scholarly journals Is the poor establishment and performance of heather beetle in Tongariro National Park due to the impact of parasitoids predators or disease

2004 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 89-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G. Peterson ◽  
S.V. Fowler ◽  
P. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
National Park ◽  
Calluna Vulgaris ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cermatulus Nasalis ◽  
Heather Beetle

Heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis) introduced in 1996 into Tongariro National Park New Zealand to control heather (Calluna vulgaris) has established poorly and only damaged heather at one site This work investigated whether natural enemies could be reducing heather beetle establishment and impact No egg larval or adult parasitism was found Possible egg predation by a carabid beetle larvae and occasional attacks on larvae by the native pentatomid (Cermatulus nasalis) were observed in the field Neither the microsporidian pathogen discovered in some beetles imported from the United Kingdom nor any other pathogenic diseases were detected in fieldcollected beetles in New Zealand It is suggested that adverse weather was responsible for a collapse in heather beetle numbers at Te Piripiri during 2002 Further efforts to redistribute heather beetle and continued monitoring of beetle numbers impact natural enemies and climate at release sites are recommended

A European pest to control a New Zealand weed: investigating the safety of heather beetle, Lochmaea suturalis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) for biological control of heather, Calluna vulgaris

2000 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Syrett ◽  
L.A. Smith ◽  
T.C. Bourner ◽  
S.V. Fowler ◽  
A. Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
National Park ◽  
Biological Control Agent ◽  
Calluna Vulgaris ◽  
Control Agent ◽  
Food Plants ◽  
Invasive Weed ◽  
Heather Beetle ◽  
Lochmaea Suturalis

Heather, Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull, is a serious invasive weed in the central North Island of New Zealand, especially in Tongariro National Park, a World Heritage Area. Heather beetle, Lochmaea suturalis (Thomson), is a foliage-feeding pest of Calluna in Europe, that was selected as the most promising biological control agent for introduction into New Zealand, because it causes high levels of damage to Calluna in Europe. Host-range tests indicated that L. suturalisposes a negligible threat to native New Zealand plants. Cultivars of Callunagrown as ornamentals are suitable food plants, but are unlikely to be severely affected because L. suturalis requires a damp understorey of moss or litter for successful oviposition and pupation, which is rarely present in gardens. However, mosses and litter occurring under Calluna stands in Tongariro National Park are suitable substrates for eggs and pupae. Lochmaea suturalis released in New Zealand has been freed of parasitoids and a microsporidian disease that attack the beetles in Europe.

scholarly journals The spectacle of research assessment systems: insights from New Zealand and the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1219-1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bikram Chatterjee ◽  
Carolyn J. Cordery ◽  
Ivo De Loo ◽  
Hugo Letiche
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn this paper, we concentrate on the use of research assessment (RA) systems in universities in New Zealand (NZ) and the United Kingdom (UK). Primarily we focus on PBRF and REF, and explore differences between these systems on individual and systemic levels. We ask, these days, in what way(s) the systemic differences between PBRF and REF actually make a difference on how the two RA systems are experienced by academic staff.Design/methodology/approachThis research is exploratory and draws on 19 interviews in which accounting researchers from both countries offer reflections on their careers and how RA (systems) have influenced these careers. The stories they tell are classified by regarding RA in universities as a manifestation of the spectacle society, following Debord (1992) and Flyverbom and Reinecke (2017).FindingsBoth UK and New Zealand academics concur that their research activities and views on research are very much shaped by journal rankings and citations. Among UK academics, there seems to be a greater critical attitude towards the benefits and drawbacks of REF, which may be related to the history of REF in their country. Relatively speaking, in New Zealand, individualism seems to have grown after the introduction of the PBRF, with little active pushback against the system. Cultural aspects may partially explain this outcome. Academics in both countries lament the lack of focus on practitioner issues that the increased significance of RA seems to have evoked.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is context-specific and may have limited applicability to other situations, academics or countries.Practical implicationsRA and RA systems seem to be here to stay. However, as academics we can, and ought to, take responsibility to try to ensure that these systems reflect the future of accounting (research) we wish to create. It is certainly not mainly or solely up to upper management officials to set this in motion, as has occasionally been claimed in previous literature. Some of the academics who participated in this research actively sought to bring about a different future.Originality/valueThis research provides a unique contextual analysis of accounting academics' perspectives and reactions to RA and RA systems and the impact these have had on their careers across two countries. In addition, the paper offers valuable critical reflections on the application of Debord's (1992) notion of the spectacle society in future accounting studies. We find more mixed and nuanced views on RA in academia than many previous studies have shown.

