title: New Zealand trends in animal behaviour research

authors: Guadarrama-Maillot, Veronica

subjects: animal behaviour literature

abstract: To identify trends in research on pure ethology (fundamental issues in animal behaviour) in New Zealand, we combined manual and database searches of the five ethological journals with the greatest impact factors (Animal Behaviour, Behavioral Ecology, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Ethology and Behaviour) published from 1937 to (and including) 2007. We counted all articles giving a New Zealand address for the first-listed and/or reprint author. Our analyses showed (1) a total of 131 articles in the five journals, with Animal Behaviour, the journal of preference, containing nearly half of the articles collected; (2) a sharp and steady increase in articles published per year; (3) all four of Tinbergen’s questions received attention, with mechanistic and functional studies being more common than studies of development and evolutionary history; (4) a recent resurgence of mechanistic research, representing 67% of all studies in the period from 2003–07; (5) a balance in research focusing on the proximate and ultimate causes of behaviour, shifting towards proximate research in the early 1990s; (6) many New Zealand institutions published papers in the five journals, although universities were the main contributors; (7) only a small subset of the research (28.8%) was done with overseas collaboration; (8) a total of 139 authors were involved in the research reviewed (when all authors for each paper were considered without taking address into account); (9) a maturation of the sampled research by the early 1990s (i.e., when "descriptive" and "explanatory" papers were supplemented with "synthesis" papers); and (10) a large number of investigations (55%) used birds as the study subject. Ethology in New Zealand, as represented in the five leading animal behaviour journals, was found to be a diverse, dynamic and growing field.

text: New Zealand trends in animal behaviour research To identify trends in research on pure ethology (fundamental issues in animal behaviour) in New Zealand, we combined manual and database searches of the five ethological journals with the greatest impact factors (Animal Behaviour, Behavioral Ecology, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Ethology and Behaviour) published from 1937 to (and including) 2007. We counted all articles giving a New Zealand address for the first-listed and/or reprint author. Our analyses showed (1) a total of 131 articles in the five journals, with Animal Behaviour, the journal of preference, containing nearly half of the articles collected; (2) a sharp and steady increase in articles published per year; (3) all four of Tinbergen’s questions received attention, with mechanistic and functional studies being more common than studies of development and evolutionary history; (4) a recent resurgence of mechanistic research, representing 67% of all studies in the period from 2003–07; (5) a balance in research focusing on the proximate and ultimate causes of behaviour, shifting towards proximate research in the early 1990s; (6) many New Zealand institutions published papers in the five journals, although universities were the main contributors; (7) only a small subset of the research (28.8%) was done with overseas collaboration; (8) a total of 139 authors were involved in the research reviewed (when all authors for each paper were considered without taking address into account); (9) a maturation of the sampled research by the early 1990s (i.e., when "descriptive" and "explanatory" papers were supplemented with "synthesis" papers); and (10) a large number of investigations (55%) used birds as the study subject. Ethology in New Zealand, as represented in the five leading animal behaviour journals, was found to be a diverse, dynamic and growing field.

year: 2008

title: Parameterisation of sediment geochemistry for simulating water quality responses to long-term catchment and climate changes in polymictic, eutrophic Lake Rotorua, New Zealand

authors: Özkundakci, Deniz

subjects: DYRESM-CAEDYM

abstract: Numerical models of aquatic ecosystems that couple physics and biogeochemistry are valuable tools in aquatic ecosystem research. These models provide opportunities to test theories and to inform environmental management. In this study, we used the dynamic, process-based hydrodynamic-ecological model DYRESM-CAEDYM to simulate key ecosystem processes of Lake Rotorua, New Zealand, for six 8-year periods between 1920 and 2100 in order to evaluate the potential effects of future changes in land use and climate. Longterm variations in external boundary conditions (e.g. inflows) to the lake ecosystem are incorporated by varying the relevant input files in the DYRESMCAEDYM model. However, quantification of internal lake processes, specifically those at the sediment-water interface, presents a major challenge for long-term simulations. The sediment model within CAEDYM is ‘static’, with assumed constant sediment composition and a relatively simplistic process representation for nutrient and oxygen fluxes between sediment and water. Specifically, the model regulates sediment phosphate and ammonium release according to concentrations of oxidising species (i.e. oxygen and nitrate), and temperature in the overlying water layer. Sediment oxygen demand is controlled by dissolved oxygen concentrations and temperature in the water layer overlying the sediments. We used a ‘trial and error’ approach to estimate parameters for calibrating and validating the model, and regression modelling to infer the parameters beyond the calibration/validation simulation period (2001–2009). We observed a significant relationship in historic monitoring data between the external nitrogen load to the lake and its hypolimnetic oxygen demand as well as the bottom-sediment nitrogen concentrations. This relationship was used to hindcast and forecast model parameters for sediment nutrient release and oxygen demand in the six model simulation periods. The inclusion of a dynamic response of sediment nutrient release and oxygen demand parameters to changes in external nutrient loads enabled a more conceptually concise simulation of water quality for the simulations. This model is currently being used by regional environmental management authorities for developing an Action Plan for the restoration of Lake Rotorua.

