Augsburg BioLOG

Hockey Stick Data Explained - Simple for all to understand

2009-12-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Contamination at Mapua

2009-06-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

The area surrounding Mapua made for prime conditions for the cultivation of a variety of commercial fruits. In 1932, Mapua would have been a logical place for the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company (FCC) to build its plant for manufacturing pesticides. Thirteen years later, production of the powerful new organochlorine pesticides began. The FCC plant was established in a time of far less scientific understanding of chemical toxins, and consequently little appreciation of the need for protecting people or the environment from exposure to them. There was virtually no care taken in the disposal of the factory’s waste products. The FCC plant site was abandoned in 1988, yet the organochlorine pesticides it produced were particularly persistent. Furthermore, in a mismanaged, inefficient, and ultimately ineffective attempt by the New Zealand government to “clean up” the toxic site lead to a release of a variety of additional toxins to the air and water. Discharges to the air pose potential risk to human health, while the discharges to the water threaten the ecology of the Waimea Estuary.
Prior to the clean up attempts, several investigations into contamination on the site, surrounding marine sediments, and adjacent residential lots identified the presence of some of the substances known to have been stored or manufactured on-site, including:
· Extensive contamination with organochlorine pesticides, especially DDT and its breakdown products, aldrin, dieldrin, and lindane
· Occasionally elevated levels of heavy metals (including chromium, arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury) and elemental sulfur.
· Occasionally elevated levels of petroleum hydrocarbons
· Traces of chlorophenoxyacetic acid herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, organophosphates, triazines and other related nitrogen containing pesticides
· Traces of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Marine sediment samples from the Waimea Inlet revealed contamination mainly by organochlorine compounds, particularly DDT and its metabolites. Metal and organochlorine levels in the groundwater exceeded guidelines for the protection of aquatic ecosystems and recreational water quality.
This clean up effort was a high risk strategy, as it was the first commercial application of a new technology in the middle of a village and close to a sensitive estuary. Mechano-chemical dehalogenation (MCD) was the method of clean up. This used a heated tumbling drier with a proprietary mixture of reagents to enhance treatment in hopes of degrading the toxic chemicals to inert products. One of these reagents was copper sulfate. The site auditor and the Engineer to the Contract warned the company managing the cleanup that they had serious concerns over the use of copper sulfate; yet at least 13 tons of copper was added to the site soils in the treatment process. Copper is highly toxic to marine ecosystems so it poses a particular hazard on the coastal Mapua site. Although the amount of copper sulfate was gradually reduced by about a third during the works, a large amount of copper remained behind at the site. There may be significant risks to the estuarine environment and plant life on the site, but no site-specific assessment criteria have been set for these receptors, so these risks have not been formally evaluated. Diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea were also used as additives. At least 730 tons of DAP and 36 tons of urea were added to the site soils in this way. This is of concern because these nutrients are readily leachable and could be discharged to the estuary in groundwater, causing weed growth and eutrophication. Groundwater monitoring results show that DDT, lindane, nitrate and ammoniachemical nitrogen frequently exceeded consent threshold concentrations throughout the works often by orders of magnitude. Concentrations of copper, increased erratically throughout the works. Nitrate and DDT still exceed limits in some areas.
Not only was the selected method of cleanup inadequate, the process itself was seriously mismanaged. According to the Official Report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in July 2008, dioxin was released from the drier, but it is impossible to know now much due to inadequate monitoring. Why? The conditions in the soil drier were right for creating dioxin. For the MCD process to function efficiently, the soil being decontaminated must be dry. However, if contaminated soil particles in the drier come in contact with air above 250°C, organochlorine compounds in the soil may be converted to form dioxin (which did happen in one of the proof of performance trials) so specific precautions were included to prevent this situation arising during normal operations. In essence, the condition required the hottest part of the drier (the inlet) to be fitted with a temperature cut off, which would shut the drier down if the temperature exceeded 120°C. This was to reduce the volatilization of OCPs and prevent the formations of dioxins.
Inspections of the clean up process showed the temperatures of the drier inlet ranged from 250-396°C (the temperature depends on the water content of the soil). The design of the drier was such that, had this resource consent condition regarding the temperature cutoff been implemented, the soil output would likely have been about 15 percent of what was actually processed. This means that the MCD plant installed was not capable of complying with the temperature consent condition and functioning at the output envisaged.
Unfortunately, the impact of pollution on the estuarine water has not been investigated. So what’s the big fuss? Humans and other organisms in this community seem to be going about their business as usual, largely unaffected by this pollution. Before such an assertion can be made with confidence, the nature of these man made toxins must be carefully considered. The most profound impacts of these toxins on a given organism would occur at the molecular level, and therefore the consequences may seem less obvious. Although every user of bleach and swimming pools is familiar with chlorine, the element rarely exists in free form in nature: It is man-made. Chlorine is also extremely unstable and volatile, easily recombining with other elements. When combined with hydrocarbons and other chemicals, chlorine produces a bewildering number of molecular compounds that are almost universally poisonous to invertebrates, plants, animals, and humans. Although most organochlorine compounds are produced intentionally, they can also be produced unintentionally. Dioxins, one of the most deadly family of compounds known to man, are created when chlorine bleaches are used to treat lumber or pulps, and also during incineration of other compounds as was observed at Mapua. The family of organochlorines includes many famous chemicals now banned or restricted, such as DDT, chlordane, Mirex, Dieldrin, Heptaclor, all the PCB’s and ozone-disrupting CFCs as well.
Organochlorines are remarkably persistent and cannot be incorporated into the metabolic process of any organism on earth. Because organochlorines do not break down in water, they accumulate in the fatty tissues of organisms. Species that are higher on the food chain, such as humans, accumulate organochlorines to a far greater degree than might be anticipated by their exposure. There is every reason to believe that concentrations of these compounds in wildlife and humans will continue to increase as they move up the food chain. The implication of recent studies on effects of these compounds on human development is that we have within the human race a biological ozone hole, a series of chemical compounds whose effect will expand throughout the entire world population for decades, even if all such compounds ceased being manufactured today. Tests show that these compounds have adverse effects in very low concentrations, and because their widespread use and persistence, we face continuous re-exposure over our lifetime. Currently, human exposure to such substances in the United States is well within the tolerances where hormonal disruption can occur. An accumulation of forty years’ worth of such substances in the environment may require only a few minutes in the body at a critical time to cause genetic changes that are permanent and irreversible. The most disturbing suggestion of the research in this area is that because organochlorines clearly react with and disrupt sexual hormones, both androgens and estrogens, they can alter the function of the brain, and thus affect behavior, thought, and intelligence. Biologically speaking, our metabolic processes have little or no effect in rendering these substances into more harmless ones because humans and other organisms have never in their evolutionary history encountered similar compounds. Because of the slow maturation of human beings, we have not had sufficient time since the introduction of such chemicals to understand the multigenerational health consequences of exposure to organochlorines. It is well known that these compounds do play havoc with human physiology, with effects that include cancer, infertility, immune suppression, birth defects, and still births. More disturbing, is the ability of several organochlorine compounds to disrupt the endocrine system. They are mistakenly “recognized” by the human body as hormone messengers, thereby signaling the wrong information to cells and bodily functions. Because the compounds in question mimic the actions of natural hormones, binding to receptor sites in the body, they can alter the embryonic development of the organism in ways that are irreversible, although the effects may not be experienced until maturity. In wildlife, these chemicals cause decreased fertility, behavioral abnormalities, compromised immune systems, and monstrous defects, such as fish born with both male and female sex organs but incapable of reproduction.
The contamination at Mapua showed just how difficult cleaning up a toxic site can be. Perhaps the real issue at hand is not improving waste disposal and clean up technology, but rethinking if we as a society should find the production of these compounds acceptable in the first place. To err on the side of caution and acknowledge the things we still do not understand would be wise. I strongly urge others to analyze issues such as these critically, and bear in mind that common practice does not infer safe or sustainable.

