title: Assessing dispersal among habitats for three New Zealand aquatic insects using mitochondrial DNA (COI) sequences

authors: Riding, Morgan Alexandra

subjects: Dispersal

abstract: Dispersal of aquatic insects is a key process allowing colonization of new habitat and linking existing populations among habitats. Studying the dispersal of freshwater taxa directly is logistically challenging and assessments of population genetic structure using DNA sequence fragments have provided an alternative means to examine the dispersal and connectivity of natural populations. Here, I used mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) DNA sequences to assess the genetic similarity for aquatic insect species across both small (<50km) and large (>1000km) spatial scales. For the first study, I examined genetic similarity among source and restored stream habitats in Taranaki Region, New Zealand. Three common species were targeted based on differences in dispersal capabilities: Archichauliodes diversus (Megaloptera; active larvae, weak flight), and Hydropsyche colonica and Pycnocentrodes aeris (Trichoptera; sessile larvae, strong flight). Archichauliodes diversus showed the greatest sequence diversity (19 haplotypes) followed by P. aeris (14 haplotypes) and H. colonica (4 haplotypes). Despite relatively high levels of genetic diversity, A. diversus was genetically similar throughout the study area, suggesting adequate dispersal among source and restored habitats. Individuals of H. colonica, with much lower levels of haplotype diversity, were also genetically similar between source and restored habitats. In contrast, P. aeris had one haplotype that was more common in source versus restored habitats. I concluded that taxa were relatively well connected between source and restored habitats and that COI sequences can provide a useful indicator for tracking restoration efforts within relatively small geographic areas. In the second study, I focused on large-scale patterns of diversity for A. diversus which is widespread throughout both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand and compared this with available sequences from a congeneric Australian species. I found sequence divergences between the New Zealand A. diversus and Australian Archichauliodes sp (11.8% divergence), and between New Zealand North Island and South Island A. diversus (3% divergence). In the South Island, there were 8 haplotypes restricted to individual sites and 4 haplotypes that were shared among sites. For the North Island, individuals there were 21 haplotypes restricted to one of more sites and 1 common haplotype shared among Taranaki sites. There were 12 missing mutational steps between haplotypes from the North Island and the South Islands. The Australian Archichauliodes sp was further separated by 70 missing mutational steps from the South Island of New Zealand. Differentiation was also observed within the South Island with shared haplotypes observed at distances of > 150 km. On this basis, I suggested that despite potentially weak flight, individuals of A. diversus can regularly disperse distances of up to 150 km. However, they also appear limited by geographic barriers such as the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands (<25 km). Molecular clock estimates between New Zealand and Australian Archichauliodes sp. suggested that isolation of individuals occurred around 5 Mya and isolation between the North and South A. diversus occurred within the last 2 Mya; corresponding with the Pliocene and Pleistocene, respectively.  On the basis of both studies, I concluded that COI gene sequences can provide a useful method for assessing the genetic similarity of aquatic insect populations on both small (<50km) and large (>1000km) spatial scales and that these data can then be used to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses.

