Permanent Staff

Dr John Clayton (Science Leader Freshwater Biosecurity)

Research and consultancy on aquatic plants including survey, lake condition assessment, ecological and management issues, control options, and benefits associated with aquatic plants. [ j.clayton@niwa.co.nz ]

Mary de Winton (Group Manager)

Submerged plant identification and vegetation surveys, SCUBA research techniques, identification ad ecology of characean algae, plant restoration ecology, aquatic plant database. [ m.dewinton@niwa.co.nz ]

Paul Champion (Principal Scientist)

Freshwater biosecurity, especially risk assessment, surveillance and formulation of eradication programmes for nationally and regionally significant pest plants. Conservation biology of endangered aquatic plants, wetland/aquatic botany and plant ecology. [ p.champion@niwa.co.nz ]

Dr Deborah Hofstra

Invasion biology of aquatic weeds, competitive interactions, evaluation of herbicides for aquatic weed control and development of novel control technologies. Conservation biology of endangered plants including the use of molecular genetic techniques, and fungal microbiology. Aquatic plant web pages. [ d.hofstra@niwa.co.nz ]

Dr Fleur Matheson

Nutrient cycling and plant-microbe-sediment interactions in aquatic and semi-aquatic (riparian, lake margin, intertidal) environments, aquatic plant effects on sediments and water quality, and SCUBA field studies. [ f.matheson@niwa.co.nz ]

Rohan Wells

Aquatic ecology, with a focus on aquatic weed control, lake biodiversity, water level impacts in aquatic systems and aquatic biosecurity surveillance. [ r.wells@niwa.co.nz ]

Aleki Taumoepeau

SCUBA field studies, lake deployment of field equipment and vegetation monitoring including sonar signal and spatial referencing procedures to detect and describe submerged vegetation attributes. [ a.taumoepeau@niwa.co.nz ]

Tracey Edwards

Assessment of lake condition using aquatic plants, LakeSPI database, SCUBA instructor for NIWA Scientific Divers. [ t.edwards@niwa.co.nz ]

Kerry Bodmin

Wetland/aquatic botany and plant ecology, assessment and monitoring of biodiversity, plant restoration ecology, management options for invasive plant species. [ k.bodmin@niwa.co.nz ]

Students

Chrystal Kelly (University of Waikato MSc student)

Aquatic weed control, including novel control technologies for invasive aquatic weeds, fungal microbiology, and water chemistry. [ c.kelly@niwa.co.nz ]

International collaboration

Lars Anderson

US Dept of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Exotic & Invasive Weed Research, Davis, CA. Project: Research on control and management of aquatic weeds with several species in common to NZ and USA.

Dr Michelle Casanova

Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria. Project: Speciation and biogeography of Australasian charophytes.

Tony Dugdale

Section Leader, Aquatic & Riparian Weeds, Bioprotection, Dept of Primary Industries, Victoria. Project: Aquatic weed management research programme investigating alligator weed management and submerged weed control options.

Dr Kurt Getsinger

US Army Corp of Engineers Research and Development Center. Project: Aquatic plant control technologies.

Dr Doria R. Gordon

Senior Ecologist & Associate Director of Conservation Science, Courtesy Professor of Botany, University of Florida. Project: Evaluating Champion and Clayton 2000 Aquatic Weed Risk Assessment Model.

Dr Sabine Hilt

IGB Berlin (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries). Project: Restoration, protection and control of submerged macrophytes in different New Zealand lakes.

Jenifer Parson & Kathy Hamel

Washington State Dept of Ecology, USA. Project: Regular exchange of information on weed management issues as similar climates result in similar weed threats in NZ and California.

Andrew Petroeschevsky

National Aquatic Weeds Co-ordinator, NSW Dept of Primary Industries. Project: Assessment of risk posed by potential weeds in the Australian aquarium and pond plant trade.

Dr Tenna Riis

Dept of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. Project: Ecophysiology of invasive and non-invasive freshwater plants.

María A. Rodrigo

Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Spain. Project: Measuring charophyte germination response under different lake flocculation and capping materials.

Dr Judy Shearer

US Army Corp of Engineers Research and Development Center. Project: Fungal plant pathogens.

Donald Stubbs

Associate Director Registration Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, US Environmental Protection Agency. Project: Herbicide registration for emergency weed incursions.