Lake Moeraki

2009-06-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Visit to lake Moeraki 6/2/09

Today our group visited with Gerry McSweeney and learned about the "green" practices they use for their wilderness lodge. This place was one of the most green that we have seen so far. They have a carbon neutral footprint and create all the needed electricity by using falling water of the Moeraki River. They do not add to the growing problem of green house gases. This place was unique in the thickness of vegetation and the tropical rainforest which has survived because of its location. The forest was surrounded on three sides by the lodges, highway, and lake so the deer were deterred from entry.

This location was originally going to be logged until biologists McSweeney and Anne Saunders decided to save the podocarp trees and use them for nature tourism and economic benefit. By working with the Department of Conservation (DOC) they helped to change the minds of those in the Haast community and to see the benefits in preserving nature while also creating more jobs and a stable economy. As McSweeney put it, "You need to change the hearts and minds of the people; the problem with governmental decisions is that they can easily be reversed by the next government or anyone that comes to power." He also stated, "It's hard to be green when you're in the red." These two statements were really what their business was all about.

One focus of this group has been to save the Fjordland Crested (Tawaki) penguin. This species has struggled due to fishermen's dogs going after the distinctive smell of the penguins and killing them. Fishing with dogs has been outlawed, yet it is still a problem because people are not prosecuted when they bring their dog along on a fishing trip. These penguins are one of the rarest in the world and spend six months nesting in the rainforest and the other six months at sea.

The deer, stoats, possums, and ferrets are among the other problems that ruin the forest and decrease the island's uniqueness. McSweeney thus agreed to the spraying of a chemical known as 1080 over the land. Birds have a low susceptibilityto the formula and it biodegrades into sodium fluoride, which is found in many items including household toothpaste. No better method has been found thus far as it's not plausible to cover such a large area any other way. This chemical is sprayed every 2-3 years because that is how long it takes for these pests to repopulate the area. The rainforest takes what McSweeney refers to as a "double-whammy" because the deer destroy the undergrowth and the possums destroy the tree tops and canopy. The spraying of 1080 has helped the rainforest survive by reducing the numbers of unwanted possums and deer.

Katie J. and Anna

Cushion Plant

2009-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

The first time I encountered the cushion plant was not in the greatest of circumstances. Justin and I decided that we were going to hike up Mount Miserable or some silly name like that right behind the research station we were staying at in Cass, in the South Island of New Zealand and stay in a tent for the night. After hiking through all of the thorny, sharp plants, Justin and I starting looking for a place to set up camp. This was no ordinary mountain however, the whole side that we were climbing seemed to be harboring a stream of water. It was really interesting and wet at the same time. Although you could not physically see this stream, you could hear it underneath the dense soft ground. So despite not being able to set up a tent on this hike, I did discover what I had later learned to be a very interesting plant; the cushion plant

The cushion plant is a low growing, mat-like plant that can be found all over the world. There are approximately 338 species of Cushion Plant. The do not grow to be much higher than slightly rased above the ground, but the are very thick and dense. Not to mention very soft. Watch the video below. Cushion Plants thrive in alpine, arctic, and sub-alpine condions.
They are able to thrive in these conditions due to their compact, extremely dense growth. As you can see in the photograph on the left, the density of these stems is so thick that they almost seem as one. This allows the plant to keep in warmth, sustain periods of drought because they are excellent at maintaining water, and are not as vulnerable to sheer winds. They maintain water so well, due to their root systems and the densities of their structures.
The cushion plants are very slow growing. Their average growth rate is .6mm per year. Considering, that many of them, including those of which we saw on our hike, grow to be 3 meters across, cushion plants can live a very long time. The live an average lifespan of 350 years, and some subspecies live to be over 3,000 years old. Another really unique thing about cushion plants is they create miniature ecosystems that allow for new life to flourish in places that without the cushion plant would be impossible. In the photograph on the left you can see a little fungi growing right out of the cushion plant. I was unable to find mushrooms in any other location during that whole hike on Mount Miserable. I agree with the author of the wikipedia page on the cushion plant when he says that the cushion plant is an "ecosystem engineer." you can tell with every step you took on that hike, that these cushion plants are and have been modifying the mountainside. They have a nurse effect on their surrounding environment, allowing life to take place, and new ecosystems to develope.

