scholarly journals Distribution and Behavioural Ecology of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua Galerita L.) in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Andrew Styche
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression ◽  
The South ◽  
Understorey Vegetation ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
The North

<p>1. Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) have colonised several sites in the North Island and on Banks Peninsula in the South Island of New Zealand. Galah (C. roseicapilla) have established in the South Auckland Region of the North Island. Original colonies are thought to have established from escaped cage birds, but the origin of populations of C. galerita that have appeared over more recent years is uncertain. 2. The distribution of C. galerita in Australia and New Zealand was modelled against environmental factors using multiple logistic regression to determine which characteristics of its environment are important in defining their distribution. 3. While C. galerita distribution in New Zealand falls within the range of ambient temperature experienced by this species in Australia, models of distribution produced from multiple logistic regression revealed temperature was not the only characteristic important in defining distribution. Instead distribution was best defined by a combination of temperature, availability of cultivated land and in New Zealand the presence of open woodland vegetation. 4. Observed daily and seasonal differences in the movement, time-activity budget, habitat use and diet of cockatoos in a population stronghold (Turakina Valley, Manawatu-Wanganui Region) were used to provide insight into the relationship between the environmental factors characteristic of C. galerita distribution and the range of this species. 5. Distribution of C. galerita was strongly influenced by the availability of crop seed mostly maize (Zea maize). In winter groups of C. galerita from large area (probably hundreds of square kilometres) congregated into a large flock, roosting in a reserve immediately adjacent to fields of maize, their main food source at this time. By congregating in this area they reduced the amount of time needed to forage for food especially time spent flying (the most energetically costly behaviour). 6. Despite greater energetic demands in winter, C. galerita in the Turakina Valley decreased the proportion of time spent feeding, instead increasing time spent resting. This was attributed to feeding on a very abundant food (maize), and lower energy demands resulting from reduced time spent flying (possible because of maize) and in feather maintenance and social behaviours. 7. Native podocarp forest remnants provided most of the non-food resource requirements of C. galerita, such as day-time refuges and nest and nocturnal roost sites. Most of their food was obtained from introduced vegetation available on the adjacent farmland, particularly cereal crops, grasses and exotic conifers. In contrast, sympatric populations of tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), bellbirds (Anthornis melanura and New Zealand pigeons (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) were more arboreal and preferentially foraged in native forest and exotic angiosperm tree species. 8. Freshly fallen leaves and green branches (greenfall) were collected from 100 plots in a podocarp-broadleaf forest in the Turakina Valley. Greenfall was categorised as "unexplained" or "cockatoo-caused". Leaves and branches (0-600mm) from 41 species or species groups were represented in the greenfall. Ten of these species also contributed to cockatoo-caused greenfall, including all four podocarp species and all of the epiphytic angiosperms present in the reserve. 9. Annual inputs of cockatoo-caused greenfall were compared with total foliar litter-fall measured in similar podocarp-broadleaf forests in the Orongorongo Valley, lower North Island. Although cockatoo-caused greenfall contributed only 0.08% of avenge litterfall, their impact was substantially greater for particular species, including > 5% of literfall recorded for Dacrydium cupressinum. 10. Defoliation of native tree and epiphyte species by C. galerita is considered to have potential consequences for forest dynamics, resulting in an increase in understorey vegetation, and could cause reductions in populations of some species (particularly D. cupressinum and rarer epiphytes).</p>

scholarly journals Distribution and Behavioural Ecology of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua Galerita L.) in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Andrew Styche
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression ◽  
The South ◽  
Understorey Vegetation ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
The North

