalf • Mar 02, 2016 •

• children,
• citizen science,
• education,
• Environment,
• Sustainability,
• Taupo

In this guest post by Thea DePetris, a Masters student at the University of Waikato, she outlines why the world’s wicked problems demand a transformation of our teaching systems and showcases one example, the Kids Greening Taupō community restoration education programme. The issues of the modern world aren’t getting any simpler as ‘wicked’ problems pervade our societal structure and environment. In response, educational … Read More

A learning system for science engagement: Part 1 - Curious and Curiouser

Victoria Metcalf • Feb 05, 2016 •

• citizen science,
• education,
• engagement,
• Environment,
• Learning,
• participatory science,
• public engagement,
• Science

Science engagement is currently a hot socio-political issue with extensive Government investment and interest. But it is not a new issue, and there is a lot that has been done in the past that we should be learning from and building on. A guest post by Dr Cathy Buntting, Senior Research Fellow, University Waikato. This is an educator’s perspective on the … Read More