A Little From the Parliament of the Cook Islands

2009-06-28T16:31:00.001-07:00

Since not many bio students went to Parliament in the Cook Islands, I thought I'd give you all a little info about what we covered on June 11th.
Although we discussed quite a bit of material, as far as I know, Joe made the appointment with Deputy Clerk Puna to discuss issues with the seabed mining bill that is being dicussed in their legislature. According to a report by SPC Coastline Fisheries the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone covers 1.8 million square kilometers in which there is an estimated 7.5 trillion tons of mineral resources in manganese nodules. The nodules are formed by metallic elements that slowly precipitate out of the ocean water. The nodules grow at a rate of only 2 mm/million years. Deep currents flowing from the Antarctic region towards the equator influence the formation of nodules in Cook Island waters, which are rich in cobalt, nickel and copper. Of these metals, cobalt is the most valuable, and the nodules of the Cook Island waters are thought to have the highest cobalt content in all of the Pacific, estimated to be about 32 million tons. These 32 million tons are thought to be able to meet current world demands for more than 500 years. (cobalt is mostly used industrially, especially in the aircraft industry, rechargeable batteries, and laptops). The monetary value of these metals is estimated to be NZ$ 2 trillion for cobalt, NZ$ 380 billion for nickel, and over NZ$ 50 billion for copper. These nodules occur in waters around 5000 meters deep, which can be a real challenge for mining, and could cause a great deal of disruption to the seabed. Previously, most cobalt has come from Africa, but these supplies have not been consistent and thus other sources are significant. Environmentally the consequences of harvesting these nodules could be devistating, but they are honestly not known. Collecting the nodules could have a significant affect on the seafloor ecosystem especially by sediment plumes that will surely be generated. If the nodules are harvested and processed, more than 95% of the weight would be in unstable tailings because it is unlikely that the manganese and iron will be recoverable, which means disposal of these tailings.
As Puna indicated (this is pretty true in the states as well), the problem is that as long as revenue can be generated, the government will continue their actions.

MORE TO COME!!! I'm at work :-)

Mount Aspiring National Park Birds

2009-06-17T23:45:00.001-07:00

On Friday , June 5, while hiking near Glenorchy in Mount Aspiring National Park, I got the opportunity to observe several birds, some of which are now rare in New Zealand compared to just a few hundred years ago. The first bird I got a glimpse of was the Yellowhead, as it foraged among the moss that all but completely covered the beech forest we walked through. The Yellowhead (Mohua ochrocephala) is now the most threatened species of its genus, though in the 1800’s it was apparently very common, inhabiting podocarp-hardwood forests (such as Rimu, Totara and Miro). The clearing of those forests as well as the introduction of new mammalian predators (rats, stoats, etc) led to its decline and now this insectivorous bird is found only in beech forests with fertile soils where it can find plenty of food. It is now estimated that 1000 to 2500 Yellowhead birds remain.

As we walked, flittering along close to the forest floor were Acanthisitta chloris chloris, the South Island subspecies of the bird commonly referred to as The Rifleman. Though not considered vulnerable, all other members of its family are either in danger or extinct (the most recent being the Bush Wren, last seen in 1972). The birds seemed to follow us as we proceeded down the path (judging by the high-pitched ‘peep’ they would emit every so often), though with my poor camera skills and their restless nature I was not able to catch any of them in a photograph. I was able to see the male or males due to their near constant movement, as the green plumage on the male Rifleman’s back makes them hard to observe otherwise among the green forest floor. The Rifleman or Titipounamu is also New Zealand’s smallest bird, with each bird weighing 6-7 grams.

As we were heading back, there was a great commotion of birds in a nearby tree that had produced fruit. Among those present were some of the aforementioned birds plus another type we had not seen yet: the kakariki, yellow-crowned parakeet. The yellow-crowned parakeet still inhabits parts of mainland New Zealand, unlike the closely related red crowned parakeet, which survives only on offshore islands. Both have been severely affected by rats, and have tried to obtain food from human crops when their own food sources had failed due to these introduced rats. As they fed, they were constantly chattering, perhaps advertising the abundance of food on the tree to other kakariki in the area. Yellow-crowned parakeets are classified as near-threatened, whereas their close relations, red-crowned parakeets and orange-fronted parakeets are vulnerable and critically endangered, respectively.

This however is just a small sampling of the diversity of New Zealand birds.

