How far and fast can aquatic insects travel upstream? Do the adults have to fly, or can the larvae crawl? A NIWA scientist is using obstacle courses to test the ability of fly larvae for upstream travel - a kind of flyathalon. This work will identify some of the barriers to stream restoration, including movement of insects as they recolonise restored areas.

Most of New Zealand's rain doesn't fall in the plains, but in the mountains, particularly the Southern Alps.

Wild kai such as eel (tuna), lamprey (kanakana) and whitebait are a significant cultural, recreational and economic resource for Māori in South Canterbury.

A recent OECD report describes New Zealand's water quality as 'good' relative to most OECD countries but says that it is deteriorating. This deterioration is due, in large part, to diffuse pollution from agriculture, says Dr Kevin Parris of the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD in Paris, France. Dr Parris is a plenary speaker at the DIPCON conference, in Rotorua.

Wetlands are like a sponge - they take in large amounts of water and "clean" it by processing out nutrients carried in the water that flows through them. These nutrients can include diffuse pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorous from farm runoff.

Water pollution is a global problem. The most challenging aspect of water pollution to solve is 'diffuse pollution' such as run-off from land surfaces. Diffuse Pollution is the most important source of pollution in New Zealand.

The Ministry for the Environment has this morning released the Waikato River Independent Scoping Study, which was led by NIWA.

NIWA and partners have developed a new Envirolink toolkit for monitoring the ecological success of stream restoration.

NIWA’s annual end-of-summer survey of the snowline on key South Island glaciers shows, on average, a very slight net gain in the amount of snow at the top of those glaciers.