Zoology
Recent Deposits
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Insecticide contamination of streams in a warming climate
Feeding a growing global population in the context of a changing climate will bring challenges for food producers and environmental managers seeking to mitigate the impact of intensifying agricultural practices. The control ... -
Finding a Home. An Ecological and Economic Framework for Selecting Species Translocation Sites
The main objective of my thesis research was to improve our understanding of release site selection for conservation translocations, in particular how to identify quality habitat. To achieve this task, I developed four ... -
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 ... -
Does the production value of a short science video hosted on YouTube influence how much the desired audience is likely to enjoy and engage with it?
This thesis continues the research of Welbourne and Grant (2016) within the field of science communication on YouTube, by following the study that Figueiredo, Almeida, & Benevenuto designed to evaluate whether content ... -
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 ... -
Using ArcGIS Story Map to Communicate an Emotive Topic: Responsible Cat Ownership in New Zealand
This thesis examines how the general New Zealand public can be engaged with the controversial idea of responsible cat ownership by using ArcGIS Story Map as a tool. Cat management is a vital part of achieving New Zealand’s ... -
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 ... -
Perceptions of Wildlife in New Zealand And Persuasive Documentary Filmmaking Techniques
Understanding the current knowledge and perceptions of your audience is important when creating persuasive communication. The aim of the creative component of this thesis, a 25-minute film, is to encourage responsible cat ... -
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. ... -
The Icing on the Communication: Text or Video?
Learning is lifelong, life-wide and life-deep (Tal & Dierking, 2014) and whilst science is everywhere, opportunities for scientific learning are missed every day. However, when it comes to learning, the learner must be ... -
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 ... -
Perception of Three Agricultural Applications of Genetic Engineering
Global food security is a challenge that must be faced in the next few decades, food production must increase whilst maintaining or, ideally, improving environmental sustainability of agriculture for food. Genetically ... -
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 ... -
SciArt and Environmental Restoration: The role of intentionality in audience engagement
Science and art share a long history of interaction, and their practitioners contribute to wide-ranging collaborative projects. Interactions between these disciplines have demonstrated the value of using art to communicate ... -
New Zealanders' Perceptions of Green-Lipped Mussels and Sustainability
We need to change the way we eat. Compounded by issues such as land-use intensification, the impacts of climate change and the overfishing of the ocean, our ability to feed an evergrowing population is becoming compromised. ... -
The Effects of Accents on Conservation Attitudes Towards Native Species
This thesis aims to answer the question of whether people are more likely to want to conserve a flagship national species after hearing a distressing message about that species from someone with an associated accent, as ... -
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. ...