Glowworms

2009-06-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

" I wish I was a glowworm, a glowworm is never glum. 'Cos how can you be grumpy when the Sunshine's from your bum"

Larson Burrows (1910-1994) was a local explorer who re-discovered the te-ana-au glowworm cave in 1948. Glowworms can reach up to 3 cm in length and have a life expectancy of about 11 months with different stages of life. The glowworm life starts as an egg and takes about 3 weeks to hatch. The eggs are clumped together by mucus like filaments, these eggs are small and dense. Once hatched they are small larva. The larva stage is where the glowworms builds a nest and begins to try to catch food by releasing lines down that reach anywhere from 1/2-7 inches long and up to 70 lines can be dropped from the nest. These lines are known as "fishing lines." The contain a paralyzing agent which kills the insect that fly into the lines. The insect is attracted to the bio luminescence of the glowworm. Then the glowworm pulls the line up in which the insect was caught on. Once the glowworm has enough energy it suspends itself on a long thread in its pupa stage. This lasts about 12 to 13 days to become the adult fly. to release itself from the cocoon like structure, the adult fly expands and contracts its body until the cocoon breaks open. The adult fly is only alive long enough to reproduce and for female lay eggs. The female usually dies after laying the eggs, males on the other hand can live up to 5 days. This is short because the adult fly in both male and female have no mouths nor do they have stomachs. The soul purpose it so reproduce. This overall life cycle of the glowworm. Interesting facts, the more hungry the glowworm is the brighter its bio luminescence is. Glowworms live in caves because it has low temperature and humidity fluctuations, glowworms are also found in dense forest floors where the living conditions are met.

** No pictures were allowed in the cave, this was taken from google image**

I actually posted this blog the night that we went, but when i went on here I noticed my blog wasnt on here but that I created my own blog about glowworms! haha WOOPS!

Milford Sound

2009-06-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

On Sunday June 7th we drove to Milford Sound, also known to the Maori as Piopiotahi, from Te Anau. The two-hour drive through the winding mountains was very scenic and contained many viewpoints to stop and admire the lush green forests and mountain terrain. On the drive we got to experience the historic Homer Tunnel that is 1.2km long, and has a gradient of 1:10, which is not for the faint of heart. Finally after many miles of winding tight turns and smoking brakes we arrived in Milford Sound. This fjord is located on the south island in Fiordland National Park. Fiordland was one of the last places to be explored in New Zealand and wasn’t popular until the 1800’s, due to the fact that early European sailors, such as James Cook, overlooked it because they didn’t think that the narrow entrance from the Tasman Sea lead into a large bay, which comes inland about 15km. Soon enough it became one of the top tourist destinations in New Zealand and I could see why. As we walked to the visitor center we could already see the pristine blue waters of the fjord and the overwhelming rock faces that rise 3,900 feet or more, created and fed by glaciers over time. This was a remarkable and unforgettable site. At the visitor center we decided to take one of the many boat tours around the sound where we got a closer look at this unique environment. We saw many waterfalls, fur seals, and bottlenose dolphins; we also saw that most of the cliffs were covered in rainforest vegetation. The tour guide pointed out places where large areas of plants have slid off the cliff into the sound because these plants have rooted themselves on moss, which can easily slip off the rocks due to accumulation of rain. This happens quite often because Milford Sound gets about 6,813mm of rain a year. Towards the end of the boat tour we stopped at the underwater observatory where we got up close and personal with the sea life of the sound, which includes black coral, sea stars, sea squirts and many kinds of fish. From the observatory we headed back to the vans to take the long road back to Te Anau where we ended the night with dinner at the Moose restaurant.

Compostable Water Bottles

2009-06-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to tell a cool story... that reminded me of our visit to SCION!

On my flight from LAX to Denver, I sat next to a man who was actually the first person to create a full copostable water bottle. The company he worked for is called BIOTA. The name is an acronym for "blame it on the altitude". The water that the company uses comes from one of the highest freshwater springs in Ouray, Colorado. The company uses Natureworks PLA (polylactic acid) as the base for their plastic.

As we saw at SCION, the plastics are completely degradable. The PLA's are corn-based in contrast to ordinary plastics which are petroleum-based, which are not degradable. These new plastics, break down in to water, carbon dioxide, and organic material.

Glowworm Caves

2009-06-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

We stayed two nights in Queenstown and than drove farther south of the South Island of New Zealand to the lake cities of Te Anau, Manapouri, and Milford Sounds as well as the Fiordland National Park, the most beautiful park in New Zealand. After having lunch in Te Anau, we traveled 20km for an hour hike along Lake Manapouri, the controversial lake that sparked environmental awareness in New Zealand in the 1950s and gave birth to the Green Party. At 7pm, we had dinner at The Moose Restaurant and took a boat cruise about 20 minutes to see the Te Anau glowworms. Situated in Fiordland National Park, the Te Anau Glowworms Caves are part of the World Heritage Area. These caves are surrounded by rainforest and predator-controlled habitats for native birds only found in New Zealand. The Glowworm Caves are couple of thousand years old. The Maori prehistoric name for Te Anau is translated as “caves with current of swirling waters.” We navigated through the electrifying caves full of live in small boats carried by roaring waters into the dark silent glowworm caverns. These caves serve as shelters to some of New Zealand’s beautiful native species including the glowworms of the underworld that have never ceased to amaze tourists and students. The glowworms caves are about four level limestones disarranged and fairly young in ecological environment but are carved up to several million years. Compared to a lot of other caves, these caves are continuously escalating in dimension due to the production of acids from carbon dioxide that comes from forest floor high above the caves’ surface. The acids help dissolve the rock and create passage. We saw examples of how the water wears away the ancient limestone when we passed a waterfall and natural sandstone bridge leading into the caves.
The luminous lights of the glowworm larvae attract flying insects by their gluey threads that hang from their nests. The hungrier the glowworms, the brighter they glow. The glowworm’s light is produced as a by-product of excretion. A reaction takes place in a small tube near the tail between an enzyme called luciferase, and other chemicals, produce a blue-green light. Because glowworms react to light and noise by switching off, we were cautioned not to make sounds, take photographs or videotape in the caves. My immediate reaction upon seeing the brilliant lights of glowworms was, “Oh my God.” I couldn’t stop but appreciate more of the biodiversity, ecology and geology of New Zealand.

