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An experimental approach to assessing climate sensitivity in juvenile Yellowbelly Flounder (Rhombosolea leporina): Methodological insights and applications
(The University of Waikato, 2026) Carter, Taylah R.; Battershill, Christopher
As anthropogenic CO₂ emissions continue to rise, marine ecosystems face the dual threats of ocean acidification and ocean warming. A number of studies have examined the effects of ocean acidification and warming on coastal marine fin fish species, but little attention has been paid to estuarine species, the assumption being that they are likely to be tolerant to fluctuations in seawater parameters given freshwater and large tidal dynamics. This thesis investigates the impacts of these stressors on the early life history of the estuarine yellowbelly flounder (Rhombosolea leporina), an ecologically and culturally significant taonga species in New Zealand. Research was conducted in two phases; a larval pilot study focusing on the transition to exogenous feeding, and a behavioural study on juveniles assessing olfactory mediated responses to food and predator cues. The larval pilot study, carried out in aquaria, revealed an extreme developmental bottleneck at approximately 14 days post-hatch (dph). Mass mortality occurred across all treatments, coinciding with the onset of metamorphosis and the “critical period” of first feeding. The extent of the mortality event masked any possible treatment effects imposed in terms of pH and temperature combinations. These results highlight the high physiological sensitivity of R. leporina during early ontogeny, independent of climate stressors. In the second phase, juvenile flounder were exposed to a fully-crossed factorial design of pH (~7.3 & ~8.0) and temperature (20°C & 25°C). Behavioural trials using a two channel choice chamber measured the proportion of time spent in stimulus streams (Perna canaliculus food cues & Notolabrus celidotus predator cues). A three-way ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of stimulus type (p = 0.017) and temperature (p=0.040), but no significant effect of pH and no interactive effects. Interestingly, 66.7% of individuals remained in the neutral mixing zone, particularly during predator trials and under elevated temperatures. These findings suggest that while R. leporina larvae remain highly vulnerable to intrinsic developmental bottlenecks, juveniles exhibit a degree of behavioural resilience to reduced pH, potentially due to their evolved tolerance of fluctuating estuarine environments. The preference for remaining stationary (crypsis) in the neutral zone is interpreted as a natural, risk-averse strategy for this benthic species. This research underscores the importance of considering species-specific ecology and life stage transitions when predicting the impacts of climate change on New Zealand fisheries. Overall, this research apparently represents the first study to experimentally examine the effects of ocean acidification and warming on estuarine flatfish species across critical early life stages. Although no clear pH-driven effects were detected in the juvenile behavioural trials, the study remains valuable in testing hypotheses around the resilience of marine species that naturally experience highly variable environmental conditions. In particular, species with significant estuarine habitat phases may possess inherent tolerance to fluctuations in seawater chemistry, yet may still face vulnerability during key developmental transitions. Investigations such as this are therefore important for improving our understanding of how climate change stressors interact with species-specific ecology and life history bottlenecks, and for informing future research on the adaptive capacity of estuarine-associated marine fishes.
The Soul of Sybil Jane Armstrong and other short stories
(The University of Waikato, 2026) McClintock, Kate; Slaughter, Tracey; Chidgey, Catherine
A care home worker learns a dark secret about her favourite resident. A young man with a brain injury desperately tries to warn his small town of impending disaster. A doctor is haunted by a dissatisfied patient. In 1930’s Alabama, a woman sells her soul to the devil to escape an asylum. The Soul of Sybil Jane Armstrong and Other Stories is a meditation on disability, horror, and the monsters we make and are made into by the world around us. This collection maps diverse experiences of disability, caretaking and unruly bodies and minds onto the horror genre, subverting expectations around agency, harm and the monstrous to explore how ableism shapes the things we fear and the things we ignore. I was inspired to write this collection by my own experiences of disability as a woman with cerebral palsy. Disabled bodies and minds feature heavily in traditional horror stories, from Frankenstein to Friday the 13th, but disabled characters are usually reduced to villains, monsters, or, at best, objects of pity. I sought to expand this framework, highlighting the horror present not in simply existing in a disabled body or mind, but in the navigation of a world designed to be hostile, and, indeed, in the harm which each individual is capable of, regardless of ability.
