Strategic Research Initiatives

Disease Ecology and Pathogen Evolution

Coordinator: Professor Nigel French, Massey University

This intiative brings together researchers from across the AWC to establish a major hub for infectious disease and public health research in New Zealand. It aims to tackle the threats to wildlife, domestic animals and humans posed by the evolution and emergence of new pathogens. New Zealand has unacceptably high rates of diseases caused by infectious agents that are transmitted from animals to man, such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Efforts to protect endangered species may also be undermined by outbreaks of disease spread by wildlife translocations. In this project, researchers will investigate the occurrence and evolution of water-borne bacterial organisms in public conservation parks, seeking both to describe their distribution and also explore evolutionary processes that could pose public health issues. This work is being done in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and informs related work conducted for the Ministry of Health and regional councils. In a separate study, again in collaboration with DoC, the researchers are investigating the transmission of infectious agents between island wildlife populations with the aim of improving guidelines for translocation.

Imaging Evolution

Coordinator: Professor Mike Steel, University of Canterbury

This initiative aims to improve methods for constructing networks that can be used to infer evolutionary processes, such as migration, selection and population dynamics. Such “haplotype” networks are a fundamental and widely-used tool in molecular ecology and conservation genetics for studying the recent evolution of populations, but traditional methods suffer from limitations and are not designed for the scale and type of data produced by modern genomic methods. The AWC’s well-established biomathematical expertise in phylogenetics will be combined with molecular data being generated by AWC researchers to develop better methods for inferring, comparing and interpreting haplotype networks. This work will enable AWC researchers to answer fundamental questions for New Zealand and the Pacific on human migration patterns, the dispersal of marine species, and how to interpret the differences observed with different types of genetic markers.

Speciation and Adaptation in New Zealand Invertebrates

Coordinator: Assoc. Prof Thomas Buckley, Landcare Research

In this initiative two species with dramatically different evolutionary histories will be used to test hypotheses on speciation and adaptation. Partial genome sequences will be generated for the common stick insect and an endangered, endemic giant stick insect, and variation within genomes will be measured to determine the degree of local adaptation in these species and the role of adaptation in speciation. This initiative will improve giant weta translocation programs, and build closer links with the Department of Conservation Giant Weta Recovery Group and Ngatiwai, who are sole kaitiaki for the giant weta and shared kaitiaki for the stick insect. The stakeholder relationship established with Ngatiwai will form a template and set precedents for engagement with iwi in the age of whole genome data and the post WAI262 political environment.

An Audit of Prehistoric Coastal New Zealand

Coordinator: Professor Jon Waters, University of Otago

This initiative will use carbon–dating and state–of–the–art DNA analysis of prehistoric bones to conduct a biological 'audit' of prehistoric New Zealand. This will enable us to test the new idea that human arrival led to the extinction of a previously unrecognised 'treasure trove' of unique coastal animal species, potentially re-writing the ecological history of New Zealand’s recent past. The study will also determine how many of our iconic coastal species are actually new arrivals from overseas. Yellow-eyed penguins, for instance, apparently arrived in New Zealand only recently, replacing a prehistoric penguin species that became extinct shortly after humans arrived here, and recent new data hints at a similar scenario for New Zealand’s sea-lions and little blue penguins. Through this project on New Zealand’s prehistoric record, the stakeholder relationship we have developed with Ngai Tahu will be strengthened, and provide outreach to a broad cross-section of New Zealanders.

Hidden Treasure - A New Zealand Genomic Observatory

Coordinator: Dr Nicola Nelson, Victoria University of Wellington

Imagine being able to determine the species that live within a particular area just from analysing small amounts of soil. This initiative aims to develop new molecular and bioinformatics techniques that will allow researchers to do exactly that. Currently, determining what species are present at a site, and how they are distributed, requires highly specialised taxonomic and ecological expertise, making monitoring of particular sites over time unsustainable. The methods developed in this initiative will streamline ecological monitoring and facilitate the easy identification of species at a site. The technique development is targeted locally at land management authorities including the Department of Conservation (DOC), Auckland Council (AC), and iwi (Ngati Manuhiri), and internationally as part of the Network of Genomic Observatories.

Relationship between susceptibility to disease and loss of genetic diversity in New Zealand’s threatened birds

Coordinator: Assoc. Prof. Ian Jamieson, University of Otago

Loss of genetic diversity can impair the ability of small populations to adapt to new challenges such as emerging diseases. This initiative explores the relationship between disease susceptibility and loss of diversity in immunity genes in three of New Zealand’s highest profile endangered bird species: takahe, saddleback and kakapo. Each of these species has introduced populations that fall outside the historical range of their source populations, making them particularly susceptible to disease. The project will use the latest tools in molecular ecology to measure diversity at Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes, which mediate specific immunity to antigens, and Toll-like Receptor (TLR) genes, which recognise invasive microbes and activate an immune response. This will result in greater understanding of the long-term consequences of loss of diversity in immune-related genes, and improved conservation outcomes for some of New Zealand’s most treasured threatened species.