Te Anau Glowworm Caves

2009-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

The glowworm cave we visited is located on the ewestern shores of Lake Te Anau. The cave itself is part of a 6.7km, four-level limestone labyrinth known as the Aurora Caves system. The caves are about 12,000 years old, which is quite young in geological terms, but the limestone they carve through is ancient - up to 35 million years old.
Unlike many dry cave systems, the Te Anau glowworm caves are still increasing in size. The "Tunnel Burn" river that flows through the caves is mildly acidic, which helps the water dissolve the rock and create passages. This acidity is produced from carbon dioxide which originates from the forest floor high above the caves. Because the Te Anau glowworm caves are young and still have a river running through them, stalactittes and stalagmites are only just starting to form. Speleothems are more common in what seemed to be the older, and drier, upper passages of the caves.
The entrance to the cave was quite low, having to basically duck walk in order to get through, but this quickly opened up into a secton known as the Cathedral. This section is roughly 20m high - the highest known point in the Aurora Caves. At the far end of the Cathedral, close to a waterfall, there are fossilized shell fragments that were noticeable in the limestone walls. These would have to date back to when the limestone formed under the sea millions of years ago... a breathtaking site.
Past the waterfall, a whirlpool and natural sandstone bridge are good examples of how the water wears and cuts is way through the limestone. At the end of the walkway, we boarded a small boat and drifted into a section known as glowworm grotto, which seemed to be a small lake-like section of water accumulation (it was pitch black in order to see the glowworms so it is hard to tell for sure.)
Adult Fly (1-5 days) - The adult fungus gnat's only purpose is to breed and disperse. The female usually dies immediately after laying eggs. The males live up to five days. They are born without functioning mouthparts.
Eggs (20-24 days) - Each adult lays approximately 130 tiny sticky eggs. They hatch about three weeks later. Hatching occurs in all seasons but is most common in December.
Larva (9 months) - As soon as it hatches, the glowing larva builds a nest and begins catching food. Once it reaches 30-40mm, it covers itself in a protective skin, much like a cacoon, and becomes a pupa.
Pupa (12-13 days) - Suspended on a long thread, the larva begins turning into an adult fly. Both males and females emit light but the female becomes much brighter before she hatches, attracting adult males.
Glowworms "fish" for food by dangleing as many as 70 "fishing lines" which are 20-150mm long and covered with thick sticky droplets of mucus. The glowworm's light attracts insects which then become trapped and paralysed by chemicals in the lines. When the glowworm feels vibrations on a line, it quickly hauls in its victim, kills it, and feeds. The glowworm's light is produced as a by-product of excretion. A reaction takes place in small tubes near the tail between an enzyme called cuviferase and other chemicals, producing a blue-green light.
The glowworm's main predator in the caves is the harvestman, similar to a spider. If food is scarce, and glowworms live too closely together, they have been known to cannibalize eachother. Glowwroms need high humidity, close to saturation point, or else they dry out and die. Many other creatures live in the cave system including weta, earthworms, spiders, millipedes, beetles, isopods, amphipods, as well as the aforementioned harvestman. The water supports native long-finned eel, which can grow up to 1.7m long and weigh up to 25 kg, as well as small native fiash called kaoro. Some creatures, such as cave beetles and harvestmen, live their entire lives in the caves and cannot survive outside. After living in the dark so long, many have lost pigmentation and developed highly sensitive sensory organs to detect prey. Others, such as glowworms, can survive equally well oustide caves, as long as they may find cool, dark habitats reminiscent of the cave environment.

Glowworms

2009-06-07T03:26:00.000-07:00

So today we went to see the glowworms located in the caves in Te Anau. The caves here are relatively young compared to other caves being only 12,000 years old. The cave is still growing to this day due to the slightly acidic river that runs through. The water is acidic because of the carbon dioxide produced by us humans above the cave. The highest point in the cave is about 20 meters.
The glowworms are mostly condensed to a small open space at the end of the cave called the glowworm grotto. We had to climb into a boat in order to see the glowworms up close. All the lights were turned off and we were asked to be silent so that we would not scare them. When we entered the grotto we were surrounded by thousands of glowing specks covering the walls of the cave. It was an amazing site.
The lights that we were seeing are produced by the glowworm in their larva stage. This is actually the only stage the glowworm eats and it lasts for most of its life. The larva stage lasts for about 9 months. During this time the glowworm is eating and growing. To capture its food the glowworm sends down fishing lines that are made of sticky mucus. An insect that flies into this trap is stuck, sucked up, and eaten by the glowworm. They can even become cannibalistic when it comes to issues of territory. We saw a video of an older glowworm devouring a younger glowworm that got too close. The glowing is used as a tactic to attract the insects to the fishing lines. The hungrier the worm is the brighter the glow. It was really interesting to see how an animal will adapt to dark cave environments.
The next stage in a glowworms life is the pupa stage. This begins after the larva reaches about 30-40mm and covers itself with a protective skin. This will only last for 12-13 days where the larva is developing into an adult fly. The adult fly is released from the protective layer. The fly’s life is very short because they are born without mouthparts. Their only purpose is to breed in their 1-5 day life. If successful, the female will lay up to 130 eggs. Then the stages begin again.

