New web-based identification guides for aquatic organisms
Shedding new light on the humble sea cucumber
Effect of different estuarine habitats on biodiversity
Algal blooms wreak havoc in the Hauraki Gulf
No ordinary worms
Stunning "red tides" can be seen clearly in this photo.
A live specimen of Gymnodinium sp.
Cells of Karenia mikimotoi and K. brevisulcata.
Algal bloom in Leigh Harbour.
Study area (insert) and sampling locations.
On 11 October 2002 tens of thousands of fish were reported dead on Orewa beach north of Auckland. They included a whole range of shallow, midwater, and bottom-dwelling estuarine species (e.g., parore (mangrove fish), flounder, yellow-eyed mullet, eel, goby, and spotty).
The detritus-feeding sea cucumber.
An example of a “cup” ossicle.
The strawberry sea cucumber.
A major study of New Zealand’s sea cucumbers that is nearing completion, and recent taxonomic work, are providing a fuller picture of the diversity of this remarkable group of creatures.
Literally in a class of their own (Class Holothuroidea or holothurians), sea cucumbers are the less charismatic worm-like cousins of sea-stars, sea-urchins, and sea-lilies.
A series of web-based guides designed to help identify marine and freshwater organisms is one of the latest initiatives by NIWA’s Centre for Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity. The guides, produced through the FRST-funded programme Biodiversity of New Zealand Aquatic Environments, are now available on the NIWA website and include the following:
Guides to New Zealand freshwater crustaceans
NIWA has produced quick-guides for several groups of common freshwater crustaceans, including Amphipoda, planktonic Copepoda, and planktonic Cladocera (water-fleas).
This sampling quadrat highlights the rich biodiversity of mudflat communities.
Tairua estuary in the Coromandel.
NIWA scientists are studying the links between habitat types as part of a FRST-funded programme to better understand how estuaries recover from catastrophic sedimentation events and longer-term chronic degradation by sedimentation.
In an estuarine ecosystem there are often multiple habitat types, including salt-marshes, mangroves, sea-grass beds, unvegetated intertidal flats, tidal channels, and subtidal habitats.
An international symposium Species 2000: New Zealand was held in Wellington in 2000 to review and inventory New Zealand’s total biodiversity as a contribution towards global species databases. The next stage is the publication of a review volume, due in late 2004, comprising kingdom-by-kingdom or phylum-by-phylum reviews of bacteria, algal, fungal, and plant kingdoms, and all the phyla of animals. Future issues of Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity will feature updates on some of the organisms to be covered in the volume.
