Major Antarctic biodiversity voyage underway
Sea ice effects on Ross Sea food webs
A sexy lure for perch
Weedbusting at the border
NIWA co-hosts global marine biodiversity meeting
Tangaroa off to survey biodiversity in the Ross Sea. (Photo: John Mitchell, NZ IPY-CAML)
Twenty-six scientists – including 19 from NIWA – and 18 crew have embarked on a 50-day voyage of scientific discovery.
Illegal imports found in the 2005 bust included the tropical weed, anchored water hyacinth (Eichhornia azurea) and the new-to-New Zealand mermaid weed (Proserpinaca palustris).
Benthic community at Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, including: encrusting coralline algae, seastars, and sea urchins camouflaged with pieces of drift red algae. (Photo: Rodd Budd, NIWA)
Scientists from NIWA and the Finnish Institute of Marine Research are using novel ways to explore the effects of sea ice on coastal food webs in Antarctica.
Sea ice is a major driver of polar marine ecosystems, partly through its effect on light levels and, hence, productivity.
Two hundred of the world’s leading marine biologists gathered in Auckland for five days last November to share the latest research insights on marine life from the poles to the tropics. The Census of Marine Life meeting was jointly hosted by NIWA and The University of Auckland.
The Census is a global 10-year research programme to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans (see: www.coml.org).
European perch – a pest in New Zealand’s waters. (Photo: NIWA)
NIWA biosecurity scientists are investigating attractant pheromones for luring perch into nets. The research could be a boon to controlling perch in high value conservation areas.
Perch have spread throughout New Zealand waterways since being introduced in the 1870s and are thought to have decimated some native fish populations.
Catching perch in nets can be “pretty hit-and-miss,” says NIWA scientist Dr Cindy Baker. In the wild, female perch release pheromones prior to ovulation to attract spawning males.