Jessica

Fleeting Fantails

2009-06-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you wander in New Zealand you see birds flitting about here and there. Some of these are introduced birds like the European Blackbird and others are native like the Wax-eye. My favorite bird here has been the Pied Fantail. These little birds are about the size of a House Sparrow but are colored white and black with a buff or yellow chest. They have a white streak over their eyes and a beautiful large white and black tail. By far they are most enjoyable to watch when they are flying. Looping, rolling and diving as they chase insects the aerial acrobatic show is spectacular.
Pied Fantails, or Piwakawaka in Maori, are from a group of birds known as flycatchers. Their scientific name is Rhipidura fulginosa and while there are three specific subspecies unique to New Zealand, the family that they belong to isn’t limited to New Zealand alone. There are also Fantails in Australia, Malaysia, and most of the South Pacific. The three subspecies are differentiated by slight differences in coloration between North, South and Chatham Island varieties including some all black Fantails found in the South Island. They are found throughout New Zealand from sea level to the snow line, in urban, suburban, farm, forest and scrub environments. They are generally 16 cm in length with 8 cm of that being their tail alone and weigh 8 grams on average. Their call is a kissing sound and they often follow people chasing and catching the insects that are stirred up by people’s passing.
They can have 2-5 broods of chicks each year so the population is able to quickly bounce back from depletion. The oldest Fantail was known to have lived to the age of three. The species is dimorphic changing in coloration from juvenile to adult plumage as it grows. Both sexes appear the same but the males are slightly larger. Breeding season for Pied Fantails is from September through January and they generally build their nests on branches overhanging water. The nests themselves are usually constructed of moss, hair, grass, and bark with cobwebs used for mortar to hold it all together. Their eggs are generally 3-4 in number and are creamy with brown spots. Incubation is around fourteen days and both parents participate incubating and then feeding the young.
The Fantail also plays a part in Maori myth as the reason or the cause of Maui’s death. The myth goes that Maui, who fished the Islands up from the sea, was traveling into the underworld to kill the goddess of death, Hine-nui-te-po. As Maui was entering her to kill her, a fantail who was accompanying him laughed and woke her. She then closed her legs and killed Maui. So the presence of a Fantail can be interpreted in Maori culture as a bad omen.
From what I’ve witnessed, they have little to no fear of people as they fly and perch quite close and appear not to be the slightest bit afraid of you. I’ve seen one on nearly every hike we’ve had on this trip, urban or through bush. They’re great to watch flying through the air pulling off spectacular aerial moves to catch the insects they’re chasing. The loops, dives and quick changes instantly catch and hold your eye and the plumage when they land is beautiful. The pictures above were taken along the ocean coast near the town of Harihari in the South Island during a couple hour hike. These little birds are wonderful and will hold a great place in my memory this trip.

Glacier Pictures

2009-06-01T01:58:00.000-07:00

Commenting on what Anna said...

This photo was taken because it shows that area that the glacier used to cover. The small island to the left of the river is where the glacier use to be at around the mid to late 1900s. It was so interesting to see the effects of climate change right at our feet. We have been having discussions about what is actually causing climate change and being at this wonderful glacier all day allowed me to put it all in to perspective and reiterate, again the damage that we may be doing.

Today was probably one of the most breathtaking days that I have ever had and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be able to study Biology in this beautiful place rather than in a classroom.

Foreign Ministry and the Kyoto Protocol

2009-06-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

On the eighteenth of May a number of us had the opportunity to visit with members of the foreign ministry in regards to the world’s climate crisis, how New Zealand is planning on combating carbon emissions, and the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is an international environmental treaty produced by the United Nations and is intended to achieve stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations as to prevent interference of local and global climates. It establishes a legally binding commitment for the reduction of four greenhouse gases in all participating countries (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulphue hexafluoride) and two additional gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perflourocarbons) in Annex I countries, countries that were industrialized/developed as of 1990. The protocol aims at reducing the carbon emissions of each participating country to the 1990 carbon levels of that particular country. There are "flexible mechanisms" built into the protocol, such as emissions trading. This allows Annex I economies to meet their greenhouse gas emission limitations by purchasing GHG emission reductions credits from elsewhere, through financial exchanges, projects that reduce emissions in non-Annex I economies, from other Annex I countries, or from Annex I countries with excess allowances. In practice this means that Non-Annex I economies have no GHG emission restrictions, but have financial incentives to develop GHG emission reduction projects to receive "carbon credits" that can then be sold to Annex I buyers, encouraging sustainable development. Currently 183 countries have ratified the protocol, including New Zealand. Countries such as the U.S and China have not ratified the protocol, despite being the leading contributors of green house gases. However, under Obama the U.S is seriously considering the ratification of the protocol.

Members of the panel stressed that New Zealand is making great strides in reducing their carbon footprint. Currently the country is powered by seventy percent renewable resources, such as wind, geothermal, hydropower, etc. They hope to increase the number of renewable power sources to ninety percent over the next twenty years. This is very ambitious because of cost and limited resources, but the New Zealand public and government seem to be extremely committed to making this a reality and have made it clear that they will remain a nuclear free country and have no plans to continue building coal burning power plants. New Zealand has also improved carbon emissions by importing a number of emission friendly cars from Japan. These cars are smaller, use less fuel, and are more environmentally friendly than many of the cars driven in the U.S and other developed countries. However, while New Zealand has been able to lower the carbon emissions in both transportation and energy, they have not been able to significantly lower their carbon footprint as a whole because fifty percent of their carbon emissions come from agriculture. Agriculture is a huge part of the New Zealand economy, as they are one of the leading countries in the export of dairy products, sheep products, and sheep/cattle meat products. As a result of the economic significance of agriculture it is extremely difficult to decrease carbon emissions any further because reducing agricultural emissions would worsen the New Zealand economy. In this situation the only viable option for reaching the goal of reducing carbon emissions to that of the 1990 level would be to buy emission credits from another country. Overall, New Zealand has made such great strides in reducing their carbon footprint that it is difficult to feasibly lower it any further.