Puarenga stream alum dosing: Effects on Lake Rotorua biota 2023
(Environmental Research Institute | Te Tumu Whakaora Taiao, The University of Waikato, 2026) Tempero, Grant Wayne; Ling, Nicholas
Following eutrophication in the second-half of the 20th century, Lake Rotorua currently experiences regular algal blooms reducing the recreational amenity of the lake. In 2007, an Action Plan was formulated to limit nutrient inputs to the lake, thereby improving water quality. One approach to reducing dissolved reactive phosphorus reaching the lake was the initiation of continuous alum dosing of the Puarenga Stream in 2010. The aluminium component of alum (aluminium sulphate) binds with dissolved phosphate making it unavailable for uptake by algae and limiting their growth. As a condition of the current resource consent RM18-0213-AP to alum dose the Puarenga Stream, monitoring surveys of lake water, common bully, plant material and macroinvertebrates must be conducted every 5 years to test for bioaccumulation of aluminium.
A Lone Ranger, Two Smoking Barrels and the Dirty Dozen: Confirming the harmonious nature (convergence) of the alternating harmonic series and some serious series stuff
(City University of New York, 2026) Kashyap, Ravi
This study provides a proof of the convergence of the alternating harmonic series. The alternating harmonic series could be termed the more harmonious sibling of the harmonic series, which is divergent. As a byproduct of this proof - and the associated technique - we arrive at the convergence of a few other series and related results. All the main results are stated as propositions and corollaries, complete with proofs that are simple yet formal. In addition, we create a custom program - code - to numerically illustrate the convergence of one of the series. This serves as an example of how to approach series calculations using computational tools. We verify the convergence of all the series using mathematical software. Our findings confirm the convergence of the alternating harmonic series and several related series. To complement the mathematical content, we have given a compilation of several techniques that can aid in disseminating this knowledge across appropriate audiences. We discuss challenges with respect to mathematics education and provide some pedagogical prescriptions - for the classroom, or other educational settings - to approach the topics we have presented. Our suggestions can help ease the anxiety of participants - who tend to get uneasy when engaging with mathematical material - while performing symbolic manipulations. Despite the simplicity of our proofs - and our belief that these results are surely known - we were surprised that we could not find these results easily elsewhere. This indicates that an unintended consequence of the many advances in mathematics - and related knowledge creation - might be that some knowledge could either be getting lost or just becoming harder to find, which is the equivalent of getting lost in many cases. We outline a potential solution to mitigate this unwanted outcome.
Between empire, periphery, and the United States of America: The local and international origins of the Melbourne Social Survey (1941–1943)
(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Arnott, Georgina; Greenhalgh, Charlotte
This article sets out to test competing characterisations of early Australian social research through an explication of the origins of Australia’s first major social survey, the Melbourne Social Survey (1941–1943), and its historical retelling. It asks to what extent international social survey models, figures, intellectual approaches and finances shaped the survey, and what this reveals about the degree to which early Australian social research was defined by its position of global marginality. This article finds that histories of the survey have overestimated the influence of British survey models and intellectual traditions by paying disproportionate attention to its director from 1941, Wilfred Prest. It argues that a much more powerful inspiration for the social survey, and a new social research direction at Melbourne, can be seen in a trip to the United States of America taken by University of Melbourne Dean of Commerce, Douglas Copland, in 1926 and 1927. Planners of the Melbourne Social Survey were sure it would be ‘of major social significance’. Today, the story of the survey and its historical representation illuminates shifting forces that shaped early Australian social research, and contributes to ongoing debate about the way twentieth-century social science knowledge has been circulated globally.