Franz Josef Glacier

Today was our amazing hike on Franz Josef Glacier. I was a part of the half day hike which involved a four our tramp up the glacier and back. This was a new experience as I have never walked on a glacier before. Our guide was very chatty and had many fun facts about the glacier and glaciers in general. The most obvious feature of a glacier is sheer size. The glacier reaches to a height of 2700 meters above sea level to 240 meters in 11 km which makes it the steepest and fastest flowing glacier that is commercially guided in the world. The next obvious feature is the color. The ice sheet appears a beautiful blue color as the light hits it because the wavelength of blue is reflected by the ice and others are absorbed. We were informed that as you go deeper into the ice, the color turns into a lavender about 30 meters down and way at the bottom you will find a deep purple color. This is something that we were told that we did not want to find out firsthand as that would mean that we had fallen to the bottom of the glacier! There are holes in the ice that are called moulins. These structures are like tubes that make the plumbing of the glacier. The melted water will collect in these moulins and runs through them to the bottom. Underneath the glacier the water creates the equivalent to a lubricant so that the ice sheet can move over the rocky surface below. An issue that we have been discussing on this trip is that of climate change. One of the signs of global warming has been the retreating and disappearing of the glaciers. The Franz Josef glacier is special in the sense that it is actually growing! The formation of glaciers can be basically described when there is snowfall at the top and it becomes compacted into ice. At the base of Franz Josef there may be 4-5 meters of snowfall per year, but at the top there is about 45 meters of snowfall per year. This snow makes the glacier grow about 70 cm per day. On the half day hike, we were taken into two ice caves. The larger of the two was about 8 meters in length and had plenty of head room. It was very beautiful. This cave opened about 3 weeks ago and is estimated by our guide to be open for only about 3 more weeks. To our surprise, there was a large crevasse that opened up yesterday at the end of the cave. It was wet and narrow and very steep down then back up the other side. There were times when my whole body was sideways because it was too small to fit in facing the front. The smaller of the ice caves was only about 3 meters long and had a "sunroof" as named by our guide. There was a hole that looked up to the sky at the end which showed the beautiful blue sky against the light blue ice.  It was amazing to see how the glacier that is believed to have one reached the Tasman Sea which is 19 km away has carved away the Southern Alps to make a flat rocky valley. A special feature of the glacier is that it is surrounded by rainforest. It is an unusual sight to see such a large sheet of ice surrounded by lush mountain rainforest. All in all, the day was wonderful. We were able to learn about the glaciers while getting to explore one firsthand, inside and out. 

Reported by Anna Jamrozek

Thorn Mountain

Katie and I had very close contact with a few kinds of native New Zealand thorn bushes. Our first day in Cass, we took a hike with Joe, Beth, and Katie up Mount Misery and Mount Horrible. We were not aware of the names of the mountains before our trek, so the whole hike we referred to it as Thorn Mountain. The climb up was steep. We traveled up through tall dry grasses and through I dense, mossy forest. We crossed a dirt and rock slip and headed up into prairie-like dry territory. We took a different route back down and ran into some very thorny plants. They were very stiff and had sharp barbs on the ends. Some bushes were knee high and others were well over our heads. The bramble was very think and difficult to climb down into without a machete. We bundled up in sweatshirts, mittens and raincoats, despite the heat, to keep our skin protected. We took a few photos of the most abundant thorn bushes we encountered in this subalpine environment and Brian helped us identify them as matagouri and dracophyllum.

Matagouri (Discaria toumatou) is the most widespread and common native shrub in New Zealand. It is also the only native plant with thorns. It is characterized by a branched and tangled array of thorns. It can grow up to five meters tall. It is considered a weed in parts of the South Island but is considered endangered in the North Island. This species is drought-tolerant and many farmers on the South Island will burn it or spray it. It’s also known as the Wild Irishman. See photos of this thorny mass below.

Dracophyllum filifolium is the other thorny plant we encountered. This plant had long, slender, needlelike leaves that had pointed barbs on the ends. Though this shrub would seem to be a monocot at first glance, it is actually a dicot. Dracophyllum is found in a variety of different species that are located throughout much of New Zealand. This shrub that we found seemed to be located at higher elevations compared to the Matagouri, which was observed at both low and higher elevations. See photos below. (Click to enlarge)

Endemic Toetoe

Toetoe is an endemic plant to New Zealand. It is the country's largest native grass and can grow in clumps as tall as 3 meters. The plant is part of the Cortaderia genus and comprises four different species. These species include: Cortaderia toetoe, Cortaderia fulvida, Cortaderia splendens and Cortaderia richardii.

Native Toetoe is easily confused with South American species of Cortaderia called C. jubata and C. selloana. These two species are commonly known as pampus grass. Many people are unable to distinguish between native toetoe and pampas grass. Some differences are that toetoe flower heads are curved, they flower early in summer, and they have leaves with secondary veins on either side of the midrib. In contrast, pampas grass has erect flower heads; which are often colored, flower in the fall, and have leaves lacking secondary veins.

On our trip, we have seen both endemic toetoe and pampas grass. Specifically, we saw a tremendous amount of both at our stay in Mapua. These were mostly located in areas where the tide is continuously coming in and out. We have also seen toetoe in swampy areas, as well as coastlines.

*Above is a picture from Mapua with the endemic toetoe on the left and the invasive pampas grass on the right.

It is interesting to see both species in the same area. While researching, I found out that pampas grass is actually considered to be an invasive species and has become a problem weed throughout New Zealand. It has increased competition for the native toetoe for land and resources.

Pancake Rocks

May 29th
On May 29th, we left the University of Canterbury research station in West Port and headed to Cass, another UC research station. On our way we made an interesting stop at the Punakaiki Resort, a unique tourism complex located on Punakaiki Beach near the world's famous Pancake Rocks on the West Coast of the South Island. The natural history of the Pancake Rocks is that they are greatly eroded sandstone that erupt though a number of straight up blowholes during high tides. The greatest attractions of the pancake are the layering of the limestone. They were shaped about 30 million years ago from microscopic fragments of dead marine creatures and plants that landed on the ocean floor about 2 km beneath the surface of the earth. The gigantic pressure of the water created the fragments to coagulate in rigid and bendable layers. Step by step segregated activities pushed up the limestone above the ocean floor. Gently acidic rain, wind and seawater carved the rocks into peculiar structures. The shapes of the pancake rock are unlike any thing I have ever seen before. These stone attract not only humans but also a lot of biodiversity of plants and animals. The vegetations along the tracks provide a unique sheltering opportunity for a variety of bird species such as the Weka, a flightless bird, and other animals. The thickness of the native bush also serves as a protective shield for endangered species such as blue penguins and coastal herb plants. This scenic area also provides great economic benefits to the residents of the town. There are number of coffee and clothing shops as well as backpackers and motels accommodations along the way for both national and international travelers that go through the major highway from West Port.