<p>1. Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) have colonised several sites in the North Island and on Banks Peninsula in the South Island of New Zealand. Galah (C. roseicapilla) have established in the South Auckland Region of the North Island. Original colonies are thought to have established from escaped cage birds, but the origin of populations of C. galerita that have appeared over more recent years is uncertain. 2. The distribution of C. galerita in Australia and New Zealand was modelled against environmental factors using multiple logistic regression to determine which characteristics of its environment are important in defining their distribution. 3. While C. galerita distribution in New Zealand falls within the range of ambient temperature experienced by this species in Australia, models of distribution produced from multiple logistic regression revealed temperature was not the only characteristic important in defining distribution. Instead distribution was best defined by a combination of temperature, availability of cultivated land and in New Zealand the presence of open woodland vegetation. 4. Observed daily and seasonal differences in the movement, time-activity budget, habitat use and diet of cockatoos in a population stronghold (Turakina Valley, Manawatu-Wanganui Region) were used to provide insight into the relationship between the environmental factors characteristic of C. galerita distribution and the range of this species. 5. Distribution of C. galerita was strongly influenced by the availability of crop seed mostly maize (Zea maize). In winter groups of C. galerita from large area (probably hundreds of square kilometres) congregated into a large flock, roosting in a reserve immediately adjacent to fields of maize, their main food source at this time. By congregating in this area they reduced the amount of time needed to forage for food especially time spent flying (the most energetically costly behaviour). 6. Despite greater energetic demands in winter, C. galerita in the Turakina Valley decreased the proportion of time spent feeding, instead increasing time spent resting. This was attributed to feeding on a very abundant food (maize), and lower energy demands resulting from reduced time spent flying (possible because of maize) and in feather maintenance and social behaviours. 7. Native podocarp forest remnants provided most of the non-food resource requirements of C. galerita, such as day-time refuges and nest and nocturnal roost sites. Most of their food was obtained from introduced vegetation available on the adjacent farmland, particularly cereal crops, grasses and exotic conifers. In contrast, sympatric populations of tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), bellbirds (Anthornis melanura and New Zealand pigeons (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) were more arboreal and preferentially foraged in native forest and exotic angiosperm tree species. 8. Freshly fallen leaves and green branches (greenfall) were collected from 100 plots in a podocarp-broadleaf forest in the Turakina Valley. Greenfall was categorised as "unexplained" or "cockatoo-caused". Leaves and branches (0-600mm) from 41 species or species groups were represented in the greenfall. Ten of these species also contributed to cockatoo-caused greenfall, including all four podocarp species and all of the epiphytic angiosperms present in the reserve. 9. Annual inputs of cockatoo-caused greenfall were compared with total foliar litter-fall measured in similar podocarp-broadleaf forests in the Orongorongo Valley, lower North Island. Although cockatoo-caused greenfall contributed only 0.08% of avenge litterfall, their impact was substantially greater for particular species, including > 5% of literfall recorded for Dacrydium cupressinum. 10. Defoliation of native tree and epiphyte species by C. galerita is considered to have potential consequences for forest dynamics, resulting in an increase in understorey vegetation, and could cause reductions in populations of some species (particularly D. cupressinum and rarer epiphytes).</p>

MS prevalence in New Zealand, an ethnically and latitudinally diverse country

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 1422-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce V Taylor ◽  
John F Pearson ◽  
Glynnis Clarke ◽  
Deborah F Mason ◽  
David A Abernethy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Latitudinal Gradient ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
European Population ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The North ◽  
Mcdonald Criteria

Background: The prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) is not uniform, with a latitudinal gradient of prevalence present in most studies. Understanding the drivers of this gradient may allow a better understanding of the environmental factors involved in MS pathogenesis. Method: The New Zealand national MS prevalence study (NZMSPS) is a cross-sectional study of people with definite MS (DMS) (McDonald criteria 2005) resident in New Zealand on census night, 7 March 2006, utilizing multiple sources of notification. Capture—recapture analysis (CRA) was used to estimate missing cases. Results: Of 2917 people with DMS identified, the crude prevalence was 72.4 per 100,000 population, and 73.1 per 100,000 when age-standardized to the European population. CRA estimated that 96.7% of cases were identified. A latitudinal gradient was seen with MS prevalence increasing three-fold from the North (35°S) to the South (48°S). The gradient was non-uniform; females with relapsing—remitting/secondary-progressive (RRMS/SPMS) disease have a gradient 11 times greater than males with primary-progressive MS ( p < 1 × 10-7). DMS was significantly less common among those of Māori ethnicity. Conclusions: This study confirms the presence of a robust latitudinal gradient of MS prevalence in New Zealand. This gradient is largely driven by European females with the RRMS/SPMS phenotype. These results indicate that the environmental factors that underlie the latitudinal gradient act differentially by gender, ethnicity and MS phenotype. A better understanding of these factors may allow more targeted MS therapies aimed at modifiable environmental triggers at the population level.

