November 2021

Where do mussels like to call home?

24/11/2021

To find out what features of the reef attract mussels, we dropped baby green-lipped mussels on several types of 3D printed tiles representing rocky reef structures in seawater tanks and saw where they went. This experiment will help us designing eco-engineered structures that would give this native species a competitive advantage over invasive species on artificial structures.

Mapping nationwide movements of New Zealand’s recreational vessels

20/11/2021

The MANAGE & RESPOND TEAM developed a web-based survey that uses interactive maps to capture the movement of recreational boats in New Zealand. The collected data will be used to create a network model of recreational vessel movements to understand places of particular importance for biosecurity pathway management and response.

The increasing issue of coastal hardening and its associated socio-economic risks

10/11/2021

We mapped coastal hardening associated with 30 international urban centres and, using machine-learning algorithms, developed a model to forecast the regional expansion of 4 globally common coastal infrastructure types. We applied this model to New Zealand for anticipating regional distributions and future hotspots of socioecological risks over a 25-year period.

From North to South – scientists set sail for two collaborative expeditions

01/11/2021

In 2021, the DETECT team had a big year on the water participating in two research expeditions, in two very distant and ecologically different areas of Aotearoa: Northland and Fiordland. These expeditions allowed us to collect valuable data on distribution of the high-profile non-indigenous species while testing our optimized molecular surveillance tools and protocols.

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