Tramping in Tongariro National Park

New Zealand is home to numerous mountains that form the backbone of both the North and the South Island. During our visit to the North Island we stopped in Tongariro National Park where we tramped around some of the mountain ranges that are home to the highest peak in the North Island, Mount Ruapehu, at an elevation of 2,797 m (9,176 ft). Mount Ruapehu, is an active statovolcano, also called a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano with many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, and volcanic ash. Stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions. The lava that flows from stratovolcanoes tends to be viscous; it cools and hardens before spreading far. The magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite, dacite, or andesite). Mt. Ruapehu is largely composed of andesite and began erupting at least 250,000 years ago. In recorded history, major eruptions have been about 50 years apart, in 1895, 1945 and 1995–1996. Minor eruptions are frequent, with at least 60 since 1945. This recent activity is due to the country's position on the boundary between the Indo-Australian and Pacific Plates, a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. During these hikes we stumbled upon streams that were coming off the mountain ranges that look much different from the streams back in Minnesota, I was curious to why the rivers had beds of orange. I soon discovered that this coloration was due to minerals these minerals that are iron- rich form precipitates that cover the rock beds in the rivers and stream associated with some springs on the andesitic volcanoes. These iron rich minerals after oxidization can cause the rocks to assume and orange or brown rusty color. These colored deposits are iron-oxide clays from upstream swamps. The heavy rain in the area tumbles over the ancient and newly formed lava flows and then makes its way to the rivers and streams that lace the mountain sides, further up the mountain when the stream emerges from the lava cliffs at the head of the valley the water is rich in aluminium and silicate minerals. These volcanic formed streams do not seem to affect the growing vegetation surrounding these areas. As we were walking I examined many different types of vegetative life such as wire rush, tangle fern, red tussock and beech trees that surround and shade the areas.

Solid Energy Annual Reports

Our trip to the Stockton Coal mine outside Westport, NZ
Gaby and I found the annual environmental reports for Solid Energy http://www.coalnz.com/index.cfm/1,292,831,0,html/Environmental-Report-2008
Stockton is the largest opencast coal mine in New Zealand, operated by solid energy. This mine has been in operation for over 100 years, but they have only had water treatment for 18 months and they have been putting out these environmental reports for 6 years. Their overall objective is to “have a net positive effect on the environment of New Zealand”. This seems a bit strange to us because the coal industry is a business, and the environment usually doesn’t come before profit. These annual reports make some reference to the amount of revenue put forth into rehabilitation and reforestation of the New Zealand bush. Yet on our tour, the driver, Mickey, mentioned some obscene amount of fuel being burned per hour for the super dozers. It was around 200 liters of petrol an hour. They operate at the mine around the clock. That was only two of the machines we saw. They probably have a very large number of other fuel guzzlers that are very expensive to run and not especially environmentally friendly. We understand that they are essential for the profitable operation of the coal mine but this is still an area for improvement.
Environment is one of their five sustainability areas. In the reports there is a point system used to measure the environmental effects. They are measured by a points system where points are assigned to 16 factors at each site that solid energy operates. This way the net positive and negative effects can be measured and compared. On average, over the past 6 years, they have improved their net environmental effect by 3% annually. One way they increase their positive effect using this point system is by planting native trees and shrubs, over 320,000 native trees and shrubs at 10 sites. To date, they have rehabilitated 160 hectares of land but this did not meet their target goal of over 195 hectares. Another way they improve their environmental effect is by utilizing direct transfer techniques on native vegetation. Direct transfer encourages faster regeneration and helps maintain biodiversity. For 2009, solid energy is working on improvements for their biomass and biodiesel sites.
Stockton coal mine seems to be a very unique site. They have a lot of site a lot of site-specific solutions to environmental problems and are moving in the right direction as far as environmental impact goes. We think it would be interesting to compare their progress to their other 7 mine sites, because Stockton got so much publicity and government pressure surrounding the snail discovery. Our tour was actually free of charge since we are a school group. This shows that they want to get their story out there and Phil, a speaker, let us know that they are interested in our input as students. Because of their attempts to improve their environmental impact, they have been receiving interest from other mines across the world wanting input on how to improve their mining site situations.

Post by Gaby and Lacey : )

The Punakaiki Trail

     Today we left Westport heading to Cass.  Along the way we stopped at Punakaiki to take a walk through the “Pancake Rocks” park, which took around half of an hour.  Here’s the story behind these limestone “pancake rocks:” "As soon as the rocks were raised above sea level, millions of years ago rainwater was finding its way underground and dissolving out the limestone into a complex network of shapes and passages.  Now stripped of overlying protective beach gravels and sand, the water-carved limestone and sand continues to be shaped by the restless  of the sea.  Never content, the sea is continually working away at weakness in the limestone.  High-tide waves surge into caves below, trapping air and forcing spray through roof features with a spectacular blowhole effect."  Unfortunately, we were unable to see these blowhole effects since we visited during low-tide.  "Every wave takes away some limestone – sometimes a small amount, sometimes a huge block of rock.  The roof of one cave collapsed long ago , to form part of the Putai Blowhole; another to form the large surge pool .  One day the limestone will be reshaped back into the sea – but not for thousands of years."  

       The walk through the park was short, but there were some gorgeous views of the ocean, and the worn away rocks/cliffs.  Along the way, there were several signs posted that gave short descriptions of various plants.  One of my favorites was the Nikau Palm (species: Rhopalostylis sapida), which is native to New Zealand.  The nikau has a single stout, straight trunk, and leaves are produced from a large solitary "bud" at the top of the trunk.  Unlike palm trees I've seen in Florida and Hawaii, the palm leaves grow more upward than outward, and the bud at their base is what makes it look most unique to me.  Here's a picture of it:

The other plant that most caught my eye was the Kawakawa aka "Pepper Tree" (species: Macropiper excelsum, family: piperaceae).  Kawakawa is a sacred tree with great powers in the Maori spiritual and physical worlds.  It's a small, densely-branched, aromatic tree, found on both the north and south islands of New Zealand.  The large, heart-shaped leaves are almost always holed by chewing insects.  These small holes are what make the plant look speckled with pepper.  

