Analyzing local people’s opinions on incidences, magnitude and mitigation measures of human-elephant interactions adjacent to the Serengeti National Park

We analysed local people’s opinions to understand their knowledge on the magnitude, incidence, adverse impacts and techniques for minimizing the adverse impacts of human-interactions in the Bunda district. The survey involved 130 local people from 12 villages for survey and interviews. The survey used a purposive sampling technique to locate local people with relevant knowledge on human-elephant interactions occurrences. Researchers are grateful to incorporate local people's opinions into this study because their consolidated knowledge and skills, have for centuries, contributed to undisputed scientific knowledge in environmental conservation. In this study, researchers have learnt that crop damage was the main adverse impacts of human-elephant interactions while house damage was the least recorded incident. Despite crop damage being the most common impact of human-elephant interactions but hidden impacts are the largest adverse impacts. The majority of locals use traditional techniques to prevent and control problem elephants. However, the habituation of elephants to the techniques hinders their effectiveness. A minority of villagers use wounding traps, report to conservation agencies to reduce the damage from elephants. Local people claimed that elephants are docile as it was possible to approach them as close as 50 meters without any harm. Despite their docility, locals also claim that stopping elephants from crop damage may result into human deaths. Villagers acknowledge sighting more than 11 elephants every day in the farming areas. The study recommends the adoption and application of spatial and simulation technologies to identify where, why, how negative impacts of human-elephant interactions. This will suggest the appropriate size of landscape interface of human-elephant interactions in the district

Forests from the grass: Natural regeneration of woody vegetation in temperate marginal hill farmland under minimum interference management

Marginal hill farmland is a key target for the restoration of temperate indigenous forest, which can help mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. Reliance on natural regeneration and minimum interference management (MIM) is a low-cost restoration strategy for farmers, with the transition from pasture to woody scrub vegetation (whether indigenous or exotic) an important early successional phase. However, few studies have determined the key factors that influence the regeneration of woody vegetation on pastoral farmland, nor the rate at which regeneration occurs. Using a geospatial analysis of a New Zealand pastoral hill farm subject to variable grazing and MIM, this study found that only 3.8% of grassland experienced detectable regeneration of woody vegetation over 16 years. The key factor influencing natural regeneration was proximity to existing woody vegetation, with the probability of regeneration decreasing as distance increased. Cattle grazing had a significant negative impact, with regeneration more likely to occur in areas free from cattle. Sheep grazing exhibited no significant positive or negative relationship with regeneration. To support natural regeneration of woody vegetation, landowners should prioritize areas with a higher presence of existing woody vegetation and exclude cattle. To increase the rate of regeneration, landowners should consider active management regimes and supplemental restoration strategies, such as applied nucleation and the introduction of nurse species. Given the increased cost and complexity of such approaches, effective government incentive programmes may be needed to provide landowners with financial support and expertise

Removal of zinc from surface runoff by using recycled mussel shell waste as treatment media, with and without heat treatment

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) are essential to manage runoff in urban areas. Mussel shell waste has been recently proposed as sustainable treatment media in SCM to remove metals from runoff. In this study, a group of laboratory-scale column experiments were conducted to investigate the use of crushed mussel shell waste to remove dissolved zinc from actual roof runoff during different filtration flow rates (1, 3, 5, 10 L/min). Heat-treated mussel shells (TMS) and untreated mussel shells (UTMS) were utilized as treatment media with two column depths (1.0 m and 0.8 m). The microstructures and chemical characteristics of TMS and UTMS were examined by using a group of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) tests before and after the filtration process, and water samples were analyzed by using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) instrument. TMS and UTMS showed consistent high removal efficiency for dissolved zinc with (>98%) efficiency during 1 L/min filtration rate. The average removal performance was estimated at >94% and >82% for the 1.0 m and 0.8 m column depths of TMS media, and >92% and >72% for the 1.0 m and 0.8 m depths of UTMS media, respectively. The heat treatment improved the removal of zinc with significant statistical difference (i.e. p 5 L/min). Mussel shell waste showed potential benefits as a sustainable and cost-effective filtration media for removal of dissolved zinc in future stormwater systems

Developing an app to estimate pasture fertiliser application on dairy farms

Estimating fertiliser application has always been one the main issues on farm. Optimum fertiliser application depends on many factors, which makes it a time-consuming and expensive process. This article discusses a Lincoln University project that aims to estimate real-time nitrogen application with minimum field sampling and cost. New Zealand is a world leader in pasture-based dairy production, with its associated advantages and challenges. Due to environmental concerns, economic constraints and farm system efficiency expectations, managing nitrogen flow on dairy farms is critically important. Leaching of nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃- –N) is politically the most significant challenge facing the future viability (environmental and possibly economic) of grazed dairy farms. Also, imported nitrogen fertiliser costs New Zealand farmers around USD400 million per year. Dairy farmers in this country use around 63% of the total nitrogen fertiliser, which is about 271,000 tonnes

Enhancing multifunctionality in agricultural landscapes with native woody vegetation

