World-leading biosecurity

Predicting Weed Distributions Under Climate Change: Beyond the Envelope

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Project status: 
In Progress
Student: 
Jennifer Pannell
Staff: 
Supervisors: Profs Philip Hulme and Richard Duncan
Crassulaceae.jpg

Climate Envelope Models (CEMs) use environmental variables such as temperature to match species distributions to their habitat. They have been widely used to understand and predict species’ behaviour under new environmental conditions, such as introduced species and range shifts under climate change.

New Zealand Biosecurity Leaders

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As countries in the European Union struggle to deal with an ever-increasing stream of invasive plant and animal species, they could do well to look to New Zealand for biosecurity advice.

That's the opinion of Prof Philip Hulme of the Bio-Protection Research Centre at Lincoln University whose paper "Will Threat of Biological Invasions Unite the European Union?" appears in the prestigious Science1 publication this week.

Intelligent Systems for Biosecurity

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Project status: 
In Progress
Project Leader(s): 
Assoc Prof Sue Worner, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Professor Nik Kasabov
Team Member(s): 
Dr Mike Joy
Team Member(s): 
Dr Jennifer Brown
Team Member(s): 
Dr Jacques Régnière
Team Member(s): 
Dr Mike Watts, Joel Pitt
Team Member(s): 
Gabriella Lankin, Dr David Teulon
Team Member(s): 
Dr Takayoshi Ikeda, Gwénaël Leday
Team Member(s): 
Sylvain Guichard
Team Member(s): 
Dr Dean Paini
Dr Sue Worner (Modified image supplied by Australian Plant Biosecurity CRC)

This programme aims to use advances in ecological informatics and emerging computational technologies to increase understanding, and improve prediction, of species invasions.

A range of statistical and machine learning models, including artificial neural networks, are used to predict the potential for establishment and spread of an alien invasive species in regions or countries where it is not normally found.

Additionally, information is being gathered to design simulation experiments using our invasive species spread model and GIS technology to:

Weed Dynamics and Invasion Processes

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Project status: 
In Progress
Project Leader(s): 
Professor Phil Hulme; Professor Richard Duncan
Team Member(s): 
Jon Sullivan, Grant Edwards, Jeff Diez, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Sami Aikio, Steve Wangen, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Ian Dickie, Peter Williams, Landcare Research
Managing weeds is a time-consuming and costly process.

Introduced weeds (Alien plants) cost the productive sectors of New Zealand more than $100 million every year and the ecological complexity and costs will escalate as climate change facilitates further invasion and spread.

Emerging Technologies for Border Diagnostics

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Project status: 
In Progress
Project Leader(s): 
Dr Karen Armstrong, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Dr Laura Boykin, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Dr Peter Johnston, Landcare Research
Team Member(s): 
Peter Holder, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Prof Tim Clough, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Dr. Russel Frew, University of Otago
Team Member(s): 
George Gill, MAF
Team Member(s): 
Anastasia Chomic, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Prof. John Hampton, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Assoc. Prof. Mike Pearson, The University of Auckland
Team Member(s): 
Dr Louise Winder, AgResearch
Team Member(s): 
Dr John Fletcher, Plant & Food Research
Team Member(s): 
Dr Gerard Clover, MAF IDC
Team Member(s): 
Rupert Collins, Lincoln University
Team Member(s): 
Dr Rob Cruikshank, Lincoln University
Emerging Technologies for Border Diagnostics (Photo credits - images 1,3,6, Bugwood.org)

With the potential to supply biosecurity authorities with valuable information required for operational decisions, this programme explores state-of-the-art analytical techniques for border diagnostics.

We work closely with MAFBNZ to stay informed of the changing biosecurity needs of New Zealand and ensure that our research makes current border diagnostic practices more efficient and flexible.

This programme comprises three major projects:

DNA Barcoding

 
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