Landcare Research New Zealand Limited
Encyclopedia
Landcare Research is one of New Zealand
's Crown Research Institutes. The focus of the research
at this company is the environment
, biodiversity
, and sustainability
.
(DSIR), but was established as an independent organisation when the Crown Research Institutes were created in 1992. As part of that process, it was semi-commercialised, and now operates as a government-owned company rather than as a government department. The commercialisation has led to greater emphasis on financial viability, and Landcare Research is employed by various private groups to provide advice and information.
, near Christchurch
. There are also other sites at Auckland
on the Tamaki
campus of Auckland University, Hamilton
, Gisborne
, Havelock North
, Palmerston North
, Wellington, Nelson
, Alexandra
, and Dunedin
.
s that are of significant national importance to New Zealand.
l and fungal specimen
s that are preserved under liquid nitrogen
or in freeze dried ampoules. Currently there are over 15,000 specimens in the collection .
containing over 80,000 dried fungal specimens, including all the New Zealand fungal type species
. This represents one of the most extensive compilations on the national fungal biota of any country.
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The New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC) or Ko te Aitanga Pepeke O Aotearoa in Māori. NZAC has the most complete coverage of terrestrial invertebrate
s of all the collections held in New Zealand. In addition to its fundamental systematics value, the collection underpins quarantine
and border control decisions e.g., verifying the presence or absence of species in New Zealand. NZAC is held at Landcare Research's Tamaki
site.
specimens. It is contained within the Arthropod Collection.
s (indigenous
and exotic
) of the New Zealand region and the Pacific. It also has specialist collections of seed
, fruit
, wood
, plant leaf cuticle
, liquid-preserved specimens, and microscope slide
s. The oldest samples are the 91 duplicate specimens collected by Banks
and Solander
during Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand in 1769-1770.
There are currently over 550,000 specimens in the Allan Herbarium with 5,000-8,000 being added annually. Two-thirds of the specimens are of indigenous plants with the remainder divided between naturalised, cultivated, and foreign specimens. It was named the Allan Herbarium
to acknowledge the contributions of H. H. Allan to New Zealand botany
.
Research focuses on six key areas:
events — a survey of all species in a given area — several times, including the first New Zealand event in 2004. In 2004, BioBlitz was held in the Auckland
suburb of St Heliers on 30 April – 1 May 2004. In a remnant of native forest at Dingle Dell reserve, 925 separate species were found, and 631 species were found in a native bush gully at Meadowbank Primary School. A second BioBlitz in the Auckland Domain
on 12 – 13 March 2005 found 1575 distinct species. Another BioBlitz occurred at Hagley Park
, Christchurch
on 8 – 9 April, here 1197 species were found. In 2006, BioBlitz was held in Hamilton
. This event uncovered 948 species..
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's Crown Research Institutes. The focus of the research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
at this company is the environment
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
, biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, and sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
.
History
Landcare Research was originally part of the Department of Scientific and Industrial ResearchDepartment of Scientific and Industrial Research
Several countries have organizations called the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR.-United Kingdom:...
(DSIR), but was established as an independent organisation when the Crown Research Institutes were created in 1992. As part of that process, it was semi-commercialised, and now operates as a government-owned company rather than as a government department. The commercialisation has led to greater emphasis on financial viability, and Landcare Research is employed by various private groups to provide advice and information.
Locations
The main site is in LincolnLincoln, New Zealand
Lincoln is a town in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, New Zealand. The town has a population of 2,727.-Location:It is located on the Canterbury Plains to the west of Banks Peninsula, 22 kilometres south of Christchurch.-History:...
, near Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
. There are also other sites at Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
on the Tamaki
Tamaki
Tamaki may refer to:Places:*Afghanistan**Tamaki, Afghanistan*Japan**Tamaki, Mie*New Zealand**Tamaki, New Zealand, a suburb of Auckland**Tāmaki , in Auckland**East Tamaki, a suburb of Auckland**Tamaki River, in Auckland...
campus of Auckland University, Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
, Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
, Havelock North
Havelock North, New Zealand
Havelock North is a suburb in Hastings, New Zealand, in the North Island's Hawke's Bay region. It ranked as a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of local government saw it merged into the new Hastings District....
, Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
, Wellington, Nelson
Nelson, New Zealand
Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
, Alexandra
Alexandra, New Zealand
Alexandra is a town in the Central Otago district of the Otago region of New Zealand. It is located on the banks of the Clutha River , on State Highway 8, 188 km by road from Dunedin and 33 km south of Cromwell.At the time of the 2006 census, the permanent population was 4,827, an...
, and Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
.
Collections
Landcare Research holds several collections of organismOrganism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
s that are of significant national importance to New Zealand.
International collection of microorganisms from plants
The International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP) in Auckland holds live bacteriaBacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
l and fungal specimen
Specimen
A specimen is a portion/quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study.BiologyA laboratory specimen is an individual animal, part of an animal, a plant, part of a plant, or a microorganism, used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species or...
s that are preserved under liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
or in freeze dried ampoules. Currently there are over 15,000 specimens in the collection .
