News

A red-billed gull survey is being held this summer and you can get involved.

This is a species in decline and the last national census was completed in 1964 (i.e. 50 years ago)! We need up to date information on the location of current breeding colonies.

Red-billed gulls should be in full breeding mode at present with birds on nests with eggs or chicks. Now is a great time to locate nesting sites (i.e. look out for birds dive bombing and crapping on you as evidence of breeding!)

Further information about this survey can be found in the link below.

http://osnz.org.nz/node/538

Pristine coastal conservation area of 196ha at Te Arai Pt will link two existing reserves in north of region.

Aucklanders have been gifted a new $5 million-plus conservation reserve the size of Cornwall Park, spanning a 10km beachfront at Te Arai near Mangawhai.

Read the full story here

A joint project between tangata whenua, Māori researchers and ecologists, has found that toheroa, which was once abundant on the Horowhenua coastline, and still prized by tangata whenua, have been reduced to very low numbers between Hōkio and Ōtaki.

An associated study assessing Escherichia coli (a bacteria that indicates faecal contamination) clearly indicated that the shellfish that remain are regularly contaminated with faecal material and thus unsuitable or only marginally suitable for human consumption, in terms of Ministry of Health guidelines. This contamination is of great concern for cultural and health reasons. Land cover data showed a dominance of particular land covers in the adjacent catchments, which can contribute to this contamination.

The study was a part of the Manaaki Taha Moana project through Taiao Raukawa with Iwi and Hapū, and in association with Cawthron Institute and Massey University. The research is assisting tangata whenua in their work with councils, scientists and other local interests to address habitat degradation and consider re-seeding of taonga species.

Coastal Restoration Trust Trustee, Tim Park comments that “It’s very interesting that this research found the largest tuatua populations at Waitohu. It’s a long way up the coast from Hōkio to Ōtaki! It’s intriguing that five to six times more tuatua were found at the South Waitohu sample site than most other places they sampled in this massive study area.”

“Its great that the award winning care group Waitohu StreamCare has been actively restoring the dunes in this area for some time with the longstanding and ongoing support of Kapiti Coast District Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council. As well as the revegetated dune areas, the area is also home to some of the most intact natural foredunes in the Foxton Ecological District and are dominated by the sand-binder, Spinifex.” Tim said.

“I’d like to think that the comparatively high number of tuatua found at Waitohu has something to do with the naturalness of the ecosystem. Heathly beach systems are usually able to support more native species and are also more resilient to natural and human impacts. There is some evidence from Northland that the toheroa lifecycle depends on native sand binders. I wonder if this is also true for other shellfish species”.

Dr Huhana Smith from Taiao Raukawa says “A customary Māori worldview would understand and respect the natural interrelationships between coastal native plants and shellfish. However, we believe that intensive agriculture, exotic forests and extensive wetland drainage within the case study catchment areas has impacted on our ability to support and maintain those relationships. This land use change is considered one factor amongst others that has led to the overall decline of shellfish populations, which we consider are taonga.”

The faecal contamination and land use changes for kaimoana reports will be available soon at http://www.mtm.ac.nz/ or for more information contact Dr Huhana Smith [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] , Emma Newcombe [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] or Craig Allen [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

The 2013 recipient of the Quinivic/Coastal Restoration Trust study award, Renee Johansen is currently being hosted at North Carolina’s Duke University and continuing her research examining root fungi in marram and spinifex. She has been travelling extensively, collecting root samples from marram in California and most recently, the United Kingdom. Renee has provided us with an update on her work:

Perhaps the biggest lesson I have learnt during the first two years of my PhD is that research is an inherently unpredictable activity, in terms of both what will be discovered, and the time that discovery can take! Extending my time in the US by twelve months has enabled me to change the focus of my project in response to fast moving technological developments in my field and to my own early discoveries. While I am still using DNA sequencing to look at whether fungal communities in dune grass roots differ by host plant species, I have broadened my survey of fungal diversity in marram to include samples from the plant’s native range. Now, comparing fungal diversity in different countries is a major focus of my project and I will be taking a more thorough look at whether New Zealand is likely to harbour endemic fungal species in the dune environment. In June I visited the United Kingdom, travelling by bus and train up the west coast from Devon through Wales to Liverpool, collecting marram roots from seven different sites. This coastal zone suffered heavy storm damage during the last northern hemisphere winter and many of the fore dune systems lost several meters from the dune toe. Fortunately I was able to find systems which were extensive enough to retain good quantities of marram, and in some cases the remaining marram seemed to be benefiting from partial burial by the large quantities of sand delivered to some areas by the storms. These plants had lots of young, vigorous growth. It was great to witness the dynamic nature of the coastal environment first hand, mix with lots of coastal enthusiasts who volunteered to work on the project, and add to my sample collection which now numbers 392 root sections from four dune grasses and three countries.

My current greatest challenge is optimizing my DNA sequencing methods in order to get the best possible information from those samples. I will be working on this for the next two months before heading home to further explore the fungal diversity in New Zealand dunes. Preliminary results from the pilot study I did at Anawhata in Auckland’s Waitakere ranges before I left show that spinifex supports a wide range of beneficial root dwelling fungi – some known from dunes elsewhere in the world, and some which are probably new to science. Some of these may be endemic to New Zealand. I plan to gather more genetic information for these fungi, and hope to look at their morphology as well, with a view to formally describing them. I am also looking forward to presenting at the next Coastal Restoration Trust conference.

Congratulations to our inaugural Quinovic/Coastal Restoration Trust Study Award recipient Susanne Krejcek on recently being awarded a PhD for her research;

“Direct and indirect interactions of native and introduced species in coastal habitats”.

One of the challenges of dune restoration projects is increasing the survival percentages of spinifex plantings, particularly in exposed locations and where an existing cover of exotic species (such as marram) is extensive. With this in mind one of the research questions of Susanne’s study was; is an existing cover of marram grass useful in assisting the establishment of native sand binders (via facilitation) or does it prevent establishment of spinifex (via competition)? Included in this research question was to discover whether it’s better to plant spinifex amongst dead herbicide-sprayed marram grass or live marram grass.

Susanne found that spayed (dead) marram is a better facilitator for spinifex growth than live marram, especially on the seaward part of the foredune. However, self-colonising weed species were also facilitated by sprayed marram, so for restoration plantings it is only recommended to plant into dead marram if the site is not weed prone as weeds were facilitated in the same way as spinifex and in some instances appeared to hinder spinifex growth. Susanne also concluded that for a successful conversion from marram to spinifex, it’s important that the initial density of marram grass is not too high prior to spraying as lower densities of dead marram allow for better spinifex growth.

The Coastal Restoration Trust would like to thank Susanne for her very valuable contribution in adding to the science behind dune restoration and we wish Dr Krejcek all the very best for her future endeavours.

You can see a full copy of Susanne’s PhD thesis at:

http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3467