scholarly journals Ecological impact and spread of an invasive paper wasp in New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Howse
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Diet Analysis ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Gut Contents ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
The South ◽  
The North

<p><b>Social wasps are considered among the most successful and impactful invasive species in the world. One species, Polistes dominula has spread from its native Mediterranean range to every continent except Antarctica. This wasp reached New Zealand in the last decade where it has established in the north of the South Island, however, reports of its presence are increasing throughout the country. Due to its recent arrival in New Zealand, little is known about where this species is likely to establish or what impacts it may have on local insect communities. In this thesis, I conducted two studies to investigate these questions, providing valuable information that may inform future management of this invasive species. </b></p><p>In chapter 2, I used two bioclimatic modelling methods to predict areas of suitable habitat across four regions in the southern hemisphere. These models were informed by global temperature and precipitation data as well as global distribution occurrence data of P. dominula. These data were used to estimate conditions most highly correlated with the presence of this wasp. The models identified large areas across the target regions that were climatically suitable for the establishment of P. dominula. Many of these areas are not known to currently contain populations of this species, representing habitat potentially vulnerable to further invasion by P. dominula. Areas across South America, South Africa and Australia were predicted to be climatically suitable. In New Zealand, much of the North Island and eastern parts of the South Island were predicted to be suitable habitat for this wasp. These results suggest that P. dominula could potentially establish across more of the country and expand its invaded range. Information provided by these models may guide conservation and biosecurity management by highlighting key areas where prevention and mitigation should be prioritized. </p><p>In chapter 3, I used molecular diet analysis to investigate the range of prey being utilised by P. dominula in New Zealand. Using DNA barcoding, larval gut contents of P. dominula and another closely related species, Polistes chinensis, were analysed to identify what species were present in the diet of both wasps. Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) were found to be the most highly represented order in both species’ diets. True bugs (Hemiptera) and flies (Diptera) were also abundant. Both wasps were shown to consume a range of native and introduced species including a number of agricultural pests. P. dominula was found to utilise a wider range of prey than P. chinensis. This more diverse prey range, combined with known differences in nesting behaviour, suggest that P. dominula may represent a more significant threat to invertebrate diversity than the already well-established P. chinensis. These results may inform conservation and biosecurity managers on which species are most at risk where this new invasive wasp becomes established. </p><p>This thesis provides insights into the potential impacts of a new invasive species to New Zealand. Both chapters represent the first time that these methods have been used to study P. dominula. This work highlights the need for continued monitoring of wasp populations throughout New Zealand, especially in regions highlighted as vulnerable to P. dominula establishment. We also suggest the need to prioritise the conservation of ‘at-risk’ species in coastal and human-altered habitats. Increased public engagement through the citizen-science initiatives should be encouraged while more research into management and control methods is recommended.</p>

The discovery of a new sedimentary basin: offshore Raukumara, East Coast, North Island, New Zealand

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Uruski ◽  
Callum Kennedy ◽  
Rupert Sutherland ◽  
Vaughan Stagpoole ◽  
Stuart Henrys
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
The South ◽  
Petroleum Potential ◽  
The North

The East Coast of North Island, New Zealand, is the site of subduction of the Pacific below the Australian plate, and, consequently, much of the basin is highly deformed. An exception is the Raukumara Sub-basin, which forms the northern end of the East Coast Basin and is relatively undeformed. It occupies a marine plain that extends to the north-northeast from the northern coast of the Raukumara Peninsula, reaching water depths of about 3,000 m, although much of the sub-basin lies within the 2,000 m isobath. The sub-basin is about 100 km across and has a roughly triangular plan, bounded by an east-west fault system in the south. It extends about 300 km to the northeast and is bounded to the east by the East Cape subduction ridge and to the west by the volcanic Kermadec Ridge. The northern seismic lines reveal a thickness of around 8 km increasing to 12–13 km in the south. Its stratigraphy consists of a fairly uniformly bedded basal section and an upper, more variable unit separated by a wedge of chaotically bedded material. In the absence of direct evidence from wells and samples, analogies are drawn with onshore geology, where older marine Cretaceous and Paleogene units are separated from a Neogene succession by an allochthonous series of thrust slices emplaced around the time of initiation of the modern plate boundary. The Raukumara Sub-basin is not easily classified. Its location is apparently that of a fore-arc basin along an ocean-to-ocean collision zone, although its sedimentary fill must have been derived chiefly from erosion of the New Zealand land mass. Its relative lack of deformation introduces questions about basin formation and petroleum potential. Although no commercial discoveries have been made in the East Coast Basin, known source rocks are of marine origin and are commonly oil prone, so there is good potential for oil as well as gas in the basin. New seismic data confirm the extent of the sub-basin and its considerable sedimentary thickness. The presence of potential trapping structures and direct hydrocarbon indicators suggest that the Raukumara Sub-basin may contain large volumes of oil and gas.

