title: Aspects of the ecology of black beetle (Heteronychus arator (F.), Coleoptera: Dynastinae)

authors: King, Peter Douglas

abstract: The study included laboratory and field studies of the ecology of the black beetle (Heteronychus arator F.) pre-adult and adult stages and field studies of population dynamics. The objectives were to understand population change and regulation, particularly in relation to host plant species and explore the possibilities of the prediction of outbreaks in order to rationalise the use of control strategies.
Whereas eggs were relatively tolerant to a range of soil moisture conditions, first instar larvae were very susceptible to extremes in soil moisture. In comparison to temperate scarabs, relatively high temperatures were necessary for optimum egg viability, larval feeding, utilisation, growth and survival. Adult oviposition preference, fecundity and survival, and larval food consumption, growth and survival were all influenced by the pasture plant species eaten. All grass species tested with the exception of phalaris were favourable for population growth while phalaris and the legumes tested were unfavourable.
The dynamic nature of the life cycle, the relatively low population densities and dispersal of adults made estimation of populations with reasonable levels of precision difficult. Life tables were constructed which quantified individual and generation mortalities, and identified the key factors causing population change. These were variation in natality, summer mortality and/or winter.- spring disappearance. Significant relationships were found between key mortalities and the level of population development which in turn was related to spring and summer temperatures.
Two very different types of population dynamics were evident. Populations in paspalum pastures which are tolerant to feeding damage were relatively stable. These pastures act as refuge areas during adverse climatic conditions. In contrast, population development was more rapid and large population decreases occurred between autumn and spring in ryegrass based pastures which were less tolerant of damage. Ryegrass based pastures appear to be favourable habitats during spring and summer only, and adult immigration in the spring is necessary for populations to reach high levels. Since spring migration only occurs in warm years, outbreaks in ryegrass based pasture are sporadic.
A population model was constructed which used mean daily air temperatures in September, October and November to simulate population densities over a 23 year period from temperature records. The prediction of high population numbers showed good correlation with years of previous outbreaks. Some density dependence was found to be necessary in the model for paspalum pasture indicating the occurrence of population regulation. It was concluded that except in years of high population numbers, population regulation does not occur in ryegrass based pastures.
Rationalisation of control strategies was discussed in the light of the differences in the two types of population dynamics and the prediction of outbreaks.
This research has revealed the necessity for a well designed population study in order to understand the manner in which mortalities operate and the way they affect numbers. As the first attempt at a quantitative ecological study of black beetle, the results have provided some understanding of black beetle ecology and suggested further areas for investigation.

text: Aspects of the ecology of black beetle (Heteronychus arator (F.), Coleoptera: Dynastinae) The study included laboratory and field studies of the ecology of the black beetle (Heteronychus arator F.) pre-adult and adult stages and field studies of population dynamics. The objectives were to understand population change and regulation, particularly in relation to host plant species and explore the possibilities of the prediction of outbreaks in order to rationalise the use of control strategies.
Whereas eggs were relatively tolerant to a range of soil moisture conditions, first instar larvae were very susceptible to extremes in soil moisture. In comparison to temperate scarabs, relatively high temperatures were necessary for optimum egg viability, larval feeding, utilisation, growth and survival. Adult oviposition preference, fecundity and survival, and larval food consumption, growth and survival were all influenced by the pasture plant species eaten. All grass species tested with the exception of phalaris were favourable for population growth while phalaris and the legumes tested were unfavourable.
The dynamic nature of the life cycle, the relatively low population densities and dispersal of adults made estimation of populations with reasonable levels of precision difficult. Life tables were constructed which quantified individual and generation mortalities, and identified the key factors causing population change. These were variation in natality, summer mortality and/or winter.- spring disappearance. Significant relationships were found between key mortalities and the level of population development which in turn was related to spring and summer temperatures.
Two very different types of population dynamics were evident. Populations in paspalum pastures which are tolerant to feeding damage were relatively stable. These pastures act as refuge areas during adverse climatic conditions. In contrast, population development was more rapid and large population decreases occurred between autumn and spring in ryegrass based pastures which were less tolerant of damage. Ryegrass based pastures appear to be favourable habitats during spring and summer only, and adult immigration in the spring is necessary for populations to reach high levels. Since spring migration only occurs in warm years, outbreaks in ryegrass based pasture are sporadic.
A population model was constructed which used mean daily air temperatures in September, October and November to simulate population densities over a 23 year period from temperature records. The prediction of high population numbers showed good correlation with years of previous outbreaks. Some density dependence was found to be necessary in the model for paspalum pasture indicating the occurrence of population regulation. It was concluded that except in years of high population numbers, population regulation does not occur in ryegrass based pastures.
Rationalisation of control strategies was discussed in the light of the differences in the two types of population dynamics and the prediction of outbreaks.
This research has revealed the necessity for a well designed population study in order to understand the manner in which mortalities operate and the way they affect numbers. As the first attempt at a quantitative ecological study of black beetle, the results have provided some understanding of black beetle ecology and suggested further areas for investigation.

year: 1979

title: Architects of our own experience: The structure of human freedom

authors: Evans, Jay

subjects: Philosophy of freedom

abstract: The picture of a deterministic universe is difficult to reconcile with the phenomenology of agency, deliberation, and choice. While everyday conceptions of individual freedom and responsibility depend on the pre-theoretical assumption that we have meaningful control over our decisions and volitional actions, if determinism is true, the outcome of any deliberative process is always the only outcome available; the inevitable result of a reasoning sequence that could not have proceeded any other way. However compelling our ordinary sense of agency and control is, determinism gives us reason to doubt that we have the kind of freedom that we intuitively take ourselves to have.

