title: Assessment of vegetation condition and health at Claudelands Bush (Jubilee Bush; Te Papanui)

authors: Cornes, Toni S.

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: As the largest remnant indigenous natural area, Claudelands Bush is a key asset for Hamilton city. With a history including clearance, logging and grazing; high numbers of plant species have been lost from the bush. Some of these pressures still exist today such as drainage, invasion by adventive plant species, presence of animal pests and the small size of the bush fragment. These pressures continue to contribute to native species losses. To reduce species loss and improve vegetation condition and biodiversity, management has been taking place in the area since the 1980’s. Management included planting of native species, weeding of the bush, construction of wind breaks and boardwalks.

text: Assessment of vegetation condition and health at Claudelands Bush (Jubilee Bush; Te Papanui) As the largest remnant indigenous natural area, Claudelands Bush is a key asset for Hamilton city. With a history including clearance, logging and grazing; high numbers of plant species have been lost from the bush. Some of these pressures still exist today such as drainage, invasion by adventive plant species, presence of animal pests and the small size of the bush fragment. These pressures continue to contribute to native species losses. To reduce species loss and improve vegetation condition and biodiversity, management has been taking place in the area since the 1980’s. Management included planting of native species, weeding of the bush, construction of wind breaks and boardwalks.

year: 2010

title: Exploring the Relationship between Speed Choice Behaviour, Hazard Perception and Individual Differences

authors: Janse van Vuuren, Stefann

subjects: Speed Choice

abstract: Young, and particularly male drivers aged between 15 and 25 years of age are over represented in the crash statistics worldwide. In New Zealand, young drivers (15-24 years) represent only 15% of the driver licensed population but typically contribute to more than 50% of all fatal and injury crashes. The current study was conducted to investigate factors that may explain the over-representation of young drivers in crash statistics.  For this research, a video based speed choice task was used to measure the chosen and estimated speeds on a selection of New Zealand road conditions of young inexperienced drivers and older experienced drivers. In addition, this study used a video based hazard perception dual task to compare the hazard perception skills of the same groups of drivers. Lastly, a number of self reported measures were used to examine if they could help characterise the drivers who consistently choose slower or higher speeds.

Results revealed that the young inexperienced male drivers were more accurate at estimating the vehicle speeds and chose slower speeds across all the road conditions compared to the other drivers. In addition, drivers tended to choose slower speeds during night time driving and wet road conditions compared to daytime driving and dry road conditions, respectively. The young inexperienced drivers were better at the secondary tracking task of the hazard perception dual task compared to the older experienced drivers but then detected fewer hazards than any of the other drivers. In addition, drivers who chose consistently higher speeds in the speed choice task reported being more likely to engage in speeding, drink driving and become angry at other drivers while driving. Interestingly, drivers who consistently chose higher speeds were less confident in their driving abilities. 
The current findings suggest that young inexperienced male drivers were better at estimating the vehicle speeds and therefore chose slower speeds. In addition, it seems that the young inexperienced drivers tend to focus more on the secondary tracking task then detecting hazards compared to the older experienced drivers. This could relate to the fact that young inexperienced drivers need to use more attentional resources for the steering task and as a result they miss hazards. Lastly, the driver attitude questionnaire and the driving anger scale seem to be valid self-report measures in order to help characterise the drivers who consistently chose higher speeds in the speed choice task. Implications of the current study and future research are also discussed.

text: Exploring the Relationship between Speed Choice Behaviour, Hazard Perception and Individual Differences Young, and particularly male drivers aged between 15 and 25 years of age are over represented in the crash statistics worldwide. In New Zealand, young drivers (15-24 years) represent only 15% of the driver licensed population but typically contribute to more than 50% of all fatal and injury crashes. The current study was conducted to investigate factors that may explain the over-representation of young drivers in crash statistics.  For this research, a video based speed choice task was used to measure the chosen and estimated speeds on a selection of New Zealand road conditions of young inexperienced drivers and older experienced drivers. In addition, this study used a video based hazard perception dual task to compare the hazard perception skills of the same groups of drivers. Lastly, a number of self reported measures were used to examine if they could help characterise the drivers who consistently choose slower or higher speeds.

Results revealed that the young inexperienced male drivers were more accurate at estimating the vehicle speeds and chose slower speeds across all the road conditions compared to the other drivers. In addition, drivers tended to choose slower speeds during night time driving and wet road conditions compared to daytime driving and dry road conditions, respectively. The young inexperienced drivers were better at the secondary tracking task of the hazard perception dual task compared to the older experienced drivers but then detected fewer hazards than any of the other drivers. In addition, drivers who chose consistently higher speeds in the speed choice task reported being more likely to engage in speeding, drink driving and become angry at other drivers while driving. Interestingly, drivers who consistently chose higher speeds were less confident in their driving abilities. 
The current findings suggest that young inexperienced male drivers were better at estimating the vehicle speeds and therefore chose slower speeds. In addition, it seems that the young inexperienced drivers tend to focus more on the secondary tracking task then detecting hazards compared to the older experienced drivers. This could relate to the fact that young inexperienced drivers need to use more attentional resources for the steering task and as a result they miss hazards. Lastly, the driver attitude questionnaire and the driving anger scale seem to be valid self-report measures in order to help characterise the drivers who consistently chose higher speeds in the speed choice task. Implications of the current study and future research are also discussed.

year: 2012

title: Perceptions of coarse anglers and freshwater managers, and the impact of these perceptions on management of non-indigenous invasive fish

authors: Duggan, Kathryn S.

abstract: This report examines coarse angler attitudes and behaviours to determine the reasons for, and develop incentives to successfully discourage, deliberate spreads of coarse fish species. The perceptions of freshwater managers, and the ways in which these human perceptions influence management of non-indigenous invasive fish, are also explored. To achieve this two main methodological strategies were employed: (1) semi-structured interviews with representatives from management agencies, research providers, iwi, the New Zealand Federation of Coarse Anglers, and individual coarse anglers: and (2) an internet survey with individual coarse anglers. In contrast to many New Zealanders, coarse fish species are highly valued by coarse anglers and the practice of coarse fishing is an important part of their lives. While a large portion of coarse anglers state they would like more fishing opportunities (especially outside of the Auckland/Waikato region), they argue that they do not practice or support illegal spread of coarse fish.

text: Perceptions of coarse anglers and freshwater managers, and the impact of these perceptions on management of non-indigenous invasive fish This report examines coarse angler attitudes and behaviours to determine the reasons for, and develop incentives to successfully discourage, deliberate spreads of coarse fish species. The perceptions of freshwater managers, and the ways in which these human perceptions influence management of non-indigenous invasive fish, are also explored. To achieve this two main methodological strategies were employed: (1) semi-structured interviews with representatives from management agencies, research providers, iwi, the New Zealand Federation of Coarse Anglers, and individual coarse anglers: and (2) an internet survey with individual coarse anglers. In contrast to many New Zealanders, coarse fish species are highly valued by coarse anglers and the practice of coarse fishing is an important part of their lives. While a large portion of coarse anglers state they would like more fishing opportunities (especially outside of the Auckland/Waikato region), they argue that they do not practice or support illegal spread of coarse fish.

year: 2015