Our People / Landcare Research / Judy Grindell
A Public Relations Manager(Landcare Research)who enjoys sharing stories about cool research and smart scientists.
Three Kings Islands — 56 km but an eon from New Zealand
The Three Kings Islands is a small archipelago only 56 km off the northern tip of New Zealand. They are the sole emergent part of the Three Kings Ridge, the remnants of an island arc that formed dur Continue Reading...
A new approach to biodiversity protection: local scale to landscape scale
All over New Zealand, there is a huge groundswell of interest in pest control for biodiversity protection. Small, isolated patches may not provide enough habitat to allow native species to survive Continue Reading...
The Styx Project
Chris Phillips, a catchment and land management scientist at Landcare Research says "Christchurch is often described as a city built on a swamp". The Christchurch City Council has responsi Continue Reading...
"Transitions" - a pocket park at the Ellerslie International Flower Show
Award winning effort at the Ellerslie International Flower Show Landcare Research does not normally enter flower shows but the Ellerslie International Flower Show was a chance to show 55,000 visi Continue Reading...
BioBlitz 2012 was the best ever!
The weather was glorious, which is a big plus if you’re trying to entice families out on ‘field trips’ (guided walks), working in a marquee or out searching for species. The venue, the Auckl Continue Reading...
WooHooo! BioBlitz is back!
(Well ... it will be back at the end of March 2012. This time it is in the Auckland Botanic Gardens, Manurewa) WHAT? BioBlitz is a two-day scientific race against time. It’s fascinating, fun, fa Continue Reading...
Antarctic - an extreme environment for soils
The total ice-free area of Antarctica comprises less than 0.4% of the continent, with the largest continuous expanse of ice-free ground in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. About 90% of the ice-free region Continue Reading...
Environmental protection of the Ross Sea region of Antarctica
Jackie Aislabie (Landcare Research) has spent many years working in Antarctica, and the image gallery that she and her colleagues have compiled provide a fascinating insight into many field seaso Continue Reading...
Adélie Penguin Research
Scientists have been studying Adélie penguins (Pygoscelie adeliae) for over 50 years. Antarctica is one of the last places in the world where animals can be studied in a habitat still largely unmo Continue Reading...
Antarctic soils
Jackie Aislabie is a microbiologist and an Antarctic expert; she leads a research programme on on soils and micro-organisms that live in that Continue Reading...
Tanya O'Neill on Christmas in Antarctica
Christmas in Antarctica. An adventure for some, and undoubtedly a difficult time for others. I’ve been asking around Base trying to get a feel for who fits into each category. I Continue Reading...
Acclimatising in Antarctica (Tanya O'Neill)
Tanya O'Neill says "Superbly uneventful is how I would describe this year’s flight South. Smooth to the point where I found myself thinking ‘surely something is about to go wrong?’ Continue Reading...
Tanya O'Neill reflects on her first field season in Antarctica
A common trait among those working at Scott Base and undertaking Antarctic fieldwork is their unique unflappability and flexibility towards everything down there. You make the most of opportun Continue Reading...
Managing multiple mammalian pest populations
Despite spending approximately $110 million per annum on the management of mammalian pests, they are still here and still threatening biodiversity conservation. Even where pests are managed, effect Continue Reading...
Future freedom from bovine TB
Graham Nugent (Landcare Research) says it is amazing there are now less than 80 TB infected deer and cattle herds in New Zealand compared to over 1,700 in 1994. Bovine TB is a bacterial disease t Continue Reading...
Return trip to Whanganui National Park
Grant Morriss (Landcare Research) picks up the story. Aerial 1080 baiting was completed in November 2009 and the monitoring crew were back in to check the results the next month. Roger Carran was Continue Reading...
Animal monitoring trip in Whanganui National Park
Roger Carran (Landcare Research) with a story of a 16-day field trip that got a lot more challenging than expected. The aim of this trip was to establish lines of chew cards and tra Continue Reading...
