Our activities on the land have wide-ranging effects on Aotearoa New Zealand’s diverse ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. Our land 2024 is an environmental report...
We rely on the natural world for recreation, building social connections and supporting our mental and spiritual health. Our land 2024 is an environmental report produced...
The land and ecosystems of Aotearoa New Zealand are globally unique and nationally significant. Our connections to and relationship with the land are a defining characteristic...
Discover more about the red admiral butterfly, winner of the 2024 Bug of the Year, and how we can help the butterflies of Aotearoa New Zealand....
Mahika/mahinga kai is a highly significant concept for Māori. It encompasses the values and protection of natural resources and is specific to iwi and their rohe....
Tupuānuku is a whetū in the Matariki cluster. It is the star connected to anything associated within the soil, including cultivated and uncultivated foods grown in...
This Connected article is based on an interview by Susan Paris with environmental scientist Dr James Ataria (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa). James’s work focuses on...
This Connected article, written and illustrated by Adele Jackson, looks at the discovery that fish and eels are using Wellington’s stormwater system as access between streams...
This Connected article takes a Pacific worldview and describes how the people of the Cook Islands have attempted to manage and protect their marine resources with...
This Connected article, written by Matt Boucher, looks at why our wildlife is so distinct and how the species developed and adapted to their current state....
In 2019, students from three Dunedin primary schools teamed up with University Otago scientist Dr Cynthia Winkworth to complete two goals: to discover which invertebrates were...
Dolphins are often seen around the coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, but only two species – Hector’s and Māui – are endemic. Similarities and differences It...
This Connected article looks at the aftermath of the 2011 environmental disaster caused when the MV Rena struck Astrolabe Reef, off the Tauranga coast. Since then,...
Wetland habitats are diverse places. They support an enormous range of animals from microscopic communities to some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest birds. Zooplankton – the...
Wetlands are defined by the presence of water – places where water covers the soil or where it is present at or near the surface for...
Wetlands are ‘in between’ areas – they are permanently or intermittently wet areas on the margins of drier land or along the margins of water bodies...
In this Connected article scientist Hannah Rainforth investigates kākahi, Aotearoa New Zealand’s threatened freshwater mussels in the Whanganui River, to find whether the evidence supports claims...
This Connected article by Sophie Fern, reports on a survey of a 100-metre long rocky reef located 11 kilometres off the Taranaki coast. Students from local...
The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake caused sudden large-scale changes along the coastline. The intertidal zones were lifted up to 6 metres in some places. In the media,...
Aerial imaging is not new, and scientists have been using data gathered from manned flights for decades. In recent decades, Earth-oriented satellites have become the dominant...
We usually think of insects as being animals of the land, but did you know that many insects spend part of their lives in water? Some...
One of New Zealand’s most well known insects is the wētā, of the Orthoptera order, but there are thousands of other insects species, some of which...
What is an insect and should we really care about these creepy crawlies? In a word – yes. As American biologist Edward O Wilson puts it,...
Kākā (Nestor meridionalis) are one of New Zealand’s endemic parrots and a great example of how concerted efforts can improve a native species’ conservation status. It...
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