text: Assessing dispersal among habitats for three New Zealand aquatic insects using mitochondrial DNA (COI) sequences Dispersal of aquatic insects is a key process allowing colonization of new habitat and linking existing populations among habitats. Studying the dispersal of freshwater taxa directly is logistically challenging and assessments of population genetic structure using DNA sequence fragments have provided an alternative means to examine the dispersal and connectivity of natural populations. Here, I used mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) DNA sequences to assess the genetic similarity for aquatic insect species across both small (<50km) and large (>1000km) spatial scales. For the first study, I examined genetic similarity among source and restored stream habitats in Taranaki Region, New Zealand. Three common species were targeted based on differences in dispersal capabilities: Archichauliodes diversus (Megaloptera; active larvae, weak flight), and Hydropsyche colonica and Pycnocentrodes aeris (Trichoptera; sessile larvae, strong flight). Archichauliodes diversus showed the greatest sequence diversity (19 haplotypes) followed by P. aeris (14 haplotypes) and H. colonica (4 haplotypes). Despite relatively high levels of genetic diversity, A. diversus was genetically similar throughout the study area, suggesting adequate dispersal among source and restored habitats. Individuals of H. colonica, with much lower levels of haplotype diversity, were also genetically similar between source and restored habitats. In contrast, P. aeris had one haplotype that was more common in source versus restored habitats. I concluded that taxa were relatively well connected between source and restored habitats and that COI sequences can provide a useful indicator for tracking restoration efforts within relatively small geographic areas. In the second study, I focused on large-scale patterns of diversity for A. diversus which is widespread throughout both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand and compared this with available sequences from a congeneric Australian species. I found sequence divergences between the New Zealand A. diversus and Australian Archichauliodes sp (11.8% divergence), and between New Zealand North Island and South Island A. diversus (3% divergence). In the South Island, there were 8 haplotypes restricted to individual sites and 4 haplotypes that were shared among sites. For the North Island, individuals there were 21 haplotypes restricted to one of more sites and 1 common haplotype shared among Taranaki sites. There were 12 missing mutational steps between haplotypes from the North Island and the South Islands. The Australian Archichauliodes sp was further separated by 70 missing mutational steps from the South Island of New Zealand. Differentiation was also observed within the South Island with shared haplotypes observed at distances of > 150 km. On this basis, I suggested that despite potentially weak flight, individuals of A. diversus can regularly disperse distances of up to 150 km. However, they also appear limited by geographic barriers such as the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands (<25 km). Molecular clock estimates between New Zealand and Australian Archichauliodes sp. suggested that isolation of individuals occurred around 5 Mya and isolation between the North and South A. diversus occurred within the last 2 Mya; corresponding with the Pliocene and Pleistocene, respectively.  On the basis of both studies, I concluded that COI gene sequences can provide a useful method for assessing the genetic similarity of aquatic insect populations on both small (<50km) and large (>1000km) spatial scales and that these data can then be used to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses.

year: 2016

title: The safetyfication of curriculum as an example of bureaucratic governance

authors: Estellés, Marta

abstract: This presentation takes up what Author 1 terms the “safetyfication” of education. Safetyfication refers to the process through which the notion of ‘safety’ has acquired an omnipresent status in education in the Anglophone world as a result of an amalgam of claims that range from disciplinary calls to social justice demands. In this paper-presentation, the authors will analyze attempts to make the curriculum safer – or free from sociopolitical risk – under Author 2’s political analysis of bureaucracy as a form of governance (2018; 2023). The main argument made is that this form of governance operates inadvertently, through the safetyfication of education.

text: The safetyfication of curriculum as an example of bureaucratic governance This presentation takes up what Author 1 terms the “safetyfication” of education. Safetyfication refers to the process through which the notion of ‘safety’ has acquired an omnipresent status in education in the Anglophone world as a result of an amalgam of claims that range from disciplinary calls to social justice demands. In this paper-presentation, the authors will analyze attempts to make the curriculum safer – or free from sociopolitical risk – under Author 2’s political analysis of bureaucracy as a form of governance (2018; 2023). The main argument made is that this form of governance operates inadvertently, through the safetyfication of education.

year: 2024

title: Exploring female art-making through reflective practice: A multi-dimensional cultural, spiritual and embodied experience