National fungal herbarium
The Auckland office also has the National Fungal Herbarium (PDD), a herbariumHerbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
containing over 80,000 dried fungal specimens, including all the New Zealand fungal type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
. This represents one of the most extensive compilations on the national fungal biota of any country.
New Zealand arthropod collection
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s of all the collections held in New Zealand. In addition to its fundamental systematics value, the collection underpins quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
and border control decisions e.g., verifying the presence or absence of species in New Zealand. NZAC is held at Landcare Research's Tamaki
Tamaki, New Zealand
Tamaki is a small suburb of the city of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located in the east of the city, 11 kilometres from the city centre, by the banks of the estuarial Tamaki River, which is a southern arm of the Hauraki Gulf...
site.
National nematode collection of New Zealand
The National Nematode Collection of New Zealand (NNCNZ) contains hundreds of nematodeNematode
The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
specimens. It is contained within the Arthropod Collection.
Landcare Research Allan Herbarium
The Landcare Research Allan Herbarium (CHR) at Lincoln, contains species from around the world but specialises in plantPlant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s (indigenous
Native plant
Native plant is a term to describe plants endemic or naturalized to a given area in geologic time.This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area...
and exotic
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
) of the New Zealand region and the Pacific. It also has specialist collections of seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, plant leaf cuticle
Plant cuticle
Plant cuticles are a protective waxy covering produced only by the epidermal cells of leaves, young shoots and all other aerial plant organs without periderm...
, liquid-preserved specimens, and microscope slide
Microscope slide
A microscope slide is a thin flat piece of glass, typically 75 by 25 mm and about 1 mm thick, used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. Typically the object is placed or secured on the slide, and then both are inserted together in the microscope for viewing...
s. The oldest samples are the 91 duplicate specimens collected by Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
and Solander
Daniel Solander
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.-Biography:...
during Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand in 1769-1770.
There are currently over 550,000 specimens in the Allan Herbarium with 5,000-8,000 being added annually. Two-thirds of the specimens are of indigenous plants with the remainder divided between naturalised, cultivated, and foreign specimens. It was named the Allan Herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
to acknowledge the contributions of H. H. Allan to New Zealand botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
.
National New Zealand Flax Collection
Manaaki Whenua is kaitiaki of an ethnobotanical collection of traditional weaving varieties of harakeke (NZ flax, Phormium spp.) donated by Rene Orchiston of Gisborne. The 50 harakeke were selected long ago from natural stands and cultivated by Māori weavers for their special leaf and fibre properties. There are varieties specially suited to making kete, whariki, piupiu and cloaks.Research
Science includes research into the processes that maintain New Zealand’s ecosystems, enable natural flora, fauna and fungi to flourish, and protect soil and catchments for a range of production and other purposes. The impacts of disruption to ecosystems; biosecurity risks from foreign weeds, pests and micro-organisms; and contamination to land, water and air caused by the production of natural, manufactured or waste compounds are investigated. Research is also untertaken to develop tools to help mitigate inefficient resource use and excess waste, and systems designed to improve resource use productivity, lifestyle and business viability.Research focuses on six key areas:
- Conserving and restoring our biodiversity and the healthy resilience of natural ecosystems
- Reducing pest, disease and weed impacts in our natural and managed ecosystems
- Understanding, mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change
- Sustaining the long-term health of soils, waterways and landscapes for the continued viability of our rural environments
- Enhancing urban biodiversity and developing low-impact approaches for built environmentBuilt environmentThe term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
s - Fostering environmentally sustainable and globally competitive business practices
BioBlitz
Landcare Research has organised BioBlitzBioBlitz
A BioBlitz, also written without capitals bioblitz, is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a short, usually 24 hour, time...
events — a survey of all species in a given area — several times, including the first New Zealand event in 2004. In 2004, BioBlitz was held in the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
suburb of St Heliers on 30 April – 1 May 2004. In a remnant of native forest at Dingle Dell reserve, 925 separate species were found, and 631 species were found in a native bush gully at Meadowbank Primary School. A second BioBlitz in the Auckland Domain
Auckland Domain
The Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park, and at 75 hectares one of the largest in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park contains all of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano....
on 12 – 13 March 2005 found 1575 distinct species. Another BioBlitz occurred at Hagley Park
Hagley Park
Hagley Park is the largest urban open space in Christchurch, New Zealand, and was created in 1855 by the Provincial Government. According to the government's decree at that time, Hagley Park is "reserved forever as a public park, and shall be open for the recreation and enjoyment of the public."...
, Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
on 8 – 9 April, here 1197 species were found. In 2006, BioBlitz was held in Hamilton
Hamilton, New Zealand
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's fourth largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato Region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
. This event uncovered 948 species..