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Biological control of possums – introduction

Possums are one of New Zealand's biggest pests. Currently they are controlled by poisoning and trapping, but this is expensive and ongoing. Biological control has the potential to provide novel ...

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Restoring mauri after the Rena disaster

In October 2011, the Greek container ship MV Rena ran aground on Ōtāiti, also known as the Astrolabe Reef, off the coast of Tauranga. The oil spill resulted in the New Zealand’s worst maritime ...

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Insects and forest ecosystems

Our native forests – ngahere – have complex ecosystems. Within the wider ecosystems are smaller ecosystems, such as the one formed around honeydew. Honeydew is a sweet, sticky substance produced ...

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Ake Ake – forever and ever

In this activity, students learn about the Ake Ake model and how it was used with iwi on the Waikato River in the Huntly area. Students then explore changes in their local environment from a ...

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Aspects of sustainability – teacher resource

The New Zealand Curriculum guide for senior secondary schools discusses education for sustainability – learning to think and act in ways that safeguard the wellbeing of people and the planet ...

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Responding to Rena

In this activity, students consider short-term and long-term responses to an environmental disaster such as the Rena. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: describe what might ...

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CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

FrogID

FrogID is an Australian app that uses audio of frogs’ unique calls to identify various species and their locations. We can use it in New Zealand to record the location of introduced frogs. There ...

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CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT

The Great Kererū Count

The Great Kererū Count is New Zealand’s biggest citizen science project to help gather information on the abundance and distribution of the endemic New Zealand pigeon. The 2020 count takes place ...

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Explore related PLD

Developing a biocontrol game – unit plan

Students of any level develop a board game illustrating knowledge of New Zealand’s possum problem and the strategies used to control it – including biocontrol strategies. Purpose To demonstrate ...

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Making a case for possum biocontrol – unit plan

Students collect information from the public about methods of controlling possum numbers and then present a report on the use of biocontrol. Purpose Although the active biocontrol research ...

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Estuaries – a context for learning

With 75% of New Zealanders living within 10 km of the coast, many students will be familiar with estuaries. In scientific terms, estuaries are the interface between the land and the sea – the ...

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Biocontrol and the importance of species specificity

Of course it is really important that other species are not affected. This is one of the problems with using poisons, like 1080. They are often non-specific, and kill species other than possums ...

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The Rena Disaster

An important aspect of the government’s Long-Term Environmental Recovery Plan after the Rena disaster was to assess the impacts of the pollution and clean-up from a cultural perspective. A ...

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The Ake Ake model

The Ake Ake model is a pictorial mapping of someone’s perspective. Researcher Lorraine Dixon uses the model to encourage iwi to share their views including values and possible issues around ...

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Explore related interactives

C-14 carbon dating process

Historical artefacts like moa bones can be dated using a technique that measures the activity of the radioisotope carbon-14 still present in the sample. By comparing this with a modern standard ...

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River investigations and the nature of science

This interactive timeline highlights how students investigating the Oruarangi Stream engaged with the nature of science.

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Environmental forensics

Dr Candida Savage explains the clues she collects in estuaries and fiords, to understand how changes in land use affect these environments.

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