   This stop along our 3 hour drive was very enjoyable, giving us all some time to stretch our legs, see and learn about some native New Zealand plant species, and do a little bit of shopping at the information center :)  

Saving Native Snails or Coalmine

May 25- visit to the Aquarium.
Today was a great day of learning about New Zealand’s politics and how it impacts the fishery industry and other sea mammals. Richard De Mamel, a marine biologist/educator gave us a guided tour of the local aquarium in Mapua. Richard started by giving the environmental history of Mapua, a city on the South Island of New Zealand. There were chemicals dumped into the water that contaminated the soils. The contaminated land was eventually turned into a public park after several attempts to neutralize the soil by heating it to 120C.
It was a wonderful experience to visit the aquarium and see different kinds of oceanic species. I also had a great time playing with and feeding the eels. It was a great scenery and a learn opportunity about how every species in the food chain plays important role in maintaining and sustaining the ecosystem. The ecosystem suffers a loss when one species in the chain is depleted. Being at the aquarium created a strong connection for me in appreciating more of the fish species in ecological and biological terms. My grandfather fished for a living and my father was also a fisherman up to time when we left home and traveled to the U.S. With fishing being so substantial in my family I never stopped to think about the effects it had on the animal and plant species. It was not until college where I began to understand fully the effects in both biological and ecological terms.
Coming from a family of fishermen and farmers it was easy to brush past different plant and animal species. I often took them for granted and ignored their biological significance to the environment. Coming to New Zealand has given me such a great opportunity to learn and appreciate the different plant animal species that I most often didn’t pay any attention to. I think part of the reasons for not having a physical attachment to the rivers, lakes, mountains, trees, animals etc… is more of a cultural tendency and tradition of being raised in a nature environment. It does not surprise me when I am in the bush or forest area because that’s where I grew up. I usually don’t get excited about going camping or being in the wilderness because the wilderness has been my home for a long time. What gets me excited though is the fact that every moment I spent in the woods, hiking up on the mountain, watching the waterfalls, or visiting aquarium and seeing different species of fish, I learned new things. I learned about the ecosystem of the different species of plants and animals and their importance to the environment.

Solid Energy & Native Snails
May 28th

Today we visited the Stockton Mine, New Zealand’s largest Opencast Coalmine/Solid Energy Coal Mine at its West Port production plant. Mickey the tour guide, along with the environmental scientist Phil R. directed a tour of the mine and talked about the general operation of the company and some of the geological make-ups of the plant. Solid Energy is a government owned company that has been in operation for around a hundred years. Over the past five years the company began major environmental efforts including restoring native vegetations and rehabilitation of the ecosystem. The site of the company was home to the native snail species in the western region of the New Zealand. Stockton Coalmine was given permission by the Minister of Conservation to relocate the native snails in order to carry out coal mining in the area. Visiting the Solid Energy coal-mining site was a great opportunity for us to learn about both the politics and the science involved in dealing with the environmental controversies surrounding coal mining and species lost. Solid Energy is also involved with water treatment to clean up run-off from coal into the rivers and streams. I think it is good for the environment that the company is undertaking the necessary steps to avoid even more environmental destruction to the ecosystem. Our visit was very successful and I enjoyed it a lot.

May 25th Richard de Hamel

Today we met Brian’s friend, Richard de Hamel. He brought us to this beach when the tide was at its lowest point. We were sent out to explore under rocks and tide pools to see what kinds of different species we could find.

We found many different species of crabs, but we decided to focus on one of the first crabs we found, the Porcelain Crab. The Porcelain Crab is of the family Porcellanidae, this type of crab in unique because instead of using its large front claws to eat it uses its maxillipeds, called setae. Therefore, it is considered a filter feeder and it feeds primarily on plankton but will eat flesh from fish and shrimp. Porcelain Crabs live mainly in rock pools in all oceans except the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. Porcelain Crabs are also not considered true crabs because they only have three pairs of walking legs compared to four pairs in true crabs.

Another interesting creature that we found in the tide pools is the sea urchin. The sea urchin looks immobile upon first site, but really it can actually move, just very slowly. It moves with adhesive tube feet just like the sea cucumber and sea star. It feeds mostly on algae. The most noticeable feature on the sea urchin is its spines. These are used as a defense mechanism against predators. The spines do not cause serious harm in humans, but we are still glad that we found it before we stepped on it. There were many shells stuck in the spines of the sea urchin that we found, and the spines moved slightly when we pulled the shells away. We learned that sea urchins are even served as a delicacy in some countries, and we would be really interested to try that.

There were many other animals on the beach shore including a hairy legged crab, a sea squirt, and many, many sea stars. The hairy legged crab is distinguished exactly as its name implies, it has hairs on its legs. It is the only crab in the New Zealand area that has that feature. We saw many different species of the sea stars, big and small, under the rocks. By flipping the sea stars on their backs, we could see the tiny tube feet moving. We even saw a sea star that had half ingested a chitin. Most of the creatures were found closer to the water rather than more on shore. This is because they do not have to live in the open air as long as the tide is low. Species that do live more on shore have to have the ability to deal with the changing environment around them such as bird predators, fresh water rain, and low oxygen from water. However, they have far less competitors than species closer to the water.

Overall, Richards’s trip to the beach was a success and we learned much more about ocean species than we ever would in Minnesota.

Jessica and Katie

Bird Watching at Dawn

The morning of Wednesday may 27 started early with Dr. Bill Capman leading a group of four of us on an early morning bird watching expedition at the holiday park in Mapua. We began by looking for California Quail which is obviously not a native species. We found a small group foraging in the early dawn light less than 200 hundred yards from the cabins we were staying in. They were easily disturbed and didn't let us approach closer than 50 yards. While we were looking at them through binoculars, Dr. Capman noticed a group of Wax-eyes flitting about in the trees nearby. These are a little Old-World bird about the size of House Sparrows that can also be seen in New Zealand. They arrived in New Zealand from Australia fairly recently with the first reported sighting being in the early 1800s and a sizable population first noticed in the mid 1800s. This begins to ask the question “What constitutes a native species?” How do you define what is native, what is introduced, and what is invasive? Most definitions state that a native species is one that is naturally occurring or found in the area. A better one would be an organism that is living within its natural range (past or present), including the area that it can reach and occupy using its own legs, wings and wind- or water-borne or other dispersal systems, even if it is seldom found there. An introduced species would then be one that didn’t reach where it currently is found or occupies by its own means. This then means that anything brought intentionally or unintentionally by man constitutes an introduced species. Finally, an invasive species would then be one that not only is introduced, but then out-competes a local, native species for resources and causes the native species to decline.

