NIWA helps revamp the National Pest Plant Accord
Horse mussels, murky water, and biodiversity
Port surveys turn up 100 new species
New bugs from deep-sea mud
Didymo control trials underway
Didymo continues to make headlines as it spreads through waterways in the South Island, with the latest confirmed incursion in the Ahuriri River, Canterbury.
Biosecurity New Zealand has commissioned NIWA to identify and trial biocides that could control or eradicate didymo without causing unacceptable environmental impacts. This will be a three-step process, involving product screening, product testing, and full-scale river control/eradication trials.
We have set up a facility for the screening and testing trials at Monowai Power Station on the banks of the lower Wairau River, Southland.
A horse mussel bed.
Many of New Zealand’s estuaries and shallow coastal waters are experiencing increased sediment loads because of coastal development. Recent NIWA research has investigated the effects of suspended sediment concentrations on species that live on the seafloor.
In many systems there are key species which influence the abundance and diversity of organisms around them through their effects on food, nutrients, movement, and the provision of habitats.
Results of the genetic analysis show two groups (in blue and green respectively) that probably represent new bacterial genera.
In all, we isolated 15 types of bacteria from sediment cores taken at depths of between 270 and 4000 metres on the Norfolk Ridge and Challenger Plateau.
NIWA staff taking a ‘grab’ of Tauranga Harbour sediments to survey sediment-dwelling fauna.
Surveys of 16 ports and marinas around New Zealand have revealed more than 100 species that are new to science.
In 2001, Biosecurity New Zealand contracted NIWA to survey 13 New Zealand ports and 3 marinas of first entry for international vessels, ranging from Opua to Bluff.
The freshwater eelgrass, Vallisneria spiralis, commonly used in aquaria, has recently taken hold in Northland, Wellington, Wairarapa, and Marlborough. Although it doesn’t move around easily, it is extremely invasive once planted, forming dense mats in fast-flowing waterways.
