Research areas
Long-term ecological change
Reconstructing vegetation and climate change in New Zealand and the subantarctic islands since the last glaciation; developing a Quaternary palaeoecology database for New Zealand.
Human impacts and ecological transformation
Determining initial human impacts on New Zealand ecosystems, the anthropogenic transformation of vegetation by fire, and the timing and impact of faunal extinctions.
Conservation palaeoecology
Reconstructing the ecology of extinct and introduced fauna; establishing vegetation baselines; providing relevant data to improve understanding of remaining biota.
Recent news
Recreating ancient ecologies at South Canterbury rock art site
27 Apr 2022
Ngāi Tahu Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua are making great progress restoring the ecological values surrounding the Māori rock art sites at Ōpihi, South Canterbury.
Ecological baselines for Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust
14 Apr 2021
A new collaborative research project with Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust aims to enable Ngāi Tahu Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua to promote, manage and restore the ecological values surrounding Māori rock art sites at Ōpihi, South Canterbury
Moa and deer
06 May 2019
By using pollen analysis of moa coprolites and deer dung from the same patch of native forest we directly compared the ecological effects of these two large herbivores for the first time.