After seeing the Wax-eyes and a Song Thrush at the top of a Norway Pine, we made our way to the estuary down the street. Walking up the street, we approached the estuary and immediately saw Pied Stilts foraging in the shallows. A number of Mallard Ducks were also present as well as a New Zealand Shovelhead. Looking to the other side of the road, we were surprised to see a Royal Spoonbill, a larger white wading bird that filters the shallows for crustaceans and other small invertebrates. Perched nearby on some power lines was a group of four New Zealand Kingfishers. As we approached all but one took flight out into the estuary.

Also commonly seen in the area, but not that morning, were Red-Billed Gulls, the Southern Black-Backed Gulls and the Black Oystereaters. After nearly 45 minutes of bird watching we had to cut the outing short to hit the road for Westport.

Margaret and Stef here, We are blogging about the Umbrella Ferns that we saw on our hike in Tongariro National Forest last week.

Name: Umbrella Fern

Genus: Sticherus Cunninghamii

Umbrella ferns grow in open habitats and mostly in the tropics. They tend to grow on banks and the floor of the forest where the sunlight can reach them. It is found in higher altitudes, we found this picture at about 3700 ft above sea level. The stem system is very distinctive in that it has one stem that brances into two, each divergance has many leafs. It was first identified in 1979 and goes by many traditional Maori common names such as Rarauheriki, Tapuwae kotuku, and Waekura.

Stockton Mine

       Today we visited the Stockton Mine which is harvesting one of the purest forms of coal in the world. The mine has been in operation for nearly 100 years. Our visit was focused on the environmental impact aspect of the mine. The folks at the mine have only been aware of the "green" movement for around 5 years, and has only just begun to address the issues in the last 18 months. 

Some of the main issues addressed in our brief meeting included water management, acid rock damage (ard), and direct transfer. 

In January, 2007, the Stockton Mine was granted resource consents by the West Coast Regional COuncil to discharge treated mine water and settled water from Stockton Mine into the Mangatini Stream and to dose the stream with finely crushed limestone to improve the downstream water quality by raising the pH level. This reduces the concentration of metals that dissolve in the water and improves water quality. The reported water quality findings thus far have shown exponential improvement. The problem with this is, when you start to confront water quality issues in an area with a pH of something around 2-3, exponential improvement is not hard to show. 

The so called "mildly" acidic acid rock damage forms when rain and air combine with the pyrite which is widespread in rock located within the Stockton Mine. Most likely a major contributor to the pH issues in the water quality of the Mangatini Stream. I have trouble calling a pH of that measure "mild." According to this description, stomach acid would be comparable to hydrogen peroxide. However, many recent efforts have gone into developing systems to insulate rock dumps from the elements and so minimize the extent of environmental impact of ARD.

Another of the issues covered was a process that Phil Rossiter, Environmental Program Manager, termed "direct transfer." Direct transfer is, in simpler terms relocation of environmental barriers. Much work has gone into transplanting environments into sections of the mine called "rehabilitation" zones. The problem with the rehabilitation zones that I found was that they looked nothing like the native bush that surrounded the mine yard. The rehabilitation zone was dry, and arid. It contains no soil except for some sort of a mesh made of straw. 

The second example of direct transfer comes about with the issues of powelliphanta Augustus covered in the previous blog. One of the main objections that I have with this process, besides the aforementioned side effects, is  best said by Cath Wallace earlier on our trip. When considering moving a species to another location, you must first ask yourself why that species isn't in that location in the first place. Most likely, there is a reason. This is not verbatim from Cath, but you get the idea. Any species, and most especially those that are considered endangered, may not be able to handle the stresses of being extracted from their native environments. 

Overall, it was definitely an eye opening experience in many aspects. Allthough I feel that there is much more work to be done, the bottom line is that this is a coal mine, and they are in the business of producing a product which supplies a need in demand. I must give credit where credit is due and state that the Stockton Mine is most likely one of the world leaders as far as environmentally conscious coal mines, but my own conscious in my head continued to scream throughout the brief meeting, "what aren't you telling us Phil?" 

          "rehabilitation zone"

rehabilitation 

Carnivorous Snails

Today we went on a tour of the Stockton Coal Mine.  We had an interesting opportunity to hear about one of New Zealands threatened species of carnivorous snails.  This specific type is named Powelliphanta "Augustus".  The "Augustus" part of the name was used because the snails were originally located on Mount Augustus.  Mount Augustus is now part of the Stockton Coal Mine.  Since Solid Energy, the company that owns the coal mine, wanted to use this mountain to further their coal mining, they had to relocate the snails.  The Department of Conservation (DOC) along with local environmental enthusiasts covered Mount Augustus in order to preserve the endangered species.  The early estimates of how many snails were there was around 500 snails.  Later on, the actual number jumped all the way to 6800 snails.

Our visit to the coal mine was interesting to see the political and economic problems faced with preservation of threatened species.  Biologically, too, it is quite impressive to see the habitat change for the snails.  We watched a video about the some of the difficulties in feeding, weighing, and storing the snails.  I also think it is important to consider that the only population of these snails was found on that particular mountain.  The mountain was considered subalpine and had limited soil.  There were some native plants and vegetation but a lot of the surrounding area was covered in rock, especially sandstone and slate.

As for the snails themselves, they are considered terrestial pulmonate gastropod molluscs, in the family of Rhytididae.  They are endemic to New Zealand's Sounth Island and have only been found on the ridgeline northeast of Westport.  The species was first identified in 1996 and have already been considered critically endangered.  

Not much is known about the species specifically, because it has not been known about for a long period of time.  

In general though, these snails belong to:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda 

Order: Pulmonata

Family: Rhytididae

Genus: Powelliphanta

Species: "Augustus"

*Picture is From Wikipedia

The Swing Bridge and Kekenos

Wednesday (5/28) as we were driving to Westport we stopped at the Buller River Gorge, home of New Zealand's longest swing bridge. After we made the trek across the bridge there are four different walking paths to choose from with varying lengths and different sights to see. Pressed for time we all went on the loop walk which was long enough to stretch our legs and gave us a chance to see a wide variety of plant life including Crown Ferns (Piupiu) and different kinds of pines (White, Black, Brown and Red). Along this walk you are also able to see the White's Creek faultline. This was one of the epicenters of the Murchison earthquake in 1929. This earthquake measured a 7.8 on the Richter Scale and was felt all around the country. During this earthquake the ground rose 4.5 meters or 15 feet instantly in this area. After the walk some people chose to take the comet line back across the gorge while the rest walked back over the bridge.

