Can Meat Actually be Eco-Friendly?

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

In a country that relies heavily on agriculture- all be it heavily swayed towards dairy rather than meat production, for now at least- this a question worth investigating.
I came across this article as part one of a series of three articles on the question

Should we eat meat?

Meat in supermarket

Writer, Nathanael Johnson, author of All Natural: A Skeptic’s Quest to Discover If the Natural Approach to Diet, Childbirth, Healing, and the Environment Really Keeps Us Healthier and Happier. looks at this question from 3 perspectives:
• Environmental sustainability,
• Morality,
• Practicality.
In the first of these articles he asks the question
Can meat be sustainable?
You may find some of what he discovered on this topic quite illuminating.

Calling all Biologists…Chemists…and maybe even Physicists

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Daniel has posted a great question on  the
Knowledge Forum Biology Curriculum: Human Evolution   Discussion View:LifeSpiral2

Q: What are the best examples in the world today that support the
theory of evolution
?

 

I’m putting the challenge out there for you all.

This is a great opportunity to get back into Knowlege Forum with a topic at the heart of the biology curriculum.

Is the evidence all  from Biology? 

If you have forgotten how to log-in   to Knowledge Forum and build on a post we will be putting  up  a  link to refresher tutorial very soon but flick us an email in meantime and we’ll get you in there right away.

PS When you get into the  Knowledge Forum – Biology Curriculum: Human Evolution View you are looking the build-on the post  titled ‘Support’ on the far right of the Discussion View.

Biology resource from OUASSA teacher PD!

Thursday, May 30th, 2013 | EMILY HALL | No Comments

Thanks again to Susan Yardley for her engaging presentation about her Endeavour Scholarship work last night. If you missed the presentation, you can find it here: https://connect.otago.ac.nz/p8ffdabve7k/

Also if you would like to check out the resource she developed, you can find it here: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/plants/styx-mill-biodiversity

 

Revenge of the Weeds

Friday, June 22nd, 2012 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Plant pests are evolving to outsmart common herbicides, costing farmers crops and money

“It’s a story suited for a Hollywood horror film, yet it’s also a tenet of evolutionary biology. Introduce a toxin to a system, and you inevitably select for resistant survivors. These few individuals gain a reproductive advantage and multiply; sometimes they can’t be stopped with even the most potent chemicals.”

Read on for some sobering thoughts:

http://the-scientist.com/2012/05/20/revenge-of-the-weeds/

Essential Readings for Level 3 Bio Externals

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 | hamvi58p | No Comments

http://www.becominghuman.org/

->Covers human evolution, this website has excellent video coverage and resources

site applying genetics to examples

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

->Genetics applications, an excellent site

http://dnalc.org/home.html

-> Gene Almanac, an awesome interactive

http://dnaftb.org/dnaftb/

-> DNA from the beginning, an excellent summary of level 3 genetics

http://www.dnai.org/

-> DNA Interactive, excellent case studies as applications of genetic practises and processes, an awesome site with case study approaches to assist in exam prep (especially for schol exam).

http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/evolution/index.shtml

->  NZ evolution examples, excellent site for evolution with lots of good NZ examples.

http://www.sciencecases.org/hemo/hemo.asp

-> Inheritance of haemophilia, an interesting case study, good practice for thinking.

http://www.biotechlearn.org.nz/

-> NZ science research, home grown examples of applications of science, a good site.

http://www.rsnz.org/education/gamma/

->Royal Society of NZ webiste, Gamma Series, Science behind the news, great articles modelling good writing.

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/scholarship/index.html

-> scholarship information, details of scholarship, an essential for scholarship candidates.

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/scholarship/subjects/resources.html

-> Biology Scholarship Information, details of exams etc, an essential for scholarship candidates.

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/ncea/bio3_supportmaterial_15feb06.doc

->NCEA on TKI supplementary materials, summary of genetics and evolution at level 3

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/ncea/bio3_supportgenetics_18dec06.doc

->NCEA on TKI supplementary materials, summary of Plant and Animal and ecology knowledge required for level 3 and scholarship

 

Zoology Students

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 | hamvi58p | No Comments

Lisa and the Zoology Team have asked that the Zoology students read through the following information prior to their project work.