The debate over whether free will is compatible with determinism is a long-running one, traditionally motivated by, and entangled in further disputes about what kind of freedom or control is required for moral responsibility. In a promising and refreshing turn, recent work by philosopher of physics, Jennan Ismael, has significantly advanced the debate. Leaving aside questions about moral responsibility, Ismael’s naturalistic account shows that the freedom we ordinarily take ourselves to have is not threatened by deterministic physics; when determinism is understood on its own terms, stripped of imposed notions of compulsion and necessity, the purported tension between freedom and determinism is resolved. Furthermore, Ismael argues, biological systems with the capacity for representational thought have evolved unified, emergent ‘selves’, and the capacity for self-governance, behavioural flexibility and deliberative control.

Following Ismael’s methodology of naturalistic pragmatism, I aim to enrich her contextualised picture of human agency with a precise, unified account of the nature of agency itself, and to further develop this integrated account of freedom and the structures that underpin freedom. Building on Ismael’s account of the self-governing free agent, I aim to fill out some of the details of the cognitive structures that underpin our first-person experiences of choice and endogenous control of action, and discuss how those structures arise in the natural order. Using the predictive processing framework to explore the structures of agency, choice, and autonomy that underpin self-governance, I argue that our potential for freedom – freedom in its most fully developed manifestation – lies in our capacity for autonomy, which is realized when we act deliberately to modify our own cognitive processes and transform our own minds.

text: Architects of our own experience: The structure of human freedom The picture of a deterministic universe is difficult to reconcile with the phenomenology of agency, deliberation, and choice. While everyday conceptions of individual freedom and responsibility depend on the pre-theoretical assumption that we have meaningful control over our decisions and volitional actions, if determinism is true, the outcome of any deliberative process is always the only outcome available; the inevitable result of a reasoning sequence that could not have proceeded any other way. However compelling our ordinary sense of agency and control is, determinism gives us reason to doubt that we have the kind of freedom that we intuitively take ourselves to have.

The debate over whether free will is compatible with determinism is a long-running one, traditionally motivated by, and entangled in further disputes about what kind of freedom or control is required for moral responsibility. In a promising and refreshing turn, recent work by philosopher of physics, Jennan Ismael, has significantly advanced the debate. Leaving aside questions about moral responsibility, Ismael’s naturalistic account shows that the freedom we ordinarily take ourselves to have is not threatened by deterministic physics; when determinism is understood on its own terms, stripped of imposed notions of compulsion and necessity, the purported tension between freedom and determinism is resolved. Furthermore, Ismael argues, biological systems with the capacity for representational thought have evolved unified, emergent ‘selves’, and the capacity for self-governance, behavioural flexibility and deliberative control.

Following Ismael’s methodology of naturalistic pragmatism, I aim to enrich her contextualised picture of human agency with a precise, unified account of the nature of agency itself, and to further develop this integrated account of freedom and the structures that underpin freedom. Building on Ismael’s account of the self-governing free agent, I aim to fill out some of the details of the cognitive structures that underpin our first-person experiences of choice and endogenous control of action, and discuss how those structures arise in the natural order. Using the predictive processing framework to explore the structures of agency, choice, and autonomy that underpin self-governance, I argue that our potential for freedom – freedom in its most fully developed manifestation – lies in our capacity for autonomy, which is realized when we act deliberately to modify our own cognitive processes and transform our own minds.

year: 2024

title: Language, mātauranga Māori . . . and technology?

authors: Selby, Mereana

subjects: Māori language

abstract: In this paper, I report on a research project involving the creation of an e-learning environment for the teaching and learning of an aspect of te reo Māori, that is the preparation of mihi. It was found that learning in the context of an e-learning environment in which anonymity was assured, learners could learn in their own spaces and at their own pace and there was no pressure to perform in front of peers and tutors had the potential to reduce the potentially negative effects of whakamā.

text: Language, mātauranga Māori . . . and technology? In this paper, I report on a research project involving the creation of an e-learning environment for the teaching and learning of an aspect of te reo Māori, that is the preparation of mihi. It was found that learning in the context of an e-learning environment in which anonymity was assured, learners could learn in their own spaces and at their own pace and there was no pressure to perform in front of peers and tutors had the potential to reduce the potentially negative effects of whakamā.

year: 2006-09