My personal opinion of the Kyoto Protocol is that it is a step in the right direction. The world is in crisis and obviously facing a large number of climate problems. If these problems are not aggressively addressed in the near future the world will undergo a number of changes; species will go extinct, low lying coastal communities will be endangered, world health will decrease, natural resources will be depleted, etc. However, while being a step in the right direction, there are foreseeable problems with the protocol, especially with the “trading flexibility” within it. Countries such as New Zealand will need the credit trading system to sustain their economies because they have lowered their carbon emissions nearly as low as possible. The problem with the trading system is that small countries like New Zealand have significantly less money than other developed countries (i.e. United States) and there is nothing in the protocol that stops larger countries from buying all of the credits. If all the GHG credits were bought by a larger country there would be none left for small countries. As a result they would not be able to meet the required carbon emission level and would be fined large amounts of money. The only way to prevent this from happening is to put a limit on the amount of credits that any one country can buy, but it is these very limits that have kept the U.S from ratifying the protocol. Therefore, putting a limit on it would deter the large carbon emitting countries from joining the cause. In conclusion, the Kyoto Protocol is a good idea that has too many loop holes to be effective. In the end it should not be the small carbon emitting countries like New Zealand leading the fight against global warming. It is the responsibility of the United States, as the leading carbon emitter, to step up to the plate and lead the way.

Franz Josef Glaciers

2009-06-01T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I conquered one of can’t do attitudes by hiking on the Franz Josef Glaciers with eleven members of our group, woo! It was really fun to see glacier for the very first time in my life. But not only did I see it, I walked on it. The history of the glacier is quite intriguing. Julius von Haast, a geologist and explorer, named the glacier Franz Josef Glacier in 1863, after the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Approximately 7000 years old, and a residue of a much older and larger glacier that originally swept right to the sea, Franz Josef Glacier extends 12 kilometers from its three feeder glaciers in the high snow fields of the Alps. Currently, the life-threatening face is about 19 kilometers from the sea and just 5 kilometers from the township. By 1954 the glacier had retreated so that it was no longer visible from the town. The forward moving from melting ice and waterfall from surrounding mountains to the glacier brought it back into public view. From early Maori legends this glacier was called Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere. The Tears of a Maori Girl (Hinehukatere),
Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe fell from the peaks of the mountains and died. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears froze to form the glacier. The Franz Josef Glaciers run via amazing glacial valleys to flow into a beautiful rainforest. What is unique about Franz Josef Glacier is that unlike any other of the world’s glaciers that retreat, these glaciers still flow almost to sea level, which makes them very exceptional relics of the last Ice Age. Because the glacier lies between huge winds called the roaring forties, the wind rise above the Southern Alps causing cooling and moisture as it rains and snows. Even though the glaciers start to melt from the top at lower altitude, the elevated snowfall constantly pushes ice down the valleys at very fast speed. This creates a barrier sliding, placing deposits of water beneath the glaciers, formed by the weight of the ice pushing against the valley floor. These factors cause the Franz Josef glacier to flow at faster rate up to 10 times faster than most valley glaciers in the world. It was amazing to see how the glaciers flow over large bedrock and overhang everything around it. Sometimes I could hear the ice break up as it forms steep icefalls and sometime creating Mullins, tiny holes that turn into tunnels making pathways. This was a unique glacier experience for me to walk on large impressive landscape of ice that I have never dreamed of before. It was really awesome!!

Franz Josef Glacier

2009-05-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-31T02:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-28T03:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-28T02:34:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T02:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T01:58:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Ruapehu

2009-05-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Today (5/20/09) was absolutely incredible!!! We went on a hike that took around 5 hours total, and it brought us up to the “lower limit” of the mountain. Here, we were only to a foothill at the base of the mountain, but the scenery was gorgeous. Let’s start at the beginning… the hike started with the entire group taking a 2 hour walk to some waterfalls. The water here was flowing in place of old lava flows from when the volcano had erupted years ago. This portion of the walk took us quite a bit longer than expected since so many of us wanted to stop and photograph the plants, ferns, mushrooms, lichen, and other various organisms along the way. It had snowed the night before, so much of the vegetation had a thin layer of frozen moisture covering it, but there was a point along the way that was dense with tall trees and thick shrubs covering the ground. Here, there were tons of moss covered trees, and plants that displayed all the different shades of green. The water from the fall flowed all through the forest, so the sounds of the rushing stream carried with us all along the hiking path. Once we reached the waterfalls, the trail split. Part of our group took the 45 minute walk back to the cabins we were staying at, while the other part took the estimated 2 hour hike (4 hour round trip) up to the “lower limit” where we would be able to see a lake at the base of the mountain. I hiked along with the group to see the lake, which actually only took us 1.5 hours there, and about 1 hour back to the falls. The trail turned into a muddy mess, with puddles, shrubs, and mud holes nearly every step of the way. For me, this made it all the more interesting, and I was very grateful to have waterproof hiking boots on this trip. The further we hiked, more snow and ice covered our path became, and the sun hid behind a layer of clouds. A few people slipped and fell along the way, but thankfully no one was hurt. Finally, we reached our destination, and the view was spectacular. The water in the lake was a bluish green, and was surrounded by foothills with snow and ice which had trails of water running through it. Here, we took a short break to eat the lunches we packed for ourselves earlier in the day, and of course to take some pictures. We had to make it short, because once we stopped we all got really cold, really fast. The walk back went much quicker, probably because it was mostly downhill. It started snowing midway, which made me pick up my pace even more. The last half hour of the walk felt like the longest part, but once we reached the cabins we all warmed up with hot showers and/or hot milo (pretty much like hot chocolate). A perfect end to a perfect hike!

Parliament

2009-05-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today the group toured Parliament and met with a wonderful Maori woman name Rahui Katene. She discussed the organization of Parliament and the impact that the Maori has in Parliament. It was extremely interesting that the Maori people were the first settlers on New Zealand land and have basically had everything taken from them. We were able to parallel this with the Native Americans in the Us. She informed us that until the late 1900's did the Maori people were allowed 4 seats in Parliament. There is a constant struggle with this because the Maori people feel that they are equal to the Pakeh (non-Maori) and should have equal seating in Parliament.

We also found it interesting that the Treaty of Waytungi involving the land settlement of the Maori was in two languages and the translation from English to Maori was completely different that the original Maori version. This creates controversy because each party follows their understanding of the treaty. We found it ironic that the international law acknowledges the treaty as favoring the Maori version but New Zealand does not follow this law.