ASD and offending: reflections of practice in from a New Zealand perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bathgate
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Rare Condition ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Specialist Services ◽  
Secure Unit ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Training Position ◽  
The Impact

Purpose There is growing awareness in New Zealand (NZ) of the impact that Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has on individuals and their families and the ability to engage in health services. Although it is a relatively rare condition, approximately 1 per cent of the population will have ASD, directly affecting approximately 40,000 individuals in NZ. The purpose of this paper is to provide some reflections and questions on what we can learn from a NZ perspective. This is based on an overview of the limited literature around ASD and offending and the author’s experience in the UK working in a medium secure unit. Design/methodology/approach Through a past site visit as part of the annual international conference on the Care and Treatment of Offenders with an Intellectual and/or Developmental Disability in the United Kingdom (UK), the author became aware of the medium secure forensic unit for male patients with ASD at the Roseberry Park Hospital (UK’s Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust). During the author’s advanced training in forensic psychiatry with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists the author was privileged to be able to apply and be accepted for a four-month sabbatical training position at this hospital. Findings Outlined is background information about ASD and review findings from the limited literature on ASD and offending. Also outlined is the author’s learning as a trainee working in medium secure unit for people with ASD who have offended, and finally how this experience may help in the development of services in NZ, given that at this stage such services are under-developed. Originality/value To be able to share the valuable experience and learning opportunity the author was able to have, as well as raise the awareness of ASD generally, and specifically the need for specialist services for the small number of people with ASD who come into contact with Justice Services.

scholarly journals The Impact of Performance Audit: the New Zealand Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nurul Athirah Abd Manaf
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Audit ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Auditor General ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

<p>Performance audit, compared to the traditional financial and compliance audits, is a relatively new innovation that emerged amidst accountability concerns in the public sector. Economic crises, ministerial scandal and inefficiencies were among the impetus that led the public to demand better performance and greater accountability in the public sector, and performance audit was among the many responses to such demand. In New Zealand, performance audit is carried out by the Controller and Auditor General (the AG) under the mandate granted by the Public Audit Act 2001. Adapting the methodology from grounded theory, this study looks at the impact of performance audit on seven entities audited in 2006 by the AG. This study found that the entities were impacted through the manifestation of implemented audit recommendations and the attainment of performance audit goals. In particular, there is a high acceptance and implementation rate to the audit recommendations made in the seven audits. The implementation of accepted recommendations consequently led to the changes within the entities in terms of managerial practices, as well as internal systems and processes. In some entities, these changes were translated into performance improvement, where the entities experienced changes in the way that they carried out their operations. However, based on interviewees' accounts being the auditees of the audits, most interviewees viewed performance audit as having a greater role for performance accountability compared to performance improvement. Whilst the auditees found the audit recommendations useful, the impact on performance in their view has not been significant. Rather, the auditees viewed performance audit as having a more important role as an assurance tool in terms of their accountability to the public.</p>

scholarly journals Depth and location influence prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial community structure in New Zealand fjords

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven P. Tobias-Hünefeldt ◽  
Stephen R. Wing ◽  
Nadjejda Espinel-Velasco ◽  
Federico Baltar ◽  
Sergio E. Morales
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
National Park ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Forested Catchments ◽  
Environmental Forcing ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth View

SummarySystems with strong horizontal and vertical gradients, such as fjords, are useful models for studying environmental forcing. Here we examine microbial (prokaryotic and eukaryotic) community changes associated with the surface low salinity layer (LSL) and underlying seawater in multiple fjords in Fiordland National Park (New Zealand). High rainfall (1200-8000 mm annually) and linked runoff from native forested catchments results in surface LSLs with high tannin concentrations within each fjord. These gradients are expected to drive changes in microbial communities. We used amplicon sequencing (16S and 18S) to assess the impact of these gradients on microbial communities and identified depth linked changes in diversity and community structure. With increasing depth we observed significant increases in Proteobacteria (15%) and SAR (37%), decreases in Opisthokonta (35%), and transiently increased Bacteroidetes (3% increase from 0 to 40 m, decreasing by 8% at 200 m). Community structure differences were observed along a transect from inner to outer regions, specifically 25% mean relative abundance decreases in Opisthokonta and Bacteroidetes, and increases in SAR (25%) and Proteobacteria (>5%) at the surface, indicating changes based on distance from the ocean. This provides the first in-depth view into the ecological drivers of microbial communities within New Zealand fjords.

Burning management and carbon sequestration of upland heather moorland in the UK

Soil Research ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Farage ◽  
Andrew Ball ◽  
Terry J. McGenity ◽  
Corinne Whitby ◽  
Jules Pretty
Keyword(s):  
Calluna Vulgaris ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Gas Fluxes ◽  
Net Uptake ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Carbon Losses ◽  
Lagopus Lagopus Scoticus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ground Material ◽  
Carbon Inventory