text: Parameterisation of sediment geochemistry for simulating water quality responses to long-term catchment and climate changes in polymictic, eutrophic Lake Rotorua, New Zealand Numerical models of aquatic ecosystems that couple physics and biogeochemistry are valuable tools in aquatic ecosystem research. These models provide opportunities to test theories and to inform environmental management. In this study, we used the dynamic, process-based hydrodynamic-ecological model DYRESM-CAEDYM to simulate key ecosystem processes of Lake Rotorua, New Zealand, for six 8-year periods between 1920 and 2100 in order to evaluate the potential effects of future changes in land use and climate. Longterm variations in external boundary conditions (e.g. inflows) to the lake ecosystem are incorporated by varying the relevant input files in the DYRESMCAEDYM model. However, quantification of internal lake processes, specifically those at the sediment-water interface, presents a major challenge for long-term simulations. The sediment model within CAEDYM is ‘static’, with assumed constant sediment composition and a relatively simplistic process representation for nutrient and oxygen fluxes between sediment and water. Specifically, the model regulates sediment phosphate and ammonium release according to concentrations of oxidising species (i.e. oxygen and nitrate), and temperature in the overlying water layer. Sediment oxygen demand is controlled by dissolved oxygen concentrations and temperature in the water layer overlying the sediments. We used a ‘trial and error’ approach to estimate parameters for calibrating and validating the model, and regression modelling to infer the parameters beyond the calibration/validation simulation period (2001–2009). We observed a significant relationship in historic monitoring data between the external nitrogen load to the lake and its hypolimnetic oxygen demand as well as the bottom-sediment nitrogen concentrations. This relationship was used to hindcast and forecast model parameters for sediment nutrient release and oxygen demand in the six model simulation periods. The inclusion of a dynamic response of sediment nutrient release and oxygen demand parameters to changes in external nutrient loads enabled a more conceptually concise simulation of water quality for the simulations. This model is currently being used by regional environmental management authorities for developing an Action Plan for the restoration of Lake Rotorua.

year: 2012

title: The concept of partnership and The Treaty of Waitangi: Three case studies

authors: Morrison, Sandy

subjects: Te Tiriti o Waitangi

abstract: There has been, and continues to be, considerable debate about the meaning and intent of different versions of the Treaty of Waitangi and about the extent of its relevance to contemporary New Zealand. It is in this context that a number of organisations and institutions in New Zealand, anxious to demonstrate their positive support for the creation of a just society, have attempted to restructure in ways that allow for a 'partnership' between Māori and Pākehā. With reference to three different case studies, I argue here that such restructuring, although generally very well intentioned and very welcome, should not be seen - as it frequently is - as an expression of the fulfilment of partnership obligations arising out of the Treaty of Waitangi. To treat organisational restructuring in this way, particularly where it does not provide both 'partners' with an equal right to determine the operational parameters and future direction of the organisation, is to misrepresent (often wholly unintentionally) the nature of the Treaty. Nevertheless, one way of resolving some of the debates concerning the meaning and intent of the Treaty of Waitangi might be to establish a principle of equal partnership in the governance and management of state institutions.

text: The concept of partnership and The Treaty of Waitangi: Three case studies There has been, and continues to be, considerable debate about the meaning and intent of different versions of the Treaty of Waitangi and about the extent of its relevance to contemporary New Zealand. It is in this context that a number of organisations and institutions in New Zealand, anxious to demonstrate their positive support for the creation of a just society, have attempted to restructure in ways that allow for a 'partnership' between Māori and Pākehā. With reference to three different case studies, I argue here that such restructuring, although generally very well intentioned and very welcome, should not be seen - as it frequently is - as an expression of the fulfilment of partnership obligations arising out of the Treaty of Waitangi. To treat organisational restructuring in this way, particularly where it does not provide both 'partners' with an equal right to determine the operational parameters and future direction of the organisation, is to misrepresent (often wholly unintentionally) the nature of the Treaty. Nevertheless, one way of resolving some of the debates concerning the meaning and intent of the Treaty of Waitangi might be to establish a principle of equal partnership in the governance and management of state institutions.

year: 2005