title: Monitoring of local topographic variation in flowering phenology of mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium)

authors: Towgood, Eric

subjects: manuka

abstract: The rise of the mānuka honey industry has led to a change in attitudes toward mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium). Previously considered a nuisance for pastoral hill-country farming, mānuka stands are now more likely to be considered a valuable resource. For better management and utilization of this resource, more information is needed about the causes of variation in the timing and intensity of mānuka flowering, including at the local scale where flowering behaviour can vary significantly over short distances. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to improve methods for camera-based monitoring of mānuka flowering phenology, including reducing the need for manual analysis of images. The second aim was to deploy the cameras for a field study of the local-scale drivers of mānuka flowering phenology, within a single hill-country property, along an elevational gradient and between two slope aspects. 

This study used cameras based on Raspberry Pi single board computers, developed previously for monitoring of mā

text: Monitoring of local topographic variation in flowering phenology of mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) The rise of the mānuka honey industry has led to a change in attitudes toward mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium). Previously considered a nuisance for pastoral hill-country farming, mānuka stands are now more likely to be considered a valuable resource. For better management and utilization of this resource, more information is needed about the causes of variation in the timing and intensity of mānuka flowering, including at the local scale where flowering behaviour can vary significantly over short distances. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to improve methods for camera-based monitoring of mānuka flowering phenology, including reducing the need for manual analysis of images. The second aim was to deploy the cameras for a field study of the local-scale drivers of mānuka flowering phenology, within a single hill-country property, along an elevational gradient and between two slope aspects. 

This study used cameras based on Raspberry Pi single board computers, developed previously for monitoring of mā

year: 2024

title: Timing in Possums: Accounting for Resurgence in the Peak Procedure

authors: Stanley, Christopher D.

abstract: This study attempted to account for resurgence on the Peak Procedure using 6 possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) as subjects. The Peak Procedure is made up of randomly mixed fixed intervals (FI) and peak intervals (PI), with the ratio of FI trials to PI trials being 4:1 respectively. Conditions 1-4 were used to replicate Church et al.’s (1991) procedure from their second experiment. The authors found that when the PI trial length was variable, data from PI trials showed that responding did not resurge, as it did when the PI duration was fixed.  Condition 1 used a FI 20 s and a variable PI with a mean of 80 s. Responding did not resurge, but rather decreased to a low level throughout the PI trial. Condition 2 used a FI 20 and a fixed PI of 100 s. Responding resurged for this condition. Condition 3 and 4 repeated Condition 1 and 2 respectively to give an ABAB design. Responding again decreased and increased as the PI changed to being variable and fixed respectively. These results are similar to that found by Church et al. (1991), and show support for what Sanabria and Killeen (2007) call the anticipation theory (where escape from a non-reinforced PI trial is negatively reinforcing). The PI duration was shortened to twice the FI length in Condition 5 and lengthened to 300 s, or 15 times the FI in Condition 6. This was in order to investigate whether responding would resurge at very short and very long PI durations. Responding did not resurge at the shorter PI length, and this may be due to there not being enough time to do so. At the extreme length of 300 s, responding was seen to resurge; a result that is not consistent with other studies that used a similar procedure (Sanabria & Killeen, 2007). When the procedure returned to using a FI 20 s and a variable PI with a mean of 80 s in Condition 7, resurgence decreased to a minimum and remained stable till the end of the trial. 
Results from the present study support Church et al.’s (1991) anticipation theory, and that as long as the animals can track the end of the PI trial, responding will resurge; if it is variable, animals cannot predict the end of the trial and so response resurgence does not occur.

text: Timing in Possums: Accounting for Resurgence in the Peak Procedure This study attempted to account for resurgence on the Peak Procedure using 6 possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) as subjects. The Peak Procedure is made up of randomly mixed fixed intervals (FI) and peak intervals (PI), with the ratio of FI trials to PI trials being 4:1 respectively. Conditions 1-4 were used to replicate Church et al.’s (1991) procedure from their second experiment. The authors found that when the PI trial length was variable, data from PI trials showed that responding did not resurge, as it did when the PI duration was fixed.  Condition 1 used a FI 20 s and a variable PI with a mean of 80 s. Responding did not resurge, but rather decreased to a low level throughout the PI trial. Condition 2 used a FI 20 and a fixed PI of 100 s. Responding resurged for this condition. Condition 3 and 4 repeated Condition 1 and 2 respectively to give an ABAB design. Responding again decreased and increased as the PI changed to being variable and fixed respectively. These results are similar to that found by Church et al. (1991), and show support for what Sanabria and Killeen (2007) call the anticipation theory (where escape from a non-reinforced PI trial is negatively reinforcing). The PI duration was shortened to twice the FI length in Condition 5 and lengthened to 300 s, or 15 times the FI in Condition 6. This was in order to investigate whether responding would resurge at very short and very long PI durations. Responding did not resurge at the shorter PI length, and this may be due to there not being enough time to do so. At the extreme length of 300 s, responding was seen to resurge; a result that is not consistent with other studies that used a similar procedure (Sanabria & Killeen, 2007). When the procedure returned to using a FI 20 s and a variable PI with a mean of 80 s in Condition 7, resurgence decreased to a minimum and remained stable till the end of the trial. 
Results from the present study support Church et al.’s (1991) anticipation theory, and that as long as the animals can track the end of the PI trial, responding will resurge; if it is variable, animals cannot predict the end of the trial and so response resurgence does not occur.

year: 2013

title: Initial report of the 2018 Census external data quality panel

authors: Bedford, Richard

abstract: One in six New Zealand residents did not complete a questionnaire for the 2018 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. This was largely due to operational failures that made it difficult for a significant number of individuals and households to access census questionnaires, and to fulfill their statutory duty to participate.

text: Initial report of the 2018 Census external data quality panel One in six New Zealand residents did not complete a questionnaire for the 2018 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. This was largely due to operational failures that made it difficult for a significant number of individuals and households to access census questionnaires, and to fulfill their statutory duty to participate.

year: 2019