I.—The Glacial Controversy in New Zealand

1917 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 241-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. Trechmann
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciation ◽  
The South ◽  
The North

The controversy which has arisen in recent years in New Zealand regarding the problem of the Pleistocene glaciation of that country resolves itself into the two following main questions:—1. Was there any glaciation in the North Island?2. Was there an ice-sheet covering the South Island?

scholarly journals Probabilistic modelling of rainfall induced landslide hazard assessment

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1047-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kawagoe ◽  
S. Kazama ◽  
P. R. Sarukkalige
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Landslide Hazard ◽  
Hydraulic Gradient ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Dynamic Factor ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression ◽  
The South ◽  
South Side ◽  
Probability Maps

Abstract. To evaluate the frequency and distribution of landslides hazards over Japan, this study uses a probabilistic model based on multiple logistic regression analysis. Study particular concerns several important physical parameters such as hydraulic parameters, geographical parameters and the geological parameters which are considered to be influential in the occurrence of landslides. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that hydrological parameter (hydraulic gradient) is the most influential factor in the occurrence of landslides. Therefore, the hydraulic gradient is used as the main hydraulic parameter; dynamic factor which includes the effect of heavy rainfall and their return period. Using the constructed spatial data-sets, a multiple logistic regression model is applied and landslide hazard probability maps are produced showing the spatial-temporal distribution of landslide hazard probability over Japan. To represent the landslide hazard in different temporal scales, extreme precipitation in 5 years, 30 years, and 100 years return periods are used for the evaluation. The results show that the highest landslide hazard probability exists in the mountain ranges on the western side of Japan (Japan Sea side), including the Hida and Kiso, Iide and the Asahi mountainous range, the south side of Chugoku mountainous range, the south side of Kyusu mountainous and the Dewa mountainous range and the Hokuriku region. The developed landslide hazard probability maps in this study will assist authorities, policy makers and decision makers, who are responsible for infrastructural planning and development, as they can identify landslide-susceptible areas and thus decrease landslide damage through proper preparation.

Ocean Cruising: A Sailing Subculture

1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Macbeth
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
Fringing Reef ◽  
The North ◽  
Hurricane Season ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
One Year

Just after dawn, an English couple in their 30's haul up their anchor and motor across the stillness of Suva harbour. The hurricane season is approaching and they are embarking on the 2–3 week trip to Bay of Islands New Zealand for the southern summer. Three months earlier, as their yacht lay aground on the fringing reef of uninhabited Suvarov atoll, they wondered if they'd ever reach New Zealand. But, with the help of other cruisers and lucky tides their steel 36 footer was clear and safe in under 24 hours. What was to be a one year trip around the north Atlantic was now happily way off course in the South Pacific and likely to remain so for some time. That is just a glimpse of one small aspect of ocean cruising, the subculture of interest here. However, throughout the paper the ethnography of cruising is developed further. A model is proposed to show how individuals come to share the subculture ideology and then to participate in the lifestyle. Subsequently, 1 will place ocean cruising in the context of subculture theory by expanding the ethnography and relating cruising to other subcultures.

scholarly journals Regional Variation in New Zealand English: the Taranaki Sing-Song Accent

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Helen Ainsworth
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Pitch Direction ◽  
Auditory Analysis ◽  
Pitch Movement

