Marine biofouling creates a huge headache for New Zealand aquaculture. Read about a promising new technology for controlling biofouling.
This stunning poster updates the last New Zealand regional sediment chart (published in 1989) using new multibeam bathymetry as well as archived and previously unpublished distributions of seafloor sediments.
Mark Morrison, Mireille Consalvey, Katrin Berkenbusch, and Emma Jones explain the economic importance of maintaining diverse and healthy coastal and deepsea habitats.
Michael Ahrens describes the search for environmental indicators that can highlight problems for kai moana.
Graham Fenwick and Mike Scarsbrook explain an ecological service going on beneath our feet.
PDF of this article (137 KB)
Juvenile snapper and a chunk of biogenic habitat formed mainly of ‘dead man’s fingers’ (soft corals) attached to a horse mussel. (Photo: Kerry Webster)
Tracking snapper origins
Recent research on snapper stock on the North Island west coast demonstrates the central importance of Kaipara Harbour, and the biogenic habitat fish nurseries within it, to the wider west coast ecosystem. In 2003 we collected juvenile snapper from the seven main estuaries on this coast, and chemically analysed their otoliths (ear bones).
PDF of this article (123 KB)
Seagrass in Tauranga Harbour. (Photo: Virginie Dos Santos, NIWA / University of Toulouse)
The inflorescence in a shoot of Zostera muelleri includes an arrangement of male and female flowers. (Photos: Fleur Matheson)
Seagrass in bloom
Scientists from NIWA, in collaboration with researchers at the universities of Waikato and Toulouse (France), have discovered seagrass flowering in Tauranga Harbour.
PDF of this article (148 KB)
Dr Tumu Te Heuheu opening the Vth APPF. (Photo: Les Maiden, VUW)
The bull kelp Durvillaea antarctica, a brown alga. In Chilean cuisine, this plant is used in salads and stews. (Photo: Erasmo Marcaya, VUW)
Phycologists flock to Wellington
Every second breath we take has been provided by the algae we share this planet with, so it’s not surprising that a conference focusing on algae in all their manifest diversity drew a wide range of people.
PDF of this article (111 KB)
Dr Sandy Scott at work in the lab. (Photo: Bruce Davision)
Dr Oliver Coleman using a digitizer board for electronic illustration. (Photo: Anne-Nina Lörz)
Holding an all-sky camera, Prof Seckmeyer stands in front of the UV Index display meter at Lauder. (Photo: Richard McKenzie)
Visiting scientists
Dr Alexander Scott
In September, fisheries scientists at NIWA in Hamilton hosted Dr Alexander (Sandy) Scott from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in Weymouth, UK.
PDF of this article (82 KB)
Using GIS for spatial analysis of census data. (Photo: Len Doel, NZSMT Teacher Fellow)
New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellows
Carolyn Leersnyder: ‘Adaptation to climate change in a coastal community’
She will always remember 2008 as the year she moved out of the classroom and into the world of a NIWA scientist.
PDF of this article (90 KB)
Divers gather on the shore of Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) as instructor Steve Mercer (centre) gives them their next assignment. (Photo: Julie Steele)
NIWA scientific dive course
One of NIWA’s most popular training courses is Scientific Diving. The course is designed to assess individuals as suitable scientific divers and to provide adequate training to meet NIWA’s minimum standards for dive safety and scientific diving.
In her year as a New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellow, Jenny Pollock has focused her attention on the ACC.
Hydrologist Pete Mason has turned a taste for adventure into a working life that’s taken him from Antarctica to the South Pacific, and from Outback Australia to the Chatham Islands.
The Antarctic ozone hole is expected to recover sometime this century, but exactly how and when remains uncertain. Greg Bodeker and the IPY Team are working to improve model projections of the recovery using data from the intensive measurement campaigns of the International Polar Year (IPY).
As the world seeks a non-toxic defence against costly biofouling, NIWA and its collaborators are on the track of a new coating for hulls, pilings, and submerged equipment. Craig Depree takes a close look at a nano-solution.
One of NIWA’s aims with this magazine is to contribute to science education in New Zealand. To this end we distribute Water & Atmosphere without charge to New Zealand high schools. Articles are assigned ‘Curriculum Connections’ to indicate which of the NZ NCEA Achievement or Unit Standards they can complement as a classroom resource. These links are assigned by Royal Society of New Zealand Teacher Fellows who are working during the year with NIWA scientists.
Reducing your vehicle’s emissions may not be enough to protect your own health. Ian Longley describes new research that’s getting a fix on personal levels of exposure to air pollution.