The use of fire in land management has come under increasing scrutiny with regard to its potential effects on sustainability and climate change. Moorlands in the United Kingdom have traditionally used rotational burning of the heather (Calluna vulgaris) to improve the grazing and habitat, especially for grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus). However, these ecosystems overlie carbon-rich soils and concerns have been raised about the merits of this practice. In order to assess the impact of rotational burning on carbon balance, an investigation was undertaken on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales, UK. This showed that the quantity of carbon stored above ground in heather biomass ranged from 600 to 1325 g C/m2 (typical for UK upland heaths). However, the national UK carbon inventory assumes 200 g C/m2, thereby appearing to underestimate considerably the importance of these habitats for carbon storage above ground. Analysis of 2 burns in subsequent years showed that 16 ± 4% and 24 ± 5% (± s.e.) of the above-ground material was consumed in the fires, resulting in the direct release of 103 ± 22 and 201 ± 62 g/m2 of carbon, respectively. Indirect carbon losses, which other studies have shown to be primarily due to erosion, were estimated to release another 5–21 g C/m2.year. The significance of other major greenhouse gas fluxes was assessed for the whole system using published parameters and models. We show that, over the burning cycle of 15–20 years, losses of carbon from burning are <10% of the total losses of carbon from the system, implying that careful burning management at this site does not have a major detrimental effect on the carbon budget, which for this moor lies within the range of an annual net loss of 34 g C/m2.year to a net uptake of 146 g C/m2.year.

scholarly journals Current status of classical biological control of Cirsium arvense in New Zealand

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 273-273
Author(s):  
M.G. Cripps ◽  
G.W. Bourd?t ◽  
S.V. Fowler ◽  
G.R. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Natural Enemies ◽  
Classical Biological Control ◽  
Growth Characteristics ◽  
Cirsium Arvense ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Perennial Herb ◽  
Rust Pathogen ◽  
The Impact

Cirsium arvense (L) Scop (Californian Canada or creeping thistle) is an exotic perennial herb that successfully established in New Zealand (NZ) approximately 130 years ago and is now considered one of the worst invasive weeds in NZ arable and pastoral systems Two insects Cassida rubiginosa and Ceratapion onopordi were recently released for classical biological control Studies carried out from 2006 to 2009 in both the native (Europe) and introduced (NZ) ranges of the plant aimed to quantify C arvense growth characteristics and assess incidence of the specialised rust pathogen Puccinia punctiformis in regions with and without the supposed pathogen vector C onopordi In permanent field plots natural enemies were excluded with insecticides and fungicides and compared with controls The impact of C rubiginosa was also assessed under different pasture competition scenarios The survey data indicate that C arvense expresses similar growth characteristics in both ranges and that incidence of the rust pathogen is similar in both ranges regardless of the presence of C onopordi The data suggest that the overall suite of natural enemies is capable of exerting some regulating influence on the plant in its native range but that the released biocontrol agents will not likely have a significant impact on this weed in NZ

scholarly journals Locational Contiguity and Business Continuity: Perceived Organizational Resilience of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in U.K. Business Parks

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402092741
Author(s):  
Brahim Herbane
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Business Continuity ◽  
Organizational Resilience ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Formal Business

As the ability to respond and adapt to crises, we conceptualize and examine organizational resilience through four components (active, temporal, posture, and performance). This multidimensional view of resilience combines the perceptions of senior managers and other indicators including the presence and nature of formal business continuity management. This study examines whether relationships with neighboring firms in a business park substitute wider network relationships. Relationships between locational attributes (locational contiguity within a business park), entrepreneurs’ social networks, and the perceived resilience of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom are examined using data collected from 268 SMEs. Locational attributes are positively associated with organizational resilience (in both aggregated and constituent forms) while revealing an inverse relationship between social networks and perceived resilience. Importantly, the study contributes to a place-based view of resilience to explain why the impact of social networks differs from the positive associations that are found in prior theoretical and empirical work.

scholarly journals The Impact of Performance Audit: the New Zealand Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Nurul Athirah Abd Manaf
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Audit ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Auditor General ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

<p>Performance audit, compared to the traditional financial and compliance audits, is a relatively new innovation that emerged amidst accountability concerns in the public sector. Economic crises, ministerial scandal and inefficiencies were among the impetus that led the public to demand better performance and greater accountability in the public sector, and performance audit was among the many responses to such demand. In New Zealand, performance audit is carried out by the Controller and Auditor General (the AG) under the mandate granted by the Public Audit Act 2001. Adapting the methodology from grounded theory, this study looks at the impact of performance audit on seven entities audited in 2006 by the AG. This study found that the entities were impacted through the manifestation of implemented audit recommendations and the attainment of performance audit goals. In particular, there is a high acceptance and implementation rate to the audit recommendations made in the seven audits. The implementation of accepted recommendations consequently led to the changes within the entities in terms of managerial practices, as well as internal systems and processes. In some entities, these changes were translated into performance improvement, where the entities experienced changes in the way that they carried out their operations. However, based on interviewees' accounts being the auditees of the audits, most interviewees viewed performance audit as having a greater role for performance accountability compared to performance improvement. Whilst the auditees found the audit recommendations useful, the impact on performance in their view has not been significant. Rather, the auditees viewed performance audit as having a more important role as an assurance tool in terms of their accountability to the public.</p>

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