title: Farming, droughts and Covid-19: The creation and maintenance of community in a time of hardship and forced social restrictions

authors: Cheetham, Erin Mae

subjects: Farming

abstract: In the summer of 2019-2020 the Hawkes Bay farming community of RD9 was faced with extreme drought conditions. To further compound the droughts effects on the RD9 community, they were also made to abide by the strict social restrictions required to limit the transmission of Covid-19 throughout the community from March to May of 2020. As farmers are already required to live in physical isolation due to their profession, the Covid-19 isolation period compounded the pre-existing tensions between the farmers of RD9 and the wider New Zealand community and New Zealand government. In this thesis I argue that more needs to be done in order to help New Zealand farmers with the environmental, social and economic issues that farmers face at an increasing level. From the increasing frequency of droughts, the constant government restructures impacting on the agricultural sector at both at the ground level and industrial level, and consistent and persistent social and physical isolation experienced in rural living, New Zealand farmers are having to deal with many events that are out of their control. As such, I argue that it is crucial to consider how to help farmers maintain a sense of wellbeing, connection and belonging during a period of hardship in periods of hardships such as the situations that unfolded in 2020.

text: Farming, droughts and Covid-19: The creation and maintenance of community in a time of hardship and forced social restrictions In the summer of 2019-2020 the Hawkes Bay farming community of RD9 was faced with extreme drought conditions. To further compound the droughts effects on the RD9 community, they were also made to abide by the strict social restrictions required to limit the transmission of Covid-19 throughout the community from March to May of 2020. As farmers are already required to live in physical isolation due to their profession, the Covid-19 isolation period compounded the pre-existing tensions between the farmers of RD9 and the wider New Zealand community and New Zealand government. In this thesis I argue that more needs to be done in order to help New Zealand farmers with the environmental, social and economic issues that farmers face at an increasing level. From the increasing frequency of droughts, the constant government restructures impacting on the agricultural sector at both at the ground level and industrial level, and consistent and persistent social and physical isolation experienced in rural living, New Zealand farmers are having to deal with many events that are out of their control. As such, I argue that it is crucial to consider how to help farmers maintain a sense of wellbeing, connection and belonging during a period of hardship in periods of hardships such as the situations that unfolded in 2020.

year: 2021

title: The Microflora of the Huhu Grub

authors: Williams, Thomas Carl

subjects: Huhu

abstract: New Zealand's endemic longhorned beetle larvae, the Huhu grub (Prionoplus reticularis) feeds on dead coniferous wood. No studies have been conducted on its gut microflora. Given that the Huhu grub feeds solely on lignocelluloses, it is likely that there are microorganisms present in its gut which are capable of degrading lignocelluloses to release energy rich sugars. This process of lignocelluloses release is the rate limiting step in the utilisation of woody material for bioprocesses such as bioethanol production. Microbial communities from wild grubs were compared with those raised on laboratory diets of either: lignocellulose, cellulose, or complex nutrients. Bacterial gut communities were surveyed using 454 pyrosequencing of the variable 5 and 6 regions (400nt reads) of bacterial 16S rRNA genes as well as clone library analysis of the full length gene (1500bp). Fungal gut communities were analysed using cloning and Sanger sequencing of amplified fungal intergenic spacer (ITS) regions. The wild type gut bacterial population was highly diverse, with no known cellulose or lignin degraders detected in any abundance, although a strain of Burkholderia thought to be capable of nitrogen fixation was detected. No methanogenic archaea or acetogenic bacteria were detected. Fungal ITS sequences had high similarity with those of known lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose degraders in the public databases, and an uncultured Basidiomycete made up 51% of the wild type community, while species of the Penicillium genus dominated the grubs reared on laboratory diets of lignocellulose. When grubs were reared on a diet of only cellulose the fungal community was dominated by a single species identified as Candida shehatae, a hemicellulose degrader known to associate with other longhorned beetle larvae. These fungi may be of interest for the biological conversion of lignocelluloses.

text: The Microflora of the Huhu Grub New Zealand's endemic longhorned beetle larvae, the Huhu grub (Prionoplus reticularis) feeds on dead coniferous wood. No studies have been conducted on its gut microflora. Given that the Huhu grub feeds solely on lignocelluloses, it is likely that there are microorganisms present in its gut which are capable of degrading lignocelluloses to release energy rich sugars. This process of lignocelluloses release is the rate limiting step in the utilisation of woody material for bioprocesses such as bioethanol production. Microbial communities from wild grubs were compared with those raised on laboratory diets of either: lignocellulose, cellulose, or complex nutrients. Bacterial gut communities were surveyed using 454 pyrosequencing of the variable 5 and 6 regions (400nt reads) of bacterial 16S rRNA genes as well as clone library analysis of the full length gene (1500bp). Fungal gut communities were analysed using cloning and Sanger sequencing of amplified fungal intergenic spacer (ITS) regions. The wild type gut bacterial population was highly diverse, with no known cellulose or lignin degraders detected in any abundance, although a strain of Burkholderia thought to be capable of nitrogen fixation was detected. No methanogenic archaea or acetogenic bacteria were detected. Fungal ITS sequences had high similarity with those of known lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose degraders in the public databases, and an uncultured Basidiomycete made up 51% of the wild type community, while species of the Penicillium genus dominated the grubs reared on laboratory diets of lignocellulose. When grubs were reared on a diet of only cellulose the fungal community was dominated by a single species identified as Candida shehatae, a hemicellulose degrader known to associate with other longhorned beetle larvae. These fungi may be of interest for the biological conversion of lignocelluloses.

year: 2011

title: Listening to the Winds of Change: Assessing culturally responsive and relational pedagogy

authors: Thin-Rabb, Polly

subjects: Culturally responsive and relational pedagogy

abstract: This thesis examines how the Rongohia te Hau tools were used to capture a snapshot of the extent that culturally responsive and relational pedagogies were occurring within classrooms in two English-medium secondary schools in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In this study, school leaders used Rongohia te Hau to measure changes in the educational experiences of Māori learners over twelve to eighteen-months, to prioritise next steps in addressing the educational inequities that were evident. 

With the contribution of teachers, leaders and kaitoro (Kia Eke Panuku facilitators), this research investigates the purpose and place of Rongohia te Hau within the Kia Eke Panuku professional learning and development context. It also presents and discusses the pedagogical shifts that occurred in these two schools over the period of this research, as evidenced by quantitative and qualitative Rongohia te Hau data. Furthermore, the learning implications that arose out of this research are analysed to help generate new questions and considerations, to enable continuing conversations for these schools, other schools, professional learning and development providers and researchers.

text: Listening to the Winds of Change: Assessing culturally responsive and relational pedagogy This thesis examines how the Rongohia te Hau tools were used to capture a snapshot of the extent that culturally responsive and relational pedagogies were occurring within classrooms in two English-medium secondary schools in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In this study, school leaders used Rongohia te Hau to measure changes in the educational experiences of Māori learners over twelve to eighteen-months, to prioritise next steps in addressing the educational inequities that were evident. 

With the contribution of teachers, leaders and kaitoro (Kia Eke Panuku facilitators), this research investigates the purpose and place of Rongohia te Hau within the Kia Eke Panuku professional learning and development context. It also presents and discusses the pedagogical shifts that occurred in these two schools over the period of this research, as evidenced by quantitative and qualitative Rongohia te Hau data. Furthermore, the learning implications that arose out of this research are analysed to help generate new questions and considerations, to enable continuing conversations for these schools, other schools, professional learning and development providers and researchers.

year: 2017