Foot and mouth algorithms
Algorithms could help speed up New Zealand’s response to serious biosecurity threats such as foot and mouth disease and stop them spreading.
UCBI 2023 summer scholarships
Be inspired and watch these 1 minute videos from 3 of our 6 summer student scholars, produced by Anisha Sataya, one of our journalism students
Biosecurity Education
Find-a-Pest, hosted by UC Biosecurity Innovations. is one of the 5 page teaching unit on biosecurity and biodiversity in the New Zealand Teachers magazine Term 2 2023. Check out other biosecurity resources on the UC Web here.
Biosecurity surveillance
Watch these two 20 minute talks held at UC on 28 June 2023 by
Assoc. Prof Steve Pawson who outlines how we can detect insects new to Aotearoa NZ using light traps and eDNa.
Paul Benden PhD who described his research and future plans for semi-automated surveillance of street-level urban trees using image segmentation. The image shows how AI records a cabbage tree, in blue.
Biosecurity lures
As part of our seminar series, celebrating our students, our partners and our research, click on the links to hear
- Dan Tompkins, Science Director of Predator Free 2050 Ltd, outlines the PF2050 science strategy in this 40 minute talk
PF2050 Ltd supports the following two PhD students
- Brittany Graham, Lincoln University, aims to create an "ultimate lure" to attract possums, rats and stoats in this 15 min talk
- Ben McEwen, University of Canterbury uses computer automation to captures sound from possums in this 12 min talk and has developed a free annotation tool https://csse-audioanno1.canterbury.ac.nz/ His PhD is outlined in a 13min podcast here.
New Organisms workshop
Click on the links below to hear four 10-15 min talks on New Organisms from our panel of experts,
- Aubanie Raynal, Senior Advisor Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) outlines the HASNO Act and case studies
- Barry Wards Principle Advisor Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) discusses the Biosecurity Act
- David Teulon ex Director Better Border Biosecurity (B3) reviews the New Organisms process for researchers 10 years on since he co-authored a paper on the law and invasive pests and diseases.
- Andy Morgan Senior Advisor Ministry of Environment (MfE) gives an overview on where to next.
GMO are not discussed.
UCBI student wins international biosecurity award
Congratulations to Sarah Sale, a PhD student at UC, who won a certificate for Outstanding Student Oral presentation at the Fourth International Conference on Biological Invasions (ICBI). Read more here!
Myrtle rust communication
Myrtle rust is a plant pathogen new to New Zealand. Aspen Berry's Masters in Strategic Communications analysed key messages and how these were affected by our values. Aspen was awarded a BioHeritage Challenge scholarship and a Ngā Pī Ka Rere Writing Grant’ to publish her work.
Fruit flies and public engagement
Will Eason won a BioHeritage Challenge scholarship as part of his Masters in Strategic communications. He compared public engagement to the Queensland Fruit fly and red imported fire ant eradication programmes in Auckland. Photo by James Niland.
Australian biosecurity and New Zealand marine biosecurity
The slide show below is from a UCBI seminar on 31 March 2023.
The slides alternate between Prof. Andrew Robinson, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Research (CEBRA) and Dr Leigh Tait from NIWA. Key references are included in the captions.
Below the slide show, we have links to other research, so keep scrolling down!
New Surveillance tools
The bright lights at ports attract insects, which can also carry diseases, new to New Zealand.
A UCBI Bioheritage challenge project has installed UV light traps to catch insects at the Port of Tauranga.
Back at the lab, High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) of the "soup" will identify insect orders such as flies (Diptera), beetles (Coleoptera).
The eDNA of the "soup" will be compared to an eDNA library so that insect species new to NZ can be found early.
Super size BSMB
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BSMB) is not established in NZ. To raise awareness, Better Border Biosecurity (b3) and the BSMB Council sponsored a summer scholarship won by Joel Tregurtha to print a 3D bug. Hear a RNZ interview be Te Matua O Te Rangi about the project.
Long life lure
Gemma Burnside celebrates her Masters in Product design of a long-life lure dispenser for the Department of Conservtion. Find out more about the research and Listen to a 13 min podocast on Radio New Zealand.
Kānuka disease resistance
Kānuka on Banks Peninsula that have pathogens on their leaves or roots may or may not show signs of disease, so what makes a plant healthy? To find out, core microbiomes will be studied to see if they are shared among healthy plants. The work is funded by the Bioprotection Aotearoa Centre of Research Excellence and undertaken by Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua in collaboration with Dr Ian Dickie UCBI.
Monkey flower
There are more species of new plants that become weeds than native species. Here, Aaron Miller finds out how we can protect waterways like culverts from plant pests.
PF2050 Riccarton
UC is at the centre of Predator Free 2050 Riccarton. Riccarton residents and UC students are invited to start with their backyard then local park.
Drone surveillance of sea spurge
Sea spurge was first found in New Zealand in 2012. Grey Harris, a Masters in Professional Science student at UC, helped to analyse drone imagery to detect it. The project was funded by DOC and MPI in 2022.
Tiny drone radar
Research into tiny harmonic radar tags that are attached to insects and tracked by drones could help save threatened species.
Building biosecruity capability seminar
Hear government, industry and Maori perspectives on how universities can mahi tahi to build biosecurity capability in 2023. Each talk is about 15 mins.
- Stuart Anderson Deputy Director General, Biosecurity New Zealand.
- Simon Lambert Chief Scientist, Te Tira Whakamātaki (TTW).
- David Teulon Director of Better Border Biosecurity (B3).
- Bill Dyck Knowledge Broker reviews plant biosecurity in NZ.
Fungi in a plate
Engineering opens up ways to fight kauri dieback and other plant pathogens.
Pathogen genomics
Alexandra Cox has just started her PhD on the genomics of a water mould pathogen that causes widespread damage in agricultural crops.
