title: Small-Town Melancholy [Review of Gothic NZ: The Darker Side of Kiwi Culture by Misha Kavka, Jennifer Lawn, Mary Paul]

authors: Hardy, Ann

abstract: This book-an evocation of Gothic elements in New Zealand culture-rapidly announces itself as an impossible project, or at least, as a project dependent on an actively sympathetic disposition in its interpreters. It is, writes one of the editors, Jennifer Lawn, in an introduction at once knowledgeably confident and frustratingly tentative, 'both too early and too late to write of a New Zealand Gothic' (p. 11). There is evidence both for and against a significant body of gothic characteristics in local cultural production, so that whether one discerns relevant characteristics depends on one's angle of vision: 'flick [it] just a fraction [...] and the opposite picture appears: gothic is revealed as endemic to New Zealand's self-representation' (p.ll). Lawn contends that one cannot say what gothic is, in the sense of a proactive entity (p. 15); rather, it 'works in a manner more akin to a shifting warp of the familiar' (p. 15).

text: Small-Town Melancholy [Review of Gothic NZ: The Darker Side of Kiwi Culture by Misha Kavka, Jennifer Lawn, Mary Paul] This book-an evocation of Gothic elements in New Zealand culture-rapidly announces itself as an impossible project, or at least, as a project dependent on an actively sympathetic disposition in its interpreters. It is, writes one of the editors, Jennifer Lawn, in an introduction at once knowledgeably confident and frustratingly tentative, 'both too early and too late to write of a New Zealand Gothic' (p. 11). There is evidence both for and against a significant body of gothic characteristics in local cultural production, so that whether one discerns relevant characteristics depends on one's angle of vision: 'flick [it] just a fraction [...] and the opposite picture appears: gothic is revealed as endemic to New Zealand's self-representation' (p.ll). Lawn contends that one cannot say what gothic is, in the sense of a proactive entity (p. 15); rather, it 'works in a manner more akin to a shifting warp of the familiar' (p. 15).

year: 2007

title: Methane emission hotspots from a drained peat soil under dairy grazing

authors: Hamill, Jacob

subjects: Methane

abstract: Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas that is emitted from natural peatland ecosystems due to their high water tables. However, large areas of natural peatlands have been drained for agricultural purposes, resulting in a reduction in overall methane emissions. However, where soil is saturated, such as within or adjacent to drainage ditches, methane emission can remain high. The aim of this research was to determine the magnitude of soil- and drainage ditch-derived methane emissions from a drained Waikato peatland under dairy grazing and where and when these emissions occur.

Gamma Farm is a pastoral dairy farm located on the remnants of the Moanatuatua peatland and drained by shallow surface “spinner” drains that discharge into deeper field-border drains. The paddocks were classified into four different landforms based on the location and hydrology of the drainage features. These landforms are crown, slope, ditch edge and drainage ditch. To adequately determine the spatial and temporal variation in methane fluxes chamber measurements of methane fluxes were undertaken along a transect across the width of the study site, approximately perpendicular to the border drains. A campaign approach was used, with chamber measurements being undertaken from autumn through to winter to capture methane fluxes under different environmental conditions. To measure seasonal and annual-scale methane emissions an eddy covariance flux tower was used.
Based on chamber measurements drainage ditches were shown to have average methane emissions of 0.071 ± 0.005 mg CH4 m-2 h-1 . Conversely, the soil of the crown, slope and ditch edges were shown to be a net methane sink, with average net methane oxidation of ‒0.019 ± 0.006, ‒0.01 ± 0.008 and ‒0.023 ± 0.006 mg CH4 m-2 h-1 respectively. Weighting the chamber measurements by landform area it was concluded that the study site was primarily a minor net methane sink. However, eddy covariance measurements indicated that the study site was a net source of methane with annual emissions of 44.72 kg CH4 ha-1 yr-1 . This large discrepancy between the chamber and eddy covariance measurements is likely caused by the large spatial and temporal scale differences between the two measurement techniques.

In addition, it was found that there was no relationship between soil methane fluxes and the soil temperature, Olsen-P, and nitrate concentration. However, methane fluxes were shown to decrease as the ammonium concentration and depth to the water table increased. In addition, methane fluxes decreased as volumetric moisture content (VMC) decreased, but at low VMCs (<40%) methane fluxes tended towards zero. For the water-borne methane fluxes there was no relationship found between methane fluxes and any measured variable (pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, water temperature, water depth, nitrate concentration or dissolved phosphorus). However, at longer time scales such as monthly averages of eddy covariance measurements, methane fluxes were positively correlated with soil temperature and air temperature. Additionally, both seasonal and diurnal cycles in the eddy covariance methane fluxes were observed.

text: Methane emission hotspots from a drained peat soil under dairy grazing Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas that is emitted from natural peatland ecosystems due to their high water tables. However, large areas of natural peatlands have been drained for agricultural purposes, resulting in a reduction in overall methane emissions. However, where soil is saturated, such as within or adjacent to drainage ditches, methane emission can remain high. The aim of this research was to determine the magnitude of soil- and drainage ditch-derived methane emissions from a drained Waikato peatland under dairy grazing and where and when these emissions occur.

Gamma Farm is a pastoral dairy farm located on the remnants of the Moanatuatua peatland and drained by shallow surface “spinner” drains that discharge into deeper field-border drains. The paddocks were classified into four different landforms based on the location and hydrology of the drainage features. These landforms are crown, slope, ditch edge and drainage ditch. To adequately determine the spatial and temporal variation in methane fluxes chamber measurements of methane fluxes were undertaken along a transect across the width of the study site, approximately perpendicular to the border drains. A campaign approach was used, with chamber measurements being undertaken from autumn through to winter to capture methane fluxes under different environmental conditions. To measure seasonal and annual-scale methane emissions an eddy covariance flux tower was used.
Based on chamber measurements drainage ditches were shown to have average methane emissions of 0.071 ± 0.005 mg CH4 m-2 h-1 . Conversely, the soil of the crown, slope and ditch edges were shown to be a net methane sink, with average net methane oxidation of ‒0.019 ± 0.006, ‒0.01 ± 0.008 and ‒0.023 ± 0.006 mg CH4 m-2 h-1 respectively. Weighting the chamber measurements by landform area it was concluded that the study site was primarily a minor net methane sink. However, eddy covariance measurements indicated that the study site was a net source of methane with annual emissions of 44.72 kg CH4 ha-1 yr-1 . This large discrepancy between the chamber and eddy covariance measurements is likely caused by the large spatial and temporal scale differences between the two measurement techniques.

In addition, it was found that there was no relationship between soil methane fluxes and the soil temperature, Olsen-P, and nitrate concentration. However, methane fluxes were shown to decrease as the ammonium concentration and depth to the water table increased. In addition, methane fluxes decreased as volumetric moisture content (VMC) decreased, but at low VMCs (<40%) methane fluxes tended towards zero. For the water-borne methane fluxes there was no relationship found between methane fluxes and any measured variable (pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, water temperature, water depth, nitrate concentration or dissolved phosphorus). However, at longer time scales such as monthly averages of eddy covariance measurements, methane fluxes were positively correlated with soil temperature and air temperature. Additionally, both seasonal and diurnal cycles in the eddy covariance methane fluxes were observed.

year: 2019

title: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020

authors: Pool, Ian

subjects: Aotearoa

abstract: This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

text: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020 This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

year: 2026