Trapping is hard mahi, especially on rugged terrain thick with vegetation. If you need to check a trap frequently to clear it and refresh the lure, the kilometres of bush bashing quickly add up. Plus, in areas where kea are found, trap options are limited by concerns for these curious and intelligent parrots. A team in Queenstown are investigating if the latest ‘smart’ traps – equipped with cameras, AI-powered to recognise specific targets, and networked so they can communicate and be operated remotely – might be the answer.

Guests:

• Paul Kavanagh, project director, Southern Lakes Sanctuary
• Phillip Green, field and technical advisor, Southern Lakes Sanctuary

Learn more:

• Country Life tagged along with the Halo project, part of Predator Free Dunedin, who are also trialling networked AI traps just north of the city.
• One of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary hubs at Makaroraisfocused on trapping to protect mohua, and they are trialling an AI method to identifyindividual birds by their song.
• In the Catlins, a team are battling predators and browsing pests to protect taonga there.

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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Country Life. From a block of gorse-infected scrubland on Banks Peninsula, renowned botanist Hugh Wilson has spent half a lifetime growing Hinewai Reserve into a 1600-hectare paradise of regenerated native forest by leaving nature to it. Cosmo Kentish-Barnes visits to learn more.

The Country Life podcast takes you all over the motu to hear the extraordinary stories of every day rural New Zealand. Hosted and produced by Sally Round, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes, Duncan Smith and Gianina Schwanecke

Listen to more Country Life episodes.

Guest:

• Hugh Wilson, botanist

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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Black Sheep. Freddie Angell was New Zealand's most notorious wildlife smuggler. His repeated attempts at stealing and exporting native wildlife in the 1990s, including kea and tuatara, made him all but a household name. William Ray speaks to documentary-maker Andy MacDonald about his extraordinary story.

Black Sheep is an RNZ podcast produced and presented by William Ray.

Listen to more episodes of Black Sheep.

Guest:

• Andy MacDonald, documentary-maker

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The summer science series continues with an episode from Tune into Nature, a podcast about New Zealand wildlife and wild places, and the people who look after them. Independent producer Karthic SS visits the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary Central Otago. Here, a team is working to bring back endangered lizards – Otago skinks and grand skinks – to the drylands wilderness they once lived in. These species are true wildlife underdogs – so rare and out of sight, not many people know they exist.

Tune into Nature is a podcast produced and presented by Karthic SS.

Listen to more Tune into Nature episodes.

Guests:

• Grant Norbury, ecologist and chairperson, Central Otago Ecological Trust (COET)
• Anna Yeoman, science communicator and trustee, COET
• Carey Knox, herpetologist, Southern Scales
• Kathryn Longstaff, Department of Conservation (DOC) Central Otago
• Ross Curtis , senior ranger, DOC Central Otago
• Joanna, ranger, DOC Central Otago

This episode was supported by OAR FM Dunedin, Science Communication at the University of Otago, and the NZ Lottery Grants Environment and Heritage fund, administered by Te Tari Taiwhenua, the Department of Internal Affairs.

Learn more:

• Alison Ballance goes on an urban lizard hunt in this 2017 episode.
• Anna Yeoman spoke to Nine to Noon about her lizard book.

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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Here Now. A love for tropical plants united Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Dr Pieter Pelser in the mid-2000s. The pair are renowned for their work on the large and unusual flower Rafflesia, which smells like a rotting carcass. They have found at least three new species on their adventures in the Philippines. Kadambari Raghukumar learns more about their spectacular discoveries.

Featuring:

• Dr Julie Barcelona
• Dr Pieter Pelser

Here Now is an RNZ podcast produced and presented by Kadambari Raghukumar.

• Listen to more episodes from Here Now.
• Watch a video about this episode.

Learn more:

• What will happen to plants in a warming world?
• Naturally rare and threatened

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Welcome to the summer science series! We're kicking off with two stories made by local podcast producers. First, on New Zealand's quest to become predator free by 2050, are we forgetting about mice? Dan Moskovitz, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, investigates what might happen to mice – and ecosystems as more areas become predator free. Then, a story from Xanthe Smith's Catch On podcast. Many people who consume fish stick to eating the fillets, meaning a substantial chunk of the whole fish gets chucked. A project seeks to tackle this food waste by connecting communities with kaimoana.

Guests:

• Associate Professor Stephen Hartley, Victoria University of Wellington
• Dr Araceli Samaniego
• Brent Bevan, Department of Conservation
• Chris Jupp, Kai Ika
• Vera, Kokiri Marae Naenae Hub

Learn more:

• Listen to more episodes of Catch On, a podcast by Xanthe Smith for the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor
• Find out about the Kai Ika Project
• Dr Araceli Samaniego's paper, Small mice create big problems
• Listen to Voice of Tangaroa for more exploration of ocean issues
• Watch Fight for the Wild, a series about Predator Free 2050

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New methane seeps are being discovered in Antarctica, some now appearing in areas that researchers have been monitoring for years. These are areas on the seafloor where methane gas escapes out from under the ground through fissures or cracks. What is the extent of the seeps? How large is the gas reservoir they are being fed from? How much methane is escaping from the sea into the air? Why now? And does this have implications for further warming the planet? A team of NIWA scientists are racing to find answers.

Guests:

• Dr Sarah Seabrook, NIWA
• Dr Leigh Tait, NIWA

Learn more:

• You can find all the papers referenced this episode in the write-up that accompanies it.
• Claire spoke to Sarah about her initial work on seeps and the microbes that are attracted to them in 2022
• There’s currently a massive project underway to investigate whether the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt under 2oC of warming. Veronika Meduna joined them on the ice last year.
• Listen to our recent episode about life on the seafloor under the ice, including mysterious giant glass sponges.

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New Zealand’s tuatara are the last remaining species of an order of reptile that was alive alongside the dinosaurs 240 million years ago. The rest died out about 65 million years ago, but in Aotearoa the tuatara live on, found on 32 offshore islands and in a small number of ecosanctuaries and zoos on the mainland. Now one researcher is investigating the microbial community that lives inside their gut. Are there also bacterial ‘living fossils’ to be found? And has their gut microbiome changed as a result of living in captivity on the mainland?

Guests:

• Cam Hoffbeck, PhD candidate, Taylor lab, University of Auckland
• Chye-Mei Huang, Ectotherm ranger, Auckland Zoo

Learn more:

• Hear from another researcher who has been exploring the viruses found in tuatara.
• Cam has also spoken to Emile Donovan on Nights about her research.
• In 2014 Alison Ballance visited Orokonui Ecosanctuary to learn about the tuatara who had recently made the move to the cold climes of Dunedin.
• Our own microbiome may affect our brain, moods and behaviour, and changes across our lives.

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