authors: Bright, Deborah Ann

subjects: female

abstract: This thesis explores some of the many elements and influences of lived experience that are present in acts of art-making. Reflective practice in art-making adds the intentional and purposive act of reflective learning to the experience of art-making. In an academic context the challenge arises for a researcher to adequately represent the breadth and richness of the lived experiences of reflective practice in artmaking. This breadth and richness may embrace elements of art production and influences including gender, culture, spirituality, creativity, creative processes, embodied knowing, the place of conversations and learning as a result of facilitated reflective practice. Adequate representation is particularly vital because art-makers may communicate best through non-verbal means, including embodied knowing and their artmaking, rather than through words. Flexibility of approach and representation is even more important when the art-maker participants engage in various art-making areas and identify themselves as part of indigenous, dominant and/or non-dominant cultures within Aotearoa New Zealand. In this thesis, by applying a feminist participatory approach, informed by kaupapa Maori, I affirmed that the lived experiences of reflective practice in art-making can be adequately represented in a thesis. By such means, I sought to empower the participants, including myself, by providing a process through which they might increase confidence in their own art-making practices and professional artistry. This approach was necessary because no single or even double blending of worldviews can embrace such a range of variables. However, an interweaving of feminist and participatory, informed by indigenous peoples’ worldviews, provides the scope for such a study in terms of fundamental beliefs, ways of knowing, values, issues of power, methodologies and methods. The ways of knowing include collaborative, constructed, cultural, embodied, experiential, indigenous, presentational, propositional, spiritual and subjective and writing as a way of knowing; such a range was vital to this thesis. As artmaker co-participant, I was able to engage in conversation with the other art-makers as facilitator of their reflective practice in art-making and to represent their lived experiences of reflective practice in art-making through verbal and non-verbal means and art-making, in ways that were comfortable culturally to all participants. ii I represent and discuss my findings through formal academic writing, personal narrative and a DVD. The DVD includes a video montage and an image narrative that contribute to the discussion on embodied knowing (Chapter 7), a video of my own dance work, which contributes to the discussion on creativity and visual images (Chapter 6), and a copy of a poster referred to at various times in the findings and discussion chapters. Finally, I conclude that a feminist participatory approach, informed by indigenous peoples’ worldviews and including facilitated reflective practice, may have application to other fields of research and practice including other areas of the arts, teaching, sport and leisure and in the wider field of social sciences.

text: Exploring female art-making through reflective practice: A multi-dimensional cultural, spiritual and embodied experience This thesis explores some of the many elements and influences of lived experience that are present in acts of art-making. Reflective practice in art-making adds the intentional and purposive act of reflective learning to the experience of art-making. In an academic context the challenge arises for a researcher to adequately represent the breadth and richness of the lived experiences of reflective practice in artmaking. This breadth and richness may embrace elements of art production and influences including gender, culture, spirituality, creativity, creative processes, embodied knowing, the place of conversations and learning as a result of facilitated reflective practice. Adequate representation is particularly vital because art-makers may communicate best through non-verbal means, including embodied knowing and their artmaking, rather than through words. Flexibility of approach and representation is even more important when the art-maker participants engage in various art-making areas and identify themselves as part of indigenous, dominant and/or non-dominant cultures within Aotearoa New Zealand. In this thesis, by applying a feminist participatory approach, informed by kaupapa Maori, I affirmed that the lived experiences of reflective practice in art-making can be adequately represented in a thesis. By such means, I sought to empower the participants, including myself, by providing a process through which they might increase confidence in their own art-making practices and professional artistry. This approach was necessary because no single or even double blending of worldviews can embrace such a range of variables. However, an interweaving of feminist and participatory, informed by indigenous peoples’ worldviews, provides the scope for such a study in terms of fundamental beliefs, ways of knowing, values, issues of power, methodologies and methods. The ways of knowing include collaborative, constructed, cultural, embodied, experiential, indigenous, presentational, propositional, spiritual and subjective and writing as a way of knowing; such a range was vital to this thesis. As artmaker co-participant, I was able to engage in conversation with the other art-makers as facilitator of their reflective practice in art-making and to represent their lived experiences of reflective practice in art-making through verbal and non-verbal means and art-making, in ways that were comfortable culturally to all participants. ii I represent and discuss my findings through formal academic writing, personal narrative and a DVD. The DVD includes a video montage and an image narrative that contribute to the discussion on embodied knowing (Chapter 7), a video of my own dance work, which contributes to the discussion on creativity and visual images (Chapter 6), and a copy of a poster referred to at various times in the findings and discussion chapters. Finally, I conclude that a feminist participatory approach, informed by indigenous peoples’ worldviews and including facilitated reflective practice, may have application to other fields of research and practice including other areas of the arts, teaching, sport and leisure and in the wider field of social sciences.

year: 2010