Zoology collection
The mission of the Department of Zoology is to provide an environment, open to all sections of the community, for the extension, sharing and application of knowledge in zoology, through research and teaching of the highest international standard.
The Department of Zoology is distinctive internationally for its focus on whole organism biology (it is one of the few departments of zoology in universities throughout the world). Our staff have international reputations in their areas of expertise and make major contributions to answering fundamental questions in basic and applied research.
For further information go to the Department of Zoology.
Recent Deposits
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Marine ecology of offshore and inshore foraging penguins : the Snares penguin Eudyptes robustus and Yellow-eyed penguin Megadyptes antipodes
Seabirds have become adapted for foraging in an oceanic environment that can be highly dynamic. Oceanographic processes determine the spatial distribution of seabird prey, while seasonality often has a temporal influence ... -
Factors driving life-histories in brown trout Salmo trutta exhibiting partial migration behaviours
The behaviors of some partially migratory salmonids, at both the among- and within-species levels, can be established early - on during their respective lives. For those species that have a plastic early life history in ... -
The effects of the freshwater mussel Hyridella menziesi on the phytoplankton of a shallow Otago lake
Summary 1. Biomass, filtration rate and rhythmic activity data for Hyridella menziesi in Lake Tuakitoto were combined to calculate the filtration capability of this population. It was calculated that this population filters ... -
Nesting ecology and behaviour of tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) at Ōrokonui Ecosanctuary
Understanding the ecology of reproductive behaviours is an essential aspect in studying an animal species. Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), once widespread across New Zealand, have become severely restricted in distribution ... -
Behaviour of Foraging Bumble Bees Across Morphological and Environmental Contexts
Bumble bees as pollinators are being produced at an industrial scale and are used throughout the world to pollinate agricultural crops in glasshouses. The agricultural crops they are exposed to are often monocultural and ... -
Impact of sedimentation on the survival and availability of spawning grounds for brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in the Central Otago streams
In the past few decades, rapid agriculturalization and urbanization have caused a massive increase in sediment concentrations within streams all over the world. This represents a potential threat to aquatic organisms. ... -
Stream rehabilitation within agricultural riverscapes
Modern agriculture is necessary to feed our growing global population, yet agriculture is also the most extensive cause of freshwater ecosystem degradation. Accordingly, determining how to maintain or improve freshwater ... -
Fire and ice: Genomic insights into the evolution, biogeography and extinction of modern penguins
Islands of the vast Southern Ocean host abundant endemic wildlife populations representing important breeding grounds for many seabirds. With contrasting geological, glacial and human-impact histories, these islands represent ... -
The Genetic Analysis of Lasaea hinemoa: The Story of an Evolutionary Oddity
Lasaea is a genus of molluscs that primarily consists of minute, hermaphroditic bivalves that occupy rocky shores worldwide. The majority of Lasaea species are asexual, polyploid, direct developers. However, two Australian ... -
Defining Minimum Founder Population Sizes to Improve Genetic Diversity Retention in Captive-Bred Stocks of Otago Skink, Oligosoma otagense
Captive breeding programmes are becoming an increasingly used management method for conserving species where extinction is otherwise likely due to significant in situ threats and marginal translocation possibilities. ... -
Foraging strategies and breeding success in the Little Penguin, Eudyptula minor : a comparative study between different habitats
Little Penguins breeding at different locations in New Zealand exhibit great differences in breeding success which is likely to be related to different foraging strategies. During the 2000/2001 breeding season, foraging ... -
Motivations and Attitudes of New Zealand Conservation Volunteers
Conservation in New Zealand is a massive enterprise, combining government, public, and private efforts. Volunteers work across these sectors to restore the unique flora and fauna of this island archipelago. In light of ... -
Short term impacts of physical instream restoration works on the invertebrate community in Waituna Creek, measured by Surber and kick-net sampling methods.
Due to anthropogenic activity, many rivers have been degraded and have lost structural diversity. Rivers restorations are commonly undertaken in order to reinstate the lost habitat heterogeneity. In New Zealand, freshwater ... -
Behavioural and ecological factors affecting the trappability of two skink species in Nelson
The syntopic skink species Oligosoma infrapunctatum and O. lineoocellatum appear to have different trappability estimates at Lake Station, Nelson. Long-term mark-recapture data has shown that O. lineoocellatum has a ... -
Lipid physiology in beluga (Huso huso L.) - the relationship between developmental stages, 11-ketotestosterone levels and ovarian lipid uptake
In egg-laying fish, survival of the embryonic and initial larval stages depends on accumulation of substantial reserves of yolk and lipid within the egg during oocyte growth. In sturgeon, a non-teleost basal ray-finned ... -
The survival, longevity, diet and development of mountain stone weta Hemideina maori in the Rock and Pillar Range, New Zealand
For ectotherms, environmental temperature is an important correlate of growth rate, development time and final body size, with the dominant trend being an increase in growth rate and a decrease in size at maturity as ... -
A comparative ecological study of Pied and Black Stilts in South Canterbury.
Stilts Himantopus are long-legged waders of the Order Charadriiformes, Family Recurvirostridae. Two species occur in New Zealand, the Black Stilt H. novaezealandiae and the Pied Stilt H. himantopus leucocephalus, each of ... -
The effects of vegetation removal on rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and small mammalian predators in braided riverbeds of the Mackenzie Basin
[Executive Summary] (…) Predation by cats, ferrets and stoats (Mustela erminea) has been identified as a major threat to several species of birds which nest in open riverbed areas of the Mackenzie Basin, South Canterbury, ... -
Aspects of mammalian predator ecology co-inhabiting giant skink habitat
The utilisation of habitats and the diet of feral cats and ferrets was studied in an area co-inhabited by giant skinks in the Middlemarch-Macraes Flat region of Central Otago, New Zealand. Home range and habitat utilisation ... -
Experimental addition of Onthophagus binodis and Geotrupes spiniger to pasture ecosystems in New Zealand and an investigation of affected biotic and abiotic soil factors.
New Zealand has a serious environmental pollution problem caused by intensive farming, and a lack of co-evolved dung beetle species to clean up the waste produced by these introduced herbivores. Our endemic dung beetles ...