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habitat

Repo (wetlands) – a context for learning

Teacher PLD

Repo (wetlands) – a context for learning

In ecological terms, wetlands are ecotones – transitional habitats between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They provide a mixture of habitats ...

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Soil is a habitat

Article

Soil is a habitat

A habitat is an area in which something lives. Soil is a habitat, and it is full of life!

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Create a lizard-friendly habitat

Activity

Create a lizard-friendly habitat

In this activity, students have the opportunity to create a lizard-friendly habitat in the school grounds. The extension activity involves ...

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Building homes for tree wētā

Activity

Building homes for tree wētā

In this activity, students consider the life requirements and natural habitat of tree wētā and design a wētā home to ...

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Wetland plants

Article

Wetland plants

Wetlands are defined by the presence of water – places where water covers the soil or where it is present ...

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Winiwini Kingi standing in front of a stream.

Article

Te Winiwini Kingi

Te Winiwini Kingi (Te Waiariki Ngāti Kororā) is a kaumātua and environmentalist working to restore the habitats on his ancestral land. This scientist profile is one ...

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Environmental monitoring – ao Māori perspectives

Article

Environmental monitoring – ao Māori perspectives

Our activities on the land have wide-ranging effects on Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. Our land 2024 is an environmental report ...

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Restoring Te Auaunga – Oakley Creek

Article

Restoring Te Auaunga – Oakley Creek

We rely on the natural world for recreation, building social connections and supporting our mental and spiritual health. Our land 2024 is an environmental report produced ...

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<i>Our land 2024 </i>

Article

Our land 2024

The land and ecosystems of Aotearoa New Zealand are globally unique and nationally significant. Our connections to and relationship with the land are a defining characteristic ...

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Helping the butterflies of Aotearoa New Zealand

Article

Helping the butterflies of Aotearoa New Zealand

Discover more about the red admiral butterfly, winner of the 2024 Kia Pākiki – Bug of the Year and science communication, and how we can help ...

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How did ancient moa survive the ice age – and what can they teach us about modern climate change?

Article

How did ancient moa survive the ice age – and what can they teach us about modern climate change?

One of New Zealand’s iconic moa species was almost wiped out during the last ice age according to recently published research. DNA from ancient eastern moa ...

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How the Ice Ages spurred the evolution of New Zealand’s weird and wiry native plants

Article

How the Ice Ages spurred the evolution of New Zealand’s weird and wiry native plants

The most controversial feature of the New Zealand flora is the plethora of small-leaved trees and shrubs with wiry interlaced branches. This article has been republished ...

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Mahinga kai

Article

Mahinga kai

Mahika/mahinga kai is a highly significant concept for Māori. It encompasses the values and protection of natural resources and is specific to iwi and their rohe. ...

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Tupuānuku – land and soil

Article

Tupuānuku – land and soil

Tupuānuku is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to anything associated within the soil, including cultivated and uncultivated foods grown in ...

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Learning from the Tangata Whenua

Article

Learning from the Tangata Whenua

This Connected article is based on an interview by Susan Paris with environmental scientist Dr James Ataria (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa). James’s work focuses on ...

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The fish highway

Article

The fish highway

This Connected article, written and illustrated by Adele Jackson, looks at the discovery that fish and eels are using Wellington’s stormwater system as access between streams ...

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Raʻui: Giving it back to the gods

Article

Raʻui: Giving it back to the gods

This Connected article takes a Pacific worldview and describes how the people of the Cook Islands have attempted to manage and protect their marine resources with ...

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Life in Aotearoa New Zealand

Article

Life in Aotearoa New Zealand

This Connected article, written by Matt Boucher, looks at why our wildlife is so distinct and how the species developed and adapted to their current state. ...

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Cover from 2020 level 2 Connected journal article: City of bugs

Article

City of bugs

In 2019, students from three Dunedin primary schools teamed up with University Otago scientist Dr Cynthia Winkworth to complete two goals: to discover which invertebrates were ...

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New Zealand’s endemic dolphins

Article

New Zealand’s endemic dolphins

Dolphins are often seen around the coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, but only two species – Hector’s and Māui – are endemic. Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) ...

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What now for the <i>Rena</i>?

Article

What now for the Rena?

This Connected article looks at the aftermath of the 2011 environmental disaster caused when the MV Rena struck Astrolabe Reef, off the Tauranga coast. Since then, ...

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Wetland animals

Article

Wetland animals

Wetland habitats are diverse places. They support an enormous range of animals from microscopic communities to some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest birds. Zooplankton are small ...

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Wetlands

Article

Wetlands

Wetlands are ‘in between’ areas – they are permanently or intermittently wet areas on the margins of drier land or along the margins of water bodies ...

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Counting kākahi

Article

Counting kākahi

In this Connected article scientist Hannah Rainforth investigates kākahi, Aotearoa New Zealand’s threatened freshwater mussels in the Whanganui River, to find whether the evidence supports claims ...

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Under the sea

Article

Under the sea

This Connected article by Sophie Fern, reports on a survey of a 100-metre long rocky reef located 11 kilometres off the Taranaki coast. Students from local ...

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Kelp forests after the Kaikōura earthquake

Article

Kelp forests after the Kaikōura earthquake

The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake caused sudden large-scale changes along the coastline. The intertidal zones were lifted up to 6 metres in some places. In the media, ...

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Monitoring marine environments with drones

Article

Monitoring marine environments with drones

Aerial imaging is not new, and scientists have been using data gathered from manned flights for decades. In recent decades, Earth-oriented satellites have become the dominant ...

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Aquatic insect life

Article

Aquatic insect life

We usually think of insects as being animals of the land, but did you know that many insects spend part of their lives in water? Some ...

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