<p>Although lay people confidently assert the existence of regional varieties of New Zealand English, linguists have produced very little evidence to support such claims. There are vocabulary items special to, or favoured by, the people of Southland and the West Coast of the South Island; there are traces of non-prevocalic /r/in Southland and Otago; and there are regional differences in the playground language of New Zealand school children. Attempts to identify further differences between regions have generally not been successful. In most cases linguistic evidence has pointed to either social class or ethnic variation, but not to regional variation. Nevertheless, many New Zealanders assert that a Taranaki variety of New Zealand English exists. This study was designed to test the validity of the claim by comparing samples of New Zealand English from Taranaki with samples from Wellington. The Taranaki sample included speakers from New Plymouth (population 50,000) and the South Taranaki dairy farming community. The Wellington sample was drawn from the Greater Wellington region extending from Porirua in the north to suburbs on the southern coast of the city. Interviewees were located by the social network approach, otherwise known as the 'friend of a friend' approach advocated by Lesley Milroy (1980, 1987a). An index of rural orientation was devised to indicate the degree to which a speaker was oriented towards town or country. This proved helpful in distinguishing between genuinely regional differences, and rural versus urban differences. Factors of gender and age were also considered. It has been claimed that Taranaki English has a 'sing-song' quality, suggesting that an investigation of the intonation of Taranaki speakers would be worthwhile. Comparing features of the intonation of a Taranaki sample with a Wellington sample, this thesis attempts to isolate and measure what contributes to the 'sing-song' perception of Taranaki English. 'Singsong' in this context was taken to mean that the speaker had dynamic pitch; in other words their speech was characterised by a lot of movement up and down in pitch. Auditory analysis of speech samples was undertaken, and intonation features were derived from that analysis. Averaging the number of times a speaker changed pitch direction in each intonation group and then in each accent unit provided global measures of changes in pitch direction. Analysis of nuclear accents gave an indication of whether speakers favoured tunes which were characterised by pitch movement. And analysis of the manner in which accents were approached, whether with a boosted step up in pitch, or with a more standard onset, provided a narrower focus on the amount of pitch movement present. Results indicated that, in general, most Taranaki speakers in the sample showed more pitch dynamism than the Wellingtonians; for some features the males showed more pitch dynamism than the females; and, overall, the elderly speakers showed more pitch dynamism than the younger speakers. There were, however, important exceptions to these generalisations. Factors of Location, Gander and Age interacted significantly for all but one of the features examined and there were clear indications that intonational patterns are undergoing change in both regions studied. Explanations for the exceptional cases are explored in the thesis, and sociolinguistic, social network and geolinguistic theories provide possible clues as to the sources of the differences. Evidence of differences in the degree of pitch dynamism present in the intonation of the Taranaki and Wellington speakers supports claims about regional variation in New Zealand English intonation, but it does not in itself prove the existence of a uniquely Taranaki or a uniquely Wellington way of speaking English.</p>

scholarly journals Probabilistic modelling of rainfall induced landslide hazard assessment

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 725-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kawagoe ◽  
S. Kazama ◽  
P. R. Sarukkalige
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Landslide Hazard ◽  
Hydraulic Gradient ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Dynamic Factor ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression ◽  
The South ◽  
South Side ◽  
Susceptibility Maps

Abstract. To evaluate the frequency and distribution of landslides hazards over Japan, this study uses a probabilistic model based on multiple logistic regression analysis. Study particular concerns several important physical parameters such as hydraulic parameters, geographical parameters and the geological parameters which are considered to be influential in the occurrence of landslides. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that hydrological parameter (hydraulic gradient) is the most influential factor in the occurrence of landslides. Therefore, the hydraulic gradient is used as the main hydraulic parameter; dynamic factor which includes the effect of heavy rainfall and their return period. Using the constructed spatial data-sets, a multiple logistic regression model is applied and landslide susceptibility maps are produced showing the spatial-temporal distribution of landslide hazard susceptibility over Japan. To represent the susceptibility in different temporal scales, extreme precipitation in 5 years, 30 years, and 100 years return periods are used for the evaluation. The results show that the highest landslide hazard susceptibility exists in the mountain ranges on the western side of Japan (Japan Sea side), including the Hida and Kiso, Iide and the Asahi mountainous range, the south side of Chugoku mountainous range, the south side of Kyusu mountainous and the Dewa mountainous range and the Hokuriku region. The developed landslide hazard susceptibility maps in this study will assist authorities, policy makers and decision makers, who are responsible for infrastructural planning and development, as they can identify landslide-susceptible areas and thus decrease landslide damage through proper preparation.

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