After we got settled in at the Canterbury field station we went to see the seal colony at Tauranga Bay. Just a short walk from the carpark you could see and hear the seals out on the rocks. The type of seals that are found here are New Zealand Fur Seals also known as Kekeno. They are the most common seals in New Zealand and are also found in western and southern Australia. Kekenos hunt at night and mainly feed on squid and small fish but sometimes feed on larger creatures such as barracuda and eels. Kekenos are very good swimmers and the pups have been recoded to swim as far as Australia. The females are also known to be some of the deepest and longest divers of any of the fur seals. Off the west coast they are known to dive deeper than 238m for up to 11 minuets, but the average dive time is one to two minutes. The estimated population of the seals in New Zealand is 50-60,000. Some of the natural predators of the seals are great white sharks, sevengill sharks and humans. Even though the hunting of the seals was outlawed in 1894 human activity is still their biggest threat, the seals get stuck in fishing nets and trash that has been dumped into the ocean. Since the seals were protected after they were hunted to near extinction in 1894, the populations have increased each year across New Zealand and studies indicate it will continue. As the sun set the seals slipped away into the waters for their nightly hunt and we left for the cafe.

New Zealand Spiders!

Here is a collection of the spiders that I have photographed insofar in New Zealand. If you have any input as to identification I would love to hear your input :) Thank you Shane for finding most of these. Click on the Photos to Enlarge

Name: Pholcus phalangioides
Common Name: Daddy Long Legs
- note that this is not to be confused with the arachnid that you more than likely associate daddy long legs with. The one part body with long legs that you are thinking of is actually a European harvestman Phalangium opilio. the European harvestman does not make any webs either and although is an arachnid is not considered a spider.

Habitat: the Daddy Long Legs is commonly found in tiny unorganized webs in the ceiling corners of houses. In New Zealand, these spiders are commonly found in in the north island and a little less often in the South Island. This spider was found at a Holiday Park in the Mapua, the northern part of of the South Island.

Habits: The Daddy Long Legs captures most prey that happen to get caught in its webs. A straining prey will be wrapped up at a safe distance from the daddy long legs via the shooting of a silky web. Once rendered useless to defend its itself, the prey will be consumed by the daddy long legs.

This is an interesting web/nest that I found while I was hiking near the coastline in Paikakariki. It looked as though the contents of this nest had hatched. The thin sheet was made to protect the eggs. It was very interesting. Possibly not spider related .

Name: Steatoda capensis

Common Name: Black cobweb or false katipo spider

Habitat: The False Katipo Spider is commonly found all over New Zealand and is thought to have originated in Africa. It can be found in long grasses bound by sand and driftwood and and under structure. We found two of these spiders on our hike on the near the shoreline in Paikakariki.

Habit: This is a very smart spider. It mimicks is close relative the Kapito spider and als othe Black Widow spider. It is nearly identical to its relative but does not contain the intense venom of which the kapito carries.

Name: *we don't know
Coloration: This spider was found deep in the bark of decaying log. Its coloration was such that it was very difficult to see without a trained eye.

Behavior: This spider did not want to leave the safety of its wooden habitat. When we finally were able to seperate it from the log, and dropped it onto a piece of white notebook paper, the paper scattered like none other. It moved very fast across the paper before we were able to get a closer photo.

Name: Another Unknown

This spider was found at the Bird Sanctuary. If you have some ideas on the identification of this spider your input would be much appreciated.

Name: Possibly a Wolf Spider.

This spider was found underneath a log during mine and Shane's nightlife tour of Paikakariki. Once again if you have any input please post it :)

I hope you have enjoyed my spider photo gallery so far. I will continue to post more as this trip continues. It will be interested to see what the South Island and the Cook Islands have to offer as far as spiders are concerned. Before you crush the 8 legged fury friend chillin in your room, please come find me so I can get up close with my camera. I will also promptly and remove your unwanted guest after the shoot is over.

Which one do you think is scarier? the Spider or the Centipede? Check out this video!

Vineyard and Winery 5/26/09

Today we visited a family owned and operated vineyard and winery to learn about how they were keeping their operation sustainable. We were met by Heidi Seifried, the daughter of Hermann and Agnes Seifried who are the founders of the vineyard, who gave us a tour of their whole operation.

This particular vineyard in Nelson has a grafting system in place which helps them overcome some of the diseases known to affect grapes. The whole grafting system takes about 4 years, starting off with culturing the roots that are Phylloxera resistant (Phylloxera is a root based microbial disease that has devastating effects on grape plants), then grafting shoots of particular grapes onto those roots and incubating the seedlings before finally planting them. With this system, it is possible to graft a different type of grape onto an already established root system that has been growing a different type of grape. This is done by cutting the plant down to the original root stalk and then grafting the new plant onto that root stalk. The fresh wound is covered with resin to prevent botrytis from getting into the plants. Botrytis is a fungal disease that is usually found on the raceme which are the left over stems once the grapes are shaken off.

Pesticide use is kept to a minimum by keeping the canopy of their grapes well trimmed and training the grapes to grow at a certain level. When pesticides and herbicides are used, they use sulfur and tend to stay away from copper sulfates. The copper sulfates have a nasty tendency to get into water supplies and are toxic to fish and marine wildlife. The Seifrieds use all natural oils to coat their grapes which helps to prevent fungal infections.

During the wine making process, extracts from fish bladders (isinglass or collagen), milk (casein) and egg (albumin) are used to neutralize the negatively charged tannins that come from the grape seeds and skins. These extracts are taken out of the wine by various types of filtration.

It was interesting to see the steps being taken to make this an eco-friendly operation. The vats were all placed under the protection of buildings to reduce the cost and need for refrigeration, there were also steps being taken to reduce the amount of water needed for irrigation and cleaning. Earlier in the trip, we talked to Cath Wallace, who made a point that being “green” was just a smoke and mirrors act. I disagree with this to a point, I think that there are many ways in which the examples we were shown today at this vineyard were excellent starts to being a more sustainable operation. However, there were many parts that could be improved upon.

