Protecting subantarctic islands from invasive species
NIWA is helping the Department of Conservation to ensure cruise ships don’t inadvertently carry unwanted foreign organisms on their hulls to New Zealand’s subantarctic islands.
NIWA is helping the Department of Conservation to ensure cruise ships don’t inadvertently carry unwanted foreign organisms on their hulls to New Zealand’s subantarctic islands.
Experiments on Antarctic shellfish at NIWA are revealing the potential effects of ocean acidification on fragile marine ecosystems.
Part of a sea lily ‘meadow’ at 550 m on the Admiralty. (Photo: DTIS, IPY-CAML)
Tangaroa and 44 intrepid voyagers successfully completed the most comprehensive survey of marine life ever undertaken in the Ross Sea region. They returned to Wellington on 20 March after an epic 50-day, 7140 nautical mile voyage, bearing more than 37 000 biological specimens, and images of seafloor communities never seen before.
The focus of the voyage was to survey biodiversity to provide a fuller picture of the Ross Sea ecosystem and what makes it tick.
Benthic community at Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, including: encrusting coralline algae, seastars, and sea urchins camouflaged with pieces of drift red algae. (Photo: Rodd Budd, NIWA)
Scientists from NIWA and the Finnish Institute of Marine Research are using novel ways to explore the effects of sea ice on coastal food webs in Antarctica.
Sea ice is a major driver of polar marine ecosystems, partly through its effect on light levels and, hence, productivity.
Tangaroa off to survey biodiversity in the Ross Sea. (Photo: John Mitchell, NZ IPY-CAML)
Twenty-six scientists – including 19 from NIWA – and 18 crew have embarked on a 50-day voyage of scientific discovery.