Dear Zoology students

You will find some activities attached here to help prepare you for the Zoology project during this camp. We will be focusing on invasive species, in particular species found within urban areas. As I’m sure you are all aware, this topic can be quite emotive, particularly when addressing issues of impact on native communities and management and control methods. We have asked you to research a couple of questions related to invasive species, gather some viewpoints on invasive species and control, and then finally to do a bit of research into a specific role. At the end of the project we will be undertaking a role play activity where you will be taking on a specific persona and have to argue your case for control. We do realise that the role you are assigned may not reflect your own personal view point, but sometimes they are actually the easiest to argue! 

Just a reminder to make sure you bring warm clothes, sturdy boots and a torch or headlamp for our early morning excursion on the tuesday. Remember its COLD in Dunedin and snow is predicted this week already.

Looking forward to working with you all again.

The Zoology team.

Questions to think about over the holidays

There are many introduced species in New Zealand:  >2,000 plant species, 32 mammals, and 33 birds have been introduced. But not all of them are considered to be invaders.

Can you think about the following, and be prepared to discuss when we meet.

  1. What is the definition of an invasive species?

 

2.    What makes an invasive species a pest?

Here are two quotes about possums: think about the implications of these different viewpoints of possums and be prepared to discuss them.

1.            This quote is by S. Bracegirdle of Egmont Skins and Hides, in the Taranaki Daily News (June 2011), describing his business which collects dead possums, plucks them for fur to sell to wool factories for possum/wool garments:

 “We’re turning a pest into something creative” 

2.            This quote is by Potts (2009, Society and Animals Vol 17: pp 1-20):

“Possums are positioned not only as unwanted and dangerous foreign invaders but also as unworthy of compassion and deserving of persecution: it is as if possums are responsible for the prejudice and malice they now face”

Finally, please gather three viewpoints from your family or acquaintances on possums as pests and their knowledge of current methods of possum control.

1.

2.

3.

Role Play Exercise

Management and control of invasive species is often a very emotive subject resulting in a wide range of very different viewpoints. It is important that we consider all of these different views when  planning and implementing management programmes. This exercise is designed to give you an opportunity to explore some very divergent view points.

Scenario:

It has been proposed by a group of local environmentalists that an area of land, which includes a cluster of farms (some dairy), significant remnants of native vegetation, and including some small urban areas, be managed to be predator-free with the purpose of improving its biodiversity value. Given that it has been recommended that possum management strategies should include the development of community processes that can assist in the design of appropriate strategies, the leader of the group proposing this plan has organised a meeting at which local stakeholders can express their opinions about the concept of the plan and the control methods used.

Each of you has been assigned an identity. Be prepared to make a statement based on your identity and defend your point of view. You need to agree on whether the eradication should go ahead, and the methods used to carry out the eradication. Feel free to immerse yourself in your role!

Roles:

  1. Department of Conservation worker –  Alise
  2. Animal Health Board inspector – Rueben
  3. Dairy farmer whose daughter’s dog died after scavenging a possum that had died from 1080 poisoning – Hannah
  4. Fur trapper – Jenny
  5. Animal rights activist and passionate Greenie – Jamie-Leigh
  6. Urban dweller – Ellyce

Evolutionary Evidence from New Zealand

Thursday, May 26th, 2011 | STEPHEN BRONI | No Comments

Kakapo,Kea, kaka complexStruggling to get your head around role of polyploidy in speciation, adaptive radiation and such like?
This page brings those concepts into focus using New Zealand examples.
http://sci.waikato.ac.nz/evolution/NZevidence.shtml

Check out the rest of the Evolution for Teaching site for  information on ‘Human Evolution’, `Darwin & Religion’, Earth’s History & Evolution’ and `Theories, Hypotheses, & Laws’.

A good authoratative site from University of Waikato with a links to glossary &  a useful FAQ page.

Plants & Animals

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 | KEV KNOWLES | No Comments

This achievement standard involves the description of animal behaviour and plant responses in relation to environmental factors.

Animal behaviour and plant responses will be selected from those relating to:

  • orientation (tropisms, nastic responses, taxes, kineses, homing, migration)
  • timing (annual, daily, lunar, tidal)
  • interspecific relationships (predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, competition for resources)
  • intraspecific relationships (territoriality, cooperative interactions, reproductive behaviours, hierarchical behaviour, competition for resources).

The relationship of environmental factors to behaviour/response may be in terms of the process involved or the adaptive significance.