The re-integration of native woody vegetation within agricultural areas has the potential to support multifunctional productive landscapes that enhance livestock welfare and restore habitat for native wildlife. As there is minimal research on this issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, this study aimed to identify species of native woody vegetation and propose spatial configurations and site designs to increase multifunctionality on a case study site. The three components of a multifunctional agricultural landscape focused on in this study were (1) enhancing foraging opportunities for livestock, (2) optimizing shade and shelter, and (3) establishing native bush bird habitat. During the first phase, sixty-three suitable species were identified and assigned scores based on the primary objectives and site constraints. This produced four optimized plant lists, one each for the three multifunctional components identified above and one combined multifunctional list incorporating those scores with additional environment and soil scores. The second phase used design thinking methodology to strategically locate these plants within an established case study site. Nine different planting configurations (three for each multifunctional component) were proposed and then, informed by site-specific opportunities and constraints, located on the case study site to produce three individual site designs. Finally, these three site designs were combined to propose an exemplar of a multifunctional agricultural landscape. The results indicate that reintegrating native woody vegetation has the potential to contribute toward multifunctional agricultural landscapes, proposing species and spatial layouts from which further investigation into livestock foraging, increased shade and shelter, and restoration of bush bird habitat can follow. This research advances sustainable land management practices by offering valuable insights into future agricultural landscape design

Christchurch shallow groundwater quality survey dataset

Shallow groundwater quality and level across the low-lying coastal city of Christchurch, New Zealand were surveyed at a high spatial resolution (1.3 piezometers/km²) in the spring of 2020. The groundwater quality parameters recorded across 99 piezometers include specific conductance, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen, following the pumping of approximately three bore volumes. Additionally, 27 out of 99 piezometers were analysed for chloride concentration and alkalinity as calcium carbonate. This dataset is useful to explore shallow groundwater conditions and how these might impact co-existing subsurface infrastructure and ecosystems. Furthermore, this dataset provides a valuable point of comparison against future changes, for example due to increased seawater intrusion, pollution events, or groundwater level rise

Mapping shallow groundwater salinity in a coastal urban setting to assess exposure of municipal assets

Study region: Christchurch, New Zealand. Study focus: Low-lying coastal cities worldwide are vulnerable to shallow groundwater salinization caused by saltwater intrusion and anthropogenic activities. Shallow groundwater salinization can have cascading negative impacts on municipal assets, but this is rarely considered compared to impacts of salinization on water supply. Here, shallow groundwater salinity was sampled at high spatial resolution (1.3 piezometer/km²), then mapped and spatially interpolated. This was possible due to a uniquely extensive set of shallow piezometers installed in response to the 2010–11 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence to assess liquefaction risk. The municipal assets located within the brackish groundwater areas were highlighted. New hydrological insights for the region: Brackish groundwater areas were centred on a spit of coastal sand dunes and inside the meander of a tidal river with poorly drained soils. The municipal assets located within these areas include: (i) wastewater and stormwater pipes constructed from steel-reinforced concrete, which, if damaged, are vulnerable to premature failure when exposed to chloride underwater, and (ii) 41 parks and reserves totalling 236 ha, within which salt-intolerant groundwater-dependent species are at risk. This research highlights the importance of determining areas of saline shallow groundwater in low-lying coastal urban settings and the co-located municipal assets to allow the prioritisation of sites for future monitoring and management

Coastal modelling of sea level rise for the Christchurch coastal environment

Predictive modelling provides an efficient means to analyse the coastal environment and generate knowledge for long term urban planning. In this study, the numerical models SWAN and XBeach were incorporated into the ESRI ArcGIS interface by means of the BeachMMtool. This was applied to the Greater Christchurch coastal environment to simulate geomorphological evolution through hydrodynamic forcing. Simulations were performed using the recent sea level rise predictions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013) to determine whether the statutory requirements outlined in the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010 are consistent with central, regional and district designations. Our results indicate that current land use zoning in Greater Christchurch is not consistent with these predictions. This is because coastal hazard risk has not been thoroughly quantified during the process of installing the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority residential red zone. However, the Christchurch City Council’s flood management area does provide an extent to which managed coastal retreat is a real option. The results of this research suggest that progradation will continue to occur along the Christchurch foreshore due to the net sediment flux retaining an onshore direction and the current hydrodynamic activity not being strong enough to move sediment offshore. However, inundation during periods of storm surge poses a risk to human habitation on low lying areas around the Avon-Heathcote Estuary and the Brooklands lagoon

Tourism, biosecurity and pathways into New Zealand: Identifying risk and mitigation strategies. Report on visitor hotspot data mapping

This report describes the mapping and analysis of tourist itinerary data to identify visitor hotspots on nights/days one to seven of visits to New Zealand. Two data sets – describing sample data collected via the International Visitor Survey (IVS) from the 2012-2013 year (YE June) and cruise schedules from the 2017-2018 year (YE August) – are mapped. If viewed in sequence the maps presented provide an indication of visitor flow around New Zealand, but the data displayed is aggregate only. As such, it more accurately represents visitor hotspots over sequential night (and days) while in New Zealand. Together these data identify the most common locations visited by tourists arriving both by air (overnight visit hotspots) and sea (day visit hotspots). The research forms part of a four-year programme investigating the use of tourist movement data to visualise tourist flows through the country to determine points of intersection and aggregation in respect of biosecurity risk. Mapping these data has potential to improve tasking and prioritising of biosecurity surveillance programmes. It also contributes to a better understanding of the biosecurity risk presented by tourism