21 August 2015
- for immediate release

Restoration up close and personal

Penguins, plants and the plains were plentiful on a whirlwind tour of ecological restoration sites hosted by Lincoln University for visiting international students.

The ecology and environmental science masters students, from Germany, Spain, Austria and Canada, enjoyed a two-week intensive field-based course, Research Issues in Ecological Restoration, as part of the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) summer school programme.

Professor Nicholas Dickinson, Head of the Department of Ecology at Lincoln University, says the course has provided valuable collaboration with ELLS partner universities, comparing and contrasting the challenges and practices of restoration and remediation in New Zealand with knowledge and experience brought from Europe and North America.

“Our focus was on practical applications of knowledge in multiple case studies across Canterbury and on the West Coast. Feedback from our visitors has told us that they have enjoyed the field-based investigation and unique challenges of protecting biodiversity and the environment in our managed landscapes.

The students saw first-hand how restoration of plant communities can be used to resolve land degradation and contamination issues, and the opportunities and challenges facing re-integration of biodiversity into human-modified ecosystems. Their field trips included the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration Project, Quail Island, Banks Peninsula, the Christchurch Red Zone, Ngai Tahu dairy farms north of Christchurch, and Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere).

With help from Lincoln University lectures and tutors, as well as discussion with local experts, students were able to investigate biodiversity recovery in Canterbury’s agricultural landscapes, Maori perspectives on restoration, and urban restoration concepts.

Dr Hannah Franklin from the Department of Ecology at Lincoln University says conservation issues in New Zealand are very different to those of Europe. “It’s been really interesting for us to exchange ideas and challenge each other’s perspectives on ecological restoration. I think the students will leave armed with fresh approaches to apply to restoration projects in their own countries."

A tour of the Punakaiki site gave students the opportunity to learn to identify New Zealand native plants and actively monitor the success of the restoration process by sampling plants, weta and earthworms to compare the restored area to the undisturbed forest of the Nikau Scenic Reserve.

The area includes the only nesting ground of the vulnerable Westland Petrel, the natural habitat of the Blue Penguin, and sand plain forests bearing Nikau Palms and Rata trees many hundreds of years old. Volunteers have established over native plants 100, 000 plants. Lincoln University conducts research to quantify the success of the restoration process in ecological terms.

The Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) is a network of leading European universities cooperating in the fields of environmental and agricultural sciences. Lincoln University has recently become an International (non-European) partner of ELLS, and is the only university in New Zealand to be invited to be a partner.

Post-graduate students from ELLS universities can take intensive short courses at ELLS universities that run in the European summer holidays and gain credit toward their degrees at their home university. Two Lincoln students have recently visited ELLS partner Cornell University in New York.

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