In 1969, a separate Department of Entomology was established. As early as 1965, the Department of Agricultural Zoology was responsible for launching the first ecology course in New Zealand and, since 1985, there has been an increasing emphasis on pure and applied ecology. In 1993, the Department changed its name to become the Department of Entomology and Animal Ecology and covered interests in pure and applied insect ecology, pure and applied vertebrate ecology and pest management. With the University s most recent restructuring, this involved the plant ecologists joining with their animal ecologist colleagues to form the Ecology and Entomology Group in the Division. The Group comprises the largest New Zealand university group in the discipline of ecology.
Interests span a wide range from the molecular level to the community level and across many taxa.
The Group also has a wide range of contacts with scientists in other research organisations, but particularly the Crown Research Institutes based at Lincoln and the Canterbury Conservancy of the Department of Conservation.