Speaking with one of the representative of the house, a native Maori, described to us that the Maori people feel that they are one with the earth and sky and do not put claim and ownership on their land and are even unfamiliar with this concept. We found it interesting that in the US we have to put monetary value on everything we own. They cherish the land and respect the land as if it is part of their person where as we treat it like it is our playground and continue to diminish the land. Makes one reconsider the value of our surroundings....

More to come!

Stef, Shelly, and Laura

Augsburg College to New Zealand

2009-05-15T15:01:00.001-07:00

Going to New Zealand was such a miracle for me. First, thanks to Andrea and Leah at the Center for Global Education- Augsburg College for their great support in helping to get my visitors' visa to New Zealand. Our amazing trip started from the MSP to LA airport for 3 hours and we stayed another 3 hours in LA. Finally, at 9pm we boarded the giant Boeing 747 - a two level aircraft - to Aukland, NZ. It is by far the biggest aircraft I have ever flown on. The trip lasted total of 19 hours with some the America’s and New Zealand’s finest movies and food along with world class flight attendants with their beautiful New Zealand Kiwi accent. It was dark outside so we didn't see anything except the huge sound of the aircraft picking up from the ground. There were some rattles alone the way but given the size of the plane it was not a concern. Overall, it was a smooth flight. When we landed in Aukland, I could smell New Zealand’s greenness from the fresh air blown in from across the mighty ocean. Also, I could see greenness from the hybrid taxi cap driving on the left hand side of the street at the airport. But not only that, I could see the greenness at the immigration check point where everyone is required to go through bio-security laboratory and where shoes are checked for any dry soil that has potential of transporting invasive species. Lastly, the greenness of the city of Aukland could be seen from the clear blue sky at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. In Wellington, we got the feel of New Zealand when we visited the Matiu/Somes island, the oldest in Wellington. It is home to some of the native species here in New Zealand.
People are quite friendly and welcoming to visitors. One could sense that they care a whole lot about the sustainability of their country with the necessary protective actions being taken.

photo from Richmond

2009-05-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Taken downtown Wellington.

Different place and a different feel

2009-05-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

It feels completely different and I could tell that i'm in a different place. One of the biggest difference is the time zone. We usually joke that May 13th never existed, since we left Los Angeles on May 12th and next day was the 14th in New Zealand....hehehe...

(posted by Brian on behalf of Richmond)

2009-05-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 15th, we visited with a lovely lady named Cath Wallace for our first formal lecture setting. Cath has been an advocate for environmental issues for most of her time on this Earth now, and her stories and lecture was quite humbling. I realized how ignorant and nieve I truly was in the struggles that New Zealand faces currently, as well as in the near future. I do not believe that any books that I could have read would have prepared me for the intricate details of New Zealands issues as elloquently as Cath reiterated them.

Our second meeting was with Herb Christopher, a senior advisor for the New Zealand DoC or Department of Conservation. Obvioiusly a very motivated and inspired gentleman, Herb again addressed some of the issues that Cath spoke of, but seemed to be sticking more to solutions rather than problems. I respected that. I can tell from both of their lectures that a task of this sorts is quite daunting, but every little step in the right direction is a reward that can not be measured in Eearthly terms.

Most of the topics covered pushed the spectrum of Environmental Politics, a subject that I truley have no interest in. I become quite frustrated when this topic arrises because of the apparent issues and the seeming lack of will to confront theses by political bodies. It really puts in perspective what one who chooses this life is up against. I have the upmost repsect for any folk that have the determination to dedicate their life to this.

All my thoughts on that for now, cheers!

Matiu/Somes Island

2009-05-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

Laura and Stef here from the Windy city of Wellington.

Yesterday we decided to travel to the Matiu/Somes Island. An island located about 15 minutes off the Wellington harbor. When we first got to the island we were briefed about the history and natural ecosystem of the island. Placed in to a small shed where we had to remain and were informed of the invasive species and the threat they pose to the natural habitat we were instructed to check our belongings and selves for seeds, dirts, ants, and another foreign objects on our person.

The history of the island was incredible to learn about. We discovered that the island was first inhabited by Maori people but was eventually taken over and used as a place of Quarantine from the 1870's-1920. We had the opportunity to visit a cemetery containing the bodies of some of the people who had lost their lives on the island, mainly due to illness. A beautiful monument stands in their name.

In the beginning of the 1880's and for a hundred years, Somes Island served as an animal quarantine station. One of the most high-tech quarantines of it's time the island inhabited dogs, cattle, sheep, red deer, llama, and other livestock from all over the world.

The island also had a part during the world wars playing a large role in defense and security. It was a camp for enemy alien internees who posed a threat. We were able to sta innd to the five concrete structures that remained. In 1942 they created gun emplacements but were never actually used.

Walking around the trails of the island we came across many unique animals and plants native to the island. Some of these included the red-crowned parakeet, the korora (the world's smallest penguin), the weta (which is similar to a cricket the size of your hand), and 8 species of reptiles found only in New Zealand. One of these reptiles was named the tuatara whose closest relative is a dinosaur.

Our first day in the Southern Hemisphere was a success! Dinner at Fisherman's Table and then most were off to bed to get rid of the jet lag. More to come, stay tuned!

**Pics of Somes Island to come but if you want to check out where we were you can go to their website www. doc.govt.nz

Pukeko!

2009-05-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Really, this is just an experiment to see if I can add photos to the blog. The birds are pukekos (Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus), which we are quite likely to run into during our travels.
And here's a test to see if I can embed videos:

Welcome!

2009-05-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is primarily to provide a space in which observations relating to biology and biodiversity may be recorded by Augsburg College students participating in a month-long trip to New Zealand and the Cook Islands during May and June 2009.