Restoring Lord Howe Island, Australia
John Parkes (Landcare Research / Invasive Species International) says that Lord Howe Island was one of the last places on earth to be colonised by people. It was only discovered by humans in Continue Reading...
Tree lobsters of Lord Howe Island
“Tree lobsters” are an enigmatic group of robust, ground-dwelling, stocky-looking stick insects found across New Guinea, New Caledonia and associated islands. The most famous member is the Continue Reading...
Managing multiple mammalian pest populations
Wendy Ruscoe (Landcare Research) says that despite spending approximately $110 million per annum on the management of mammalian pests, they are still here and still threatening biodiversity conser Continue Reading...
Feasibility study to save a jewel of biodiversity - the Juan Fernández Archipelago
Al Glen (Landcare Research) reflects on the islands that inspired the Robinson Crusoe stories The Juan Fernández Archipelago, 700 km west of mainland Chile, is a biodiversity hotspot with my Continue Reading...
Weeds & pests threaten biodiversity of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands
In late August 2010, Peter Bellingham and Hiroko Kurokawa visited the Ogasawara Islands to look at the invasion of the forests by an introduced tree, akagi (Bischofia javanica). &nbs Continue Reading...
Otago skinks give birth in the wild!
What a way to start off the New Year! Two baby Otago skinks were found inside the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary two weeks ago (the end of January 2011). It was fitting that James Reardon (DOC Continue Reading...
Decomposition of soil organic matter in heather dominated ecosystems
Gwen-Aëlle Grelet is using the Tongariro National Park as a natural laboratory where she is investigating the activitiy of mycorrhizal fungi associated with the roots of heather (Calluna vul Continue Reading...
Monitoring grassland recovery, Mackenzie Basin
As the 'nitro-green' of land use intensification spreads across the brown Mackenzie Basin floor, the biodiversity values and resilience of remaining, highly degraded dry tussock grasslands on t Continue Reading...
Frost Flats - a naturally rare ecosystem
Mark Smale says frost flats are one of the signature ecosystems of the Volcanic Plateau. They were created after vast quantities of pumice were deposited during the titanic eruptions that shaped Continue Reading...
Field techs talking about field work
Generally all field technicians agree on the best and the worst aspects of field work: Best bits — Getting to work in the outdoors in wilderness areas that few others ever get to, helicopter flig Continue Reading...
How do stony soils cope with dairy shed effluent?
Malcolm Mcleod of Landcare Research is studying the ability of stony soils, such as those found in the Mackenzie Basin, to handle dairy shed effluent. Over the last 15 years Landcare Research has Continue Reading...
From Spain to Central Otago
Carlos Rouco Zufiaurre is investigating possum ecology in dryland ecosystems Since arriving from Spain last January, Carlos has been working with Grant Norbury, James Smith, Roger Pech a Continue Reading...
Field work goes ahead, whatever the weather
Everyone's favourite sort of field trip ... smack in the middle of a cold weather bomb, as “wind, snow, horizontal sleet and hail, wind, rain, and wind wind wind. Scientist Grant Norbury s Continue Reading...
Impacts of wild horses
The Desert Road and the huge block of adjoining Crown land known popularly as “the Army Country” has long been famous for its somewhat controversial wild horses. In the late 1980s, when the h Continue Reading...
Singaporean shelling impacts
In military exercises in the 1990s, the Singaporean Army shelled parts of the army land on the Central Plateau ... they don’t have room for that sort of thing in Singapore! Mark Smale and hi Continue Reading...
Impact of de-icing agents used on the Desert Road
In 1998, Transit NZ decided to trial the use of the de-icing salt calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) on the Desert Road, one of the highest highways in the country and one with chronic ice problems. Continue Reading...
BioBlitz 2009 at Lincoln
The Lincoln BioBlitz took place on the 3rd & 4th of April. As usual in a BioBlitz, there were many surprises, including a native flatworm that had not been recorded in over a hundred year Continue Reading...