For example, the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process is not sufficiently dealt with. There is an expectation that some of the carbon dioxide will be taken up by the grapes through photosynthesis but overall this does not fully compensate for the large release so this vineyard does not have a zero carbon footprint. On the plus side, they ship their wines in boats overseas which has a significantly lower carbon emission then trucking or air shipping. The obvious downside is the time it takes for the wines to arrive at their final destination.

I really enjoyed seeing how this family business was run and how they made and kept their international connections. This visit really exemplified how numerous areas of study (business, politics, chemistry, biology, econ, agriculture, forestry, …) need to be rolled into one in order for the business to be successful.

Gaby and Katie J.

A day with Richard and some marine life

Yesterday (Monday, May 25th), we spent a lot of time with Brian’s friend Richard. I think I learned more that morning/afternoon than I have any other single day in New Zealand so far. He was extremely knowledgeable about New Zealand’s current marine wildlife situation and he shared the facts and stories in a fun and effective way. We went over a lot of different things but I will just try and mention a few key things that moved me the most.

The Touch the Sea aquarium experience was great. We got to touch eels, sharks, starfish and other underwater animals. The large tank had scarlet wrasse, a short tail stingray, an eagle ray, trumpeters, red maki, snappers, and blue cod among numerous other types of fish. We saw some huge packhorse rock lobsters that are relatives of crayfish, seahorses, a red eared turtle, a blowfish, and the octopi were very neat to watch too. The common octopi (Octopus maorum) there live only for about 18 to 24 months, which was surprising to me. They are predators that eat crabs and small fishes at night, though I think they are definitely capable of eating larger things. Everything was very new to me and I thought it was a great experience.

Richard got to talking about orange roughy, scampie, seals and tuna, among many other things. I thought it was interesting that seals have one o f the largest nocturnal migrations. They eat hokey (the liver and brain have the most energy, and they leave the rest as scraps). Some fishers want the seals dead because they mistakenly think they kill too many fish. Quotas need to be calculated and better considered. This is a problem in New Zealand as well as around the world. He also mentioned that tuna may be extinct in about ten years. They are nearing commericial and ecological extinction. That really boggled my mind! I guess I hear so little about shortages and overfishing that it never really considered it a real problem. Hearing it from someone so knowledgeable and passionate about the marine life, and New Zealand’s pristine nature in general really made it more impactful.

Finally I just have to mention the walk on the beach while before the tide came in and the sun set. That was absolutely incredible for me. I got to see and hold hairy handed crabs, common rock crabs, smooth shore crabs, sea stars, sunflower stars, half crabs, a sea squirt, a flatworm, mussels snails and chitins. Bill told me a bit about chitins. We could identify the head, foot, gills in groves on the sides, and the hard outer shell (in 8 segments). They eat in an interesting way. Bill described that their tongue is a chainsaw-like foot that helps it move along as well as eat. Here are a few pictures (sorry about the low quality). Chitins, and the underbelly of an octopus:

Cultural and biodiversity from Maori and scientitific perspectives

May 18th
May 18th was a very busy day for us as a group and interestingly it was my birthday. We traveled back to Wellington from Paekakariki Park to listen to a Maori Member of Parliament, Hon. Rahui Katene. We also took a tour of the ‘BEEHIVE’, the executive building which is equivalent to the White House in Washington DC, except that the prime minister does not live there. Rahui gave a general overview of the history of the Maori people as well as their struggle for equal representation in the local and national governments. She also talked about Maori perspective on the environment as being more of a spiritual connection to the land and sustainability for self-renewal. She said the Maori agree with the Green Peace. The Maori MP talk was very interesting. It provided us the opportunity to experience the Maori culture and to get a sense of how involved they are locally and nationally and how much impact their collective voices are having on the political systems.
There have been great improvements in diversity and representations in government, especially in Parliament. It was interesting to learn that there was no separation between church and state. New Zealand also does not have a written constitution. Quite surprising! What was a little confusing for me though was about the role of the Queen of England in the New Zealand Government. Even though neither the Queen nor any member of the royal family can legally enter into the parliament building, she has the authority to dissolve the government.

Our next activities were at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A panel of four persons representing the Ministries for the Environment, economics, Energy and Agriculture met with us at the Foreign Ministry. New Zealand’s senior environment lead negotiator for the Kyoto Protocol Stephanie Lee, outlined New Zealand’s approach to climate change. According to Stephanie, New Zealand hopes to maintain a carbon dioxide level under 450 PPM by 2020 or reduce to the 1990 levels. She was very optimistic about New Zealand’s approach to reducing its carbon footprint. But I’m curious to see how they would get other major environmental polluters to cooperate and be more involved. Stephanie said the climate change is a global problem that requires a global fix. We also learned that 65% of New Zealand’s electricity comes from renewable energy sources including wind, solar, hydro and geothermal.
According to the representative from the ministry of agriculture, New Zealand’s biggest emission of carbon dioxide comes from cattles and sheep. Cows emit a lot of methane into the atmosphere.

May 21st
We traveled to Tongariro National Park to experience the volcanic scenes and take a hike up to the falls. It snowed overnight and the trails were a little slippery. We walked in large groups and took tons of pictures as we went along while enjoying the beautiful view of the mountains. It was a beautiful terrain with a lot of different plant species. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me because most of the plant species can only be found in New Zealand.
Rotorua is the most environmentally friendly place I have ever been. It was a great experience to cook using steam from geothermal heat. All over the city we saw hot springs bubbling up from beneath the earth. There were hot springs in most street corners and they seem normal to the local residents but a completely new experience for us. Geothermal activities were the most amazing experience for me. To see springs of mud boiling like a pot of hot soup was just unbelievable.

May 22nd.
Today was incredibly fun and most successful in learning about the Maori culture of New Zealand. We visited a research centre, called SCION and learned about biodiversity in timber production, the management system, and the Maori approach to environmental sustainability. There was also a presentation on genetically modified Pinus radiata plants by Christian Walter, one of the researchers at the SCION institute. It was interesting to learn that there is no evidence of negative impacts of genetically modified plant on insects. He said that insects adapt and grow well in areas where there are GMOs.

The Wild Nightlife of Paekakariki

As we pulled up to our holiday park in Paekakariki, I knew that we would be in for one hot and exciting experience. The conditions for action could not be more perfect. Right next to the beach, bright sunny sky, and a trampoline! Shane and I decided to explore nightlife for ourselves. This post focuses on the exploring the biodiversity in Paekakariki after night fall.

