There is no planet B

The Climate Change day of action seemed to be rather a success in Christchurch. With a great turn-out for 'Frocks on Bikes' whords of Cantabrians gathered in Victoria Park to raise awareness about CO2 levels ahead of the meetings in Copenhagen in December.

Poster making attempts..

It was the biology postgraduate conference at the University of Canterbury today. Watching some fascinating talks and perusing a number of informative posters was rather insightful. And then there was my poster...well, I haven't got any feedback yet but it was a useful process for me. Check it out and feel free to comment if you've got something on the tip of your tongue you fancy divulging.

Climate Change Awareness + Activities= :) People & Planet

For all those Cantabrians reading this, check out the events planned for the climate change awareness day coming up in and around Christchurch on the 25th October. Of course there's plenty of regional events going on all over globe for the other readers. Just click on the big '350' below to view the imaginative proceedings going on near you....

I think I'm keen for the great vege giveaway: grow your veg, reduce the imports! Great cause, lots of fun, get involved.

Charismatic megafauna

The ace thing about being based in the zoology department is that you have colleagues who do all kinds of interesting work. The great thing, is that en-route to your own field sites you can join those fellow students briefly and learn a little about their study organisms. So on the trip up to Nelson last week there was opportunity for some falcon tracking and fur seal observation.


Sara Cross is monitoring the reintroduction of New Zealand falcons in the Marlborough wineries, this is Ginny (above) one of the birds sporting a radio tracker.


Jenipher Cate is investigating the impact of tourism on the New Zealand fur seal colonies in Akaroa, Kaikoura and the Abel Tasman. Despite the signs informing people to keep 20m away from the seals, visitors still persisted to crowd around this bull. This one particular visitor got her come-uppance when she got so close to the seal, that it riled up and chased her down the rock face. The issue in action.

Banks Peninsula Biodiversity Workshop

Yesterday marked the first gathering of Banks Peninsula ecologists, rangers and landowners to discuss the research being done on the peninsula and the implementation of conservation strategies to aid regeneration of native forest and support native wildlife. As I have been rather preoccupied with my own work of late, it was fantastic to get a broad overview of what else is going in the area.

Hugh Wilson, the local ecological celebrity kicked off the day highlighting the massive amount of deforestation that have gone on over the peninsula since our ancestors settled. Although fully aware that the landscape contains very fragmented remnants of forest, the extent to which it had been diminished was rather shocking!
The rest of the day boasted some very interesting talks on monitoring lizards, bird life (the reintroduction of the Tui), plants and arthropods (a group including the insects, spiders and slugs etc.)

There was also a big plant giveaway to promote the climate change day on the 24th October. If you have a chance, check it out on 350.org ('350 is the most important number in the world--it's what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere'.)


Good day.

Forest hopping

Data collection has begun and the torrential rains have come to greet me for the occasion! The last couple of weeks have involved: decorating kawakawas (in true Christmas tree fashion) with tiny numbered labels; discussion with very helpful council members/landowners; sliding down muddy waterfalls (not to be recommended) and listening to hours of Dictaphone playbacks documenting tree measurements. Therefore the good news is I now have 16 sites set up: 8 on the Banks Peninsula and 8 in the Nelson area (just another 24 to go).

I have posted this pic below as I think it exemplifies just how isolated some of the native forest remnants can be. This is Onawe peninsula, one of the smaller sites in the Akaroa harbour where I am working. The area within the forest where there is kawakawa is rather steep and impenetrable but I just about managed to squeeze through the undergrowth.

(Note: although this is not actually classed as an island, if you ever visit make sure you check the tidal regime because it's rather worrying when the water comes up between you and the 'mainland')