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biosecurity

Biosecurity

Article

Biosecurity

Biosecurity is the process of detecting and controlling unwanted crop weeds, pests and diseases. Agriculture and the natural environment are ...

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Fall armyworm larvae and moth

Article

Improving Aotearoa New Zealand’s biosecurity detection

This article has been republished from The Conversation under Creative Commons licence CC BY-ND 4.0 and is written by Dr Angela (Ang) McGaughran, Senior Lecturer in ...

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Tackling weeds to safeguard native ecosystems

Article

Tackling weeds to safeguard native ecosystems

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment report Space invaders: A review of how New Zealand manages weeds that threaten native ecosystems investigated the growing risk weeds ...

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Weeds – threats to native ecosystems

Article

Weeds – threats to native ecosystems

We all know about the threats that predators like possums, rats and stoats pose to New Zealand's native ecosystems, but did you know different exotic weeds ...

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Sniffing out bee disease

Article

Sniffing out bee disease

American foulbrood (AFB) is a highly infectious disease that infects bee larvae. It costs the beekeeping industry millions of dollars a year and threatens the role ...

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Kauri dieback and mātauranga Māori

Article

Kauri dieback and mātauranga Māori

Research led by Victoria University of Wellington’s Dr Monica Gerth in collaboration with iwi has discovered molecules from New Zealand native plants could hold the solution ...

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Taxonomy – the science of species discovery

Article

Taxonomy – the science of species discovery

Our planet has life on it, and for that reason, it may be unique in the universe. Ironically enough, we know much more about some of ...

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Bioforce – breeding bugs for biocontrol

Article

Bioforce – breeding bugs for biocontrol

New Zealand might be an island nation, but that doesn’t stop us from having to deal with a variety of unwanted organisms that find their way ...

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Ngāi hekaheka – pai mai, kino mai, anuanu mai

Article

Ngāi hekaheka – pai mai, kino mai, anuanu mai

Noho tahi ai ngā hekaheka, ngā tipu me ngā hanga oreore ki te poho o Tāne-mahuta. Ka mutu, he mahi nui anō ka kawea e tēnā, ...

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Fungi – the good, the bad and the ugly

Article

Fungi – the good, the bad and the ugly

Fungi, plants, and animals live together in Tāne-mahuta, and all have important roles to play. Fungi live with plant roots, helping the plant to get minerals ...

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Myrtle rust

Article

Myrtle rust

Myrtle rust is a disease caused by the fungus Austropuccinia psidii. It threatens plants in the Myrtaceae (myrtle) family. New Zealand has a variety of native ...

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Kiwifruit – learning to live with Psa

Article

Kiwifruit – learning to live with Psa

In November 2010, the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae (Psa) was discovered in a Te Puke kiwifruit orchard. Psa had previously decimated kiwifruit crops in other ...

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Our Land and Water National Science Challenge

Article

Our Land and Water National Science Challenge

Farming is a way of life in New Zealand – about half the country’s land is used for primary production. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise reports ...

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New Zealand Subantarctic Islands group

Article

New Zealand Subantarctic Islands group

The Auckland Islands are often described as a hotspot of biodiversity, with a wide variety of seabirds, invertebrates and marine mammals and a range of hardy ...

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Insects and forest ecosystems

Article

Insects and forest ecosystems

Our native forests – ngahere – have complex ecosystems. Within the wider ecosystems are smaller ecosystems, such as the one formed around honeydew. Honeydew is a ...

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Whangarei fruit fly find a worry

Article

Whangarei fruit fly find a worry

In early April 2014, a solitary male Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) was found in a biosecurity surveillance trap in the Parihaka area of Whangarei. The ...

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Dung beetles released on farms

Article

Dung beetles released on farms

On 8 October 2013, Landcare Research’s invertebrate ecologist Dr Shaun Forgie announced the release of two new species of dung beetles, Onthophagus taurus and Onthophagus binodus, ...

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Psa-resistant kiwifruit

Article

Psa-resistant kiwifruit

Research by Plant & Food scientists is aiming to breed kiwifruit cultivars that show resistance to the pathogen Psa. Listen to this RNZ audio, Psa-resistant kiwifruit, ...

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Combating kiwifruit Psa

Article

Combating kiwifruit Psa

Scientists around New Zealand have been working on how to combat the highly virulent pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) – a bacterial disease that has ...

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Weevils eat pesky buddleia weeds

Article

Weevils eat pesky buddleia weeds

Introduced Chinese weevils, Cleopus japonicus, are laying waste to large patches of buddleia in the Bay of Plenty, much to the relief of forest growers and ...

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Kiwifruit plagued by Psa

Article

Kiwifruit plagued by Psa

In November 2010, kiwifruit growers discovered a highly contagious vine-killing canker, Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae (Psa), that affects the vine of the kiwifruit but not the ...

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Aphid genome could unlock new weapons

Article

Aphid genome could unlock new weapons

The complete genome of the pea aphid was published in 2010, with help from a team of New Zealand researchers. This 6-year project, involving scientists from ...

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Orokonui Ecosanctuary: a mainland island

Article

Orokonui Ecosanctuary: a mainland island

After the success of offshore islands in protecting our native species, mainland islands were introduced and have proved to be a successful conservation strategy. The process ...

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Saving reptiles and amphibians – timeline

Article

Saving reptiles and amphibians – timeline

This timeline provides look at some of the historical aspects of saving our reptiles and amphibians and other species, the impacts on them by humans, and ...

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Dung beetle mania

Article

Dung beetle mania

Excrement-loving dung beetles, rolling their balls of animal poo across the ground, could one day become a familiar sight on New Zealand farms. These unlikely critters ...

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