Paekakariki Holiday Park is nestled on the southwestern shoreline of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated alongside a freshwater stream that runs directly into the ocean. It is a prime location for an abundance of biodiversity. Still recovering from jetleg, Shane and I were only able to explore for about a half an hour but the results of that outing were worthwhile.

To find specimens to photograph and hopefully identify, we brought with us flashlights and my camera.

Earwig


Grasshopper Species

REDFIN BULLY (Eleotridae: Gobiomorphus huttoni)

Wolf Spider

This Posting is not finished, Please hold from comments and elaborations! Thanks

Coastal diversity at Somes Island

This photo demonstrates a diversity of species in the coastal environment at Somes Island. The species present in this photo are quite impressive because they have adapted to survive in an extreme environment that changes on a daily basis as the tide rises and falls. The change in water levels mean that organisms must be able to deal with rapid changes in pH, temperature, salinity, and water availability. In this photo are five different species that have taken residence under a rock. The light purple circle has a type of sea weed inside it. The rose circle emcompasses a tube worm. The orange circle surrounds a chiton. The green ring encircles a closed anenome. Finally the blue circle highlights a snail. Not seen in this photo are crabs and a blunny fish which were present under the rock but not attached to it.

I will now go into some further detail about most of these species. I will be able to give some general facts about the species but I am not able to identify each one specifically. This is mainly because numerous species of these creatures exist and narrowing each to a specific species is not possible with this picture alone.

·      Red algae is a photosynthetic colony that uses sunlight to create its food source. Different algae species use different wavelengths of sunlight depending on their habitat and the availability of sunlight.  It is one of the foundations of the food chain in a costal ecosystem. The loss of photosynthetic organisms in an ecosystem would result in a loss of virtually all other species.

·      The tubeworm most likely belongs to a family known as Serpulidae. There are 300 species in this family. These creatures produce a calcium carbonate shell for protection, which is seen in the photo. Not seen in the photo is the worm itself. It uses feathery looking extensions to filter small food particles out of the water.

·      The chiton is an eight-segmented creature that moves along rock to feed on coralline algae. Its iron reinforced tongue is perfectly adapted to scrape algae off rocks all day long. Crabs, fish, and anemones prey upon chitons.

·      Sea anemones are cnidarians that feed on fish, shrimp, chitons, and plankton. Basically, anything small enough to be stung and captured by its tentacles will fall victim to sea anemones. This one is closed because the tide had move out. It was trying to conserve water and survive until the water level rose with the next high tide.

·      Snails were abundant all over the rocks in both high and low tide areas. They conserve water by remaining stuck to rocks until water levels rise again. They mostly feed on algae and seaweed. Since there were so many snails, it seemed likely that they serve as another important part of the coastal food chain and are preyed upon by crabs, fish, and shorebirds.

·      Crabs were present under rocks all over the beach. These crabs were relatively small and ranged from the size of a pencil eraser to the size of a thumbnail. There are several species of crab, which have adapted to survive on different food sources. Some are scavengers while others feed on plankton or other shellfish. Each species fills a niche in the ecosystem and their abundant numbers allows them to be a large food source for fish, birds and octopus.

Te Puia

The group went to Te Puia (Rotorua, NZ) to learn more about the Maori culture. A Maori woman led us into the park/reserve and prepared us for the traditional Maori welcome ceremony. One of the members of our group was to be chosen to act as our chief and accept a leaf from a Maori warrior. The man that volunteered was from India and had his family with him. The welcoming ceremony consisted of five Maori men and four Maori women singing to us in their native tongue and dancing.
A warrior came forward and presented our “chief” with a leaf. The warrior proceeded to dance and grunt as he approached us. When our chief accepted the leaf, the warrior retreated to the Rotowhio Marae and we were welcomed by the people into their sacred meeting house (Marae). After the Maori shared with us some of their customs, games, and dances we were given a tour of the carving and weaving schools, Whakarewarewa geothermal valley and Pohutu Gyser, Kiwi House, and Pikirangi Maori village.
Visiting the Kiwi House (Nga Manu Ahurei) was especially exciting (although short) because it was the first time I was able to see a live kiwi bird. The kiwi is New Zealand’s national bird and has always been held in high esteem by the Maori people. Kiwi feather cloaks are seen as a sign of chieftainship. It was also interesting to hear that the kiwi bird came before the kiwi fruit, which was originally known as the Chinese Gooseberry, and it’s thought that the fruit was given the same name because its shape is very similar to that of the kiwi bird. The kiwi bird is an indigenous, flightless bird of New Zealand and is rarely seen by New Zealanders because it is semi-nocturnal and secretive. Interestingly enough, although the kiwi bird is undoubtedly awkward looking and its two-inch wings are useless, the bird can actually outrun a human! They have an excellent sense of smell (their nostrils are located toward the end of their bill) and mostly feed on worms, insects, and grubs. The fall in population of the kiwi birds did not start until the Maori people arrived on the islands, but the primary cause of their dwindling is bush clearing, introduced predators, opossum traps and motor vehicles.
The 210 ºC Ngamokaiakoko Mud Pool and Pohutu Geyser were amazing for me to see. Since we were staying in Rotorua, I was already familiar with the sulfur smell and steamy pools because the area has so much geothermal activity, but it is still so amazing that people are living in such a reactive area. The other organisms that inhabit the area are also interesting because they do not vary too much from that of the typical New Zealand nature preserve. There were plenty of tree ferns and lichens to go around. I was especially intrigued by the coloring of the water in the area. While the actual mud pools are generally a greyish colour because of the mixing of sulphur (black) and Kaolin clay (white), a lot of the water pools are a milky aqua color. As of now I am unsure as to what causes the coloring, a discussion with Brian Corner and Bill Capman lead me to believe that it has to do with the presence of micro-organisms and possibly the water’s pH. I still have to do more research on this. The mud pools are nearly boiling hot (90-95 ºC) and the bubbling is a result of acid gases and steam that cause the decomposition of minerals to form the Kaolin clay.
More later…

New Zealand Gorse

New Zealand Gorse is part of the evergreen shrubs family with a connections to the pea family Fabaceae. It is very common all over New Zealand and has become a troublesome weed. The plant has green stems and very small leaves. The leaves generally range from 1-4 cm long, with a variation in spininess. The flowers of all species of Gorse have yellow flowers. Interestingly, the flowers are said to have a coconut smell to them. The plant is native of Europe, but has been introduced in New Zealand as a decorative plant, but is now considered an invasive weed. It has spread rapidly because of its aggressive seed dispersal and is hard to get rid of. The plant also regenerates itself after fires, so it can withstand harsh environments. The shrub can cause severe damage because it is highly flammable, with an oily foliage and seed. It also thrives in poor growing conditions and requires little help from the environment to flourish. The Gorse is useful in nitrogen fixation; however. It can also provide cover for birds' nests and become food for other organisms. The plant is edible to humans as well, some people add it to salads and such. Unfortunately, in New Zealand, the plant is considered a problem. It has led to plant competition and is rapidly spreading all over the country.

Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

May 18th (Richmond’s Birthday!!)
Today we went to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a closed environment used to preserve native New Zealand wildlife and to attempt to restore wildlife habitats to what they were before human interference. The sanctuary was enclosed by a giant fence that is meant to keep all mammal predators out of the sanctuary. This is needed because many of the native New Zealand birds are flightless due to the lack of native predators. They even had an area that showed the maximum jumping heights of various mammals such as the cat, rat, and stoat to show how the fence was intended to work. One of the first things that we noticed entering the sanctuary was the vast diversity of fern life. There were very large tree ferns scattered around the forest. The picture below is of a developing fraun. We learned that most ferns unfurl to the large ferns that we know. According to Bill the cells in the undeveloped and developed fraun are the same, they just get longer as the plant grows. We can quote him in saying that “ferns are pretty darn cool.”

Another distinct feature of the sanctuary is the bird life. Right after walking through the gates we could hear the various calls of the Tuis and the Kakas. The North Island Kaka (Nestor meridionalis spetentrionalis) is nationally endangered species. It is a large melodic parrot that has a large beak for hunting things in trees such as beetles. We watched one being tagged and the parrot expressed harsh screeches that are called skraarks. Once the bird started making these sounds the other birds reacted by making the same skraarks. This made us a little nervous of a bird attack. The tagging was a really interesting experience for us because we were able to watch some biology in action. The tagging was meant to follow the activities of the bird and monitor its growth. JT took a video of the entire tagging and maybe he could add the video to the blog.

One other bird that we saw a lot of in the sanctuary was the Tui which are beautiful black birds with small white tufts. This bird is endemic to New Zealand. The sounds of the Tui are very musical. In fact, some of the calls of the Tui cannot even be registered by humans. We could see the white patch under the birds beak moving but we would not hear any sound. We learned that the population of the Tui has significantly declined due to the introduction of the stoat and other mammals to New Zealand.
There was so much seen during this walk, and we will add more at a later date. That’s all for now!
-Jessica, Lacey & Katie

5/22 Scion Visit

Friday, May 22

Our day began with a visit to Scion Research Center. We began with a short presentation by Andrew Dunningham who gave an overview of the operations. In 1947 it began as a forest research center but now is government owned and compared to a federal lab in the states. He called it a poor cousin to a United States lab. Research is done in order to make forestry profitable, efficient, and sustainable. He touched on the role of science in society and how science facts would affect policy. Some topics included climate change, genetically modified organisms, along with the use of DET and formaldehyde.
Following Andrew’s talk, James and Richard took us for a walk to the Redwood forests which is called Whakarewarewa Forest. This forest has many benefits. It is used for mountain biking, hiking, socializing, learning, exercise and general fun. The people of New Zealand are willing to pay more money in their taxes for general upkeep. Biodiversity in the forest is well sustained. There are many types of birds as well as the wallaby and the wild hogs. The trees here act as a carbon sinkhole, taking in a large amount of carbon from the atmosphere. We learned about plantation forests that surround the Whakarewarewa forest that are used for lumber. Many trees have been tested to see which would grow most efficiently in the conditions of the area. It was discovered that the Radiata Pines were the best for many reasons. They grow very tall and straight so it is easy to plant a large volume of trees in a small area of land. These are also able to be harvested between 25 and 30 years of age which is rather young compared to the Redwood which can be harvested at about age 60. There had been ideas of using the Redwood forest for timber as well, but there was too much of an attachment to the trees so it was converted into more of a recreational forest.
Christian Walter spoke about the genetically modified Pinus radiata trees. The modifications began roughly 15 years ago. There is an annual increase in demand for wood and so the researchers at Scion are trying to find the best ways to modify the trees in order to accommodate the increasing demand. Over the next 50 years, demand is expected to increase at an annual rate of 1.7% however natural forest wood is becoming less available. Plantation forests take up about 40 million hectares of land which is 1.2 % of all forests. Their study looked at the impact that the genetic modifications have on the organisms that depend on the modified trees. They found that there are no negative impacts on invertebrates, microorganisms, or on the biodiversity in general. The modifications included a selection gene and a stunt on reproductive development. The selection gene encouraged new protein development which had a resistance to antibiotics that are dispersed by other organisms to try and wipe out the species. The concern that was raised by this was that the organisms that live near or on these trees would pick up the resistance and would be able to have an advantage over others. This was not the case. There was no impact on the surrounding organisms or the soil in the field tests. Reproductive development was reduced in order to limit the spread of trees that had been modified. PCR was used to test for the transferal of genes. The trees were cut down before they were able to flower in order to prevent spread.
Alison Slate then spoke about their Waste 2 Gold project. This project is still in the planning stages. The general idea is that organic waste can be converted into something usable in order to reduce costs, generate income and mitigate impacts of things such as greenhouse gases. The waste was placed in a converter where it was converted into either a biodegradable intermediate or into energy which could then be used to power the converter. A bioconversion then would convert the intermediate into either bioenergy, liquid biofuels, or biopolymers. The benefit of this process is the potential to remove 2/3 of the waste from landfills.
An Australian scientist took us on a walk to the test site for making eco-friendly plastics. We learned the process by which plastics are made as well as the modifications that are being tested in order to make the product more eco-friendly. Some of the tests that were run were hardness, pliability, overall strength, and the ability to mold the plastic into many shapes. Styrofoam was made from corn kernel extracts and held many of the same properties of regular Styrofoam. There were also tests using dried kiwi fruit and flax which are abundant in New Zealand, to modify plastic products. They were also testing planters that are able to be planted directly into the ground rather than removed and thrown away. They will decompose as the root system develops in the plant. Another product that was being tested was the spife which is the combination of a spoon and a knife which is commonly used to eat kiwi fruit.
Overall the day was very informative and suggested other ways to think about the environment and the impact that our waste and products have on the environment. The trip to Scion helped to make it more clear that convenience is not always the most important thing and that we need to start making the world a more eco-friendly place before we destroy the things that make our planet so rich in biodiversity.
Reported by Anna and Katie J.