Spring 2004: Ria Brejaart, Program Director
March 1, 2004
Kia ora tatou!
Our dynamic team of 24 students has taken to life in New Zealand with great enthusiasm. During the past month our focus has largely been on the coastal-marine environment. We started by examining the influence of land use on the water quality of estuarine wetlands at Opoutere (Coromandel Peninsula). Closer to home, we studied restoration ecology, and in particular, the water quality of the Wharekawa stream. Topical issues related to resource management of the coastal zone locally include subdivision and aquaculture. Students first learned about the policy issues related to managing the coastal zone and then focused on ecology with our studies of benthic fauna and waders at the Firth of Thames Ramsar site down the road. After sampling of the benthic fauna, most students had mangrove mud in every pore of their bodies! The samples were processed and analysed with great efficiency.
As we are still a few weeks away from the international migratory waders leaving New Zealand for their Arctic breeding grounds, there were large numbers of bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) and lesser knots (Calidris canutus) present at the coastal wetlands. Add to this a number of our native species of waders and some rare vagrants, and we had opportunities for good birding. The information of the benthic food web that came out of this exercise is exciting. We have seen some great teamwork here, and some rigorous learning outputs.
This week we will come to the final part of the coastal-marine studies, when the team heads off for the Goat Island Marine Reserve at Leigh (in-shore), and the Poor Knights Marine Reserve (off-shore). It will provide great opportunities to study some of the effects of management of marine protected areas on marine biota. At Leigh, we will stay at the Leigh Marine Laboratory, an Auckland University facility. Some interesting guest lectures are on the menu, and we will have time to catch up with the work of several doctoral students at the laboratory.
The South Island component of the programme is yet to come. The major foci will be on impacts of tourism on the environment (resource and energy use) and communities, catchment management in the high country, extractive industries, wildlife management and adaptive management. After mid-semester break, we head straight into Directed Research Projects. Please come back to visit our website, as we plan to keep you updated on the projects this semester. Better still, apply now and join us next semester in Aotearoa - New Zealand!
Arohanui,
Ria Brejaart