The 24th annual New Zealand Fungal Foray
Every autumn, enthusiasts have an expedition to some part of New Zealand in search of threatened native fungi, exotic fungal weeds, edible or poisonous, colourful or drab. One of the key aims is Continue Reading...
Heather beetle update
Simon Fowler notes beetles continued to spread over the 2009/210 summer, but not as far as predicted (or hoped). “Last year we predicted the area of beetle-spread would increase to a total area o Continue Reading...
TB and pest management on Molesworth
Ivor Yockney and several wild sentinel pigs were (slightly reluctant) film stars in TVNZ's 'Country Calendar'. Last autumn, Country Calendar were filming the huge Molesworth cattle muster an Continue Reading...
A million recruits could help the army
In 2009, Simon Fowler and Paul Peterson reported buckets of biocontrol beetles attacking heather, an invasive weed on the Central Plateau of the North Island. Heather might be nice in th Continue Reading...
New Invertebrate Containment Facility boosts biocontrol
Lynley Hayes of Landcare Research says “Weed biocontrol in New Zealand relies on importing potential agents from overseas via a secure containment facility in which to safely confirm the identific Continue Reading...
National cycleway through Pureora Forest Park
Mark Smale of Landcare Research used (very) old maps of (even older) tramways to help plan the route. The Department of Conservation has been asked to assist with establishing the national cyclewa Continue Reading...
Relocating the Havelock North harakeke
Sue Scheele reflects on finding welcoming, new homes for lots of important flax bushes (harakeke). This winter, the aging Rene Orchiston flax collection at Havelock North was relocated and rev Continue Reading...
Poor Knights Island has some special insects
The Poor Knights weevil adults are unusually long-lived (for a weevil anyway) The adult of the Poor Knights weevil, Hadramphus pittospori, has been recorded as living for 3 years: mos Continue Reading...
Avondale Spider
The large harmless spider found around the Avondale area of Auckland is an Australian huntsman spider. This spider found its way to New Zealand in the early 1920s, with the first specimen found Continue Reading...
Shingle beaches
These sea-washed, river-washed stony sweeps are another of New Zealand’s naturally rare ecosystems. Shingle beaches may be familiar to many of us picnicking and fishing at the coast. But ... Continue Reading...
Volcanic Dunes of the Rangipo Desert
Mark Smale of Landcare Research says such dunes rare - one of only a few such ecosystems in the world. The wild and ever-changing Rangipo Desert is not really a desert because it has ample rain Continue Reading...
Fred the Thread
In 2003, Corinne Watts was standing in a Waikato domed peat bog (as wetland scientists sometime do) contemplating the stems of giant cane-rushes Sporadanthus ferrugineus. She chanced upon lovely Continue Reading...
Domed bogs (Sporadanthus)
Domed bogs are dominated by jointed, giant cane rushes called Sporadanthus. They belong in the Restionaceae family, and when these restiad species break down, they form peat (Sphagnum mosses and Continue Reading...
Possums in dryland ecosystems
Al Glen summarises some interesting aspects of possum research on Molesworth Station The introduced brushtail possum is a major environmental and agricultural pest in New Zealand. Little informat Continue Reading...
BioBlitz – getting up close and personal with biodiversity
Young and old are fascinated, horrified and enchanted by what lives in their urban backyards. People discover creatures they may never have imagined. BioBlitz brings the environment a Continue Reading...
BioBlitz 2010
Finding nature in the city – over 1500 species in 24 hours of searching, with a final tally of 1799 species! 2010 was International Year of Biodiversity, and has the tag line "b Continue Reading...
Feral cats on Pitt Island
Feral cats, mice and ‘men’ inhabit Pitt Island, the second largest island (5,700 ha) of the Chathams. Bruce Warburton notes that, without wild cats, more native bird species might also become inh Continue Reading...
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