What should be done to reduce the harm of a pest species in the Bay of Plenty?

Here are some links you may find useful to answer this fertile question:

In creating an answer, you need to gain an adequate understanding of what a pest species is and how they fit into a food chain/food web.  This is part of the Year 9 Science curriculum. To help you gain this understanding, here are the resources you can use:

• BOP Regional Council – Pest Management - your pest must be in this list

• DoC Nature database: a wide range of animals and plants found in NZ

• DoC – Animal Pests

• Pest Detective: most NZ pests covered in this excellent resource.

• DoC ‘Investigating plant pests in your green space’: information about a range of common weeds

• DoC - Battle for our Birds: specific information on pest that affect native bird species

• Science Learning Hub: pros and cons of different pest control methods.

Example of Pest species (Sea Lettuce) in the Bay of Plenty

Sea lettuce has become a more significant problem over recent years. See the various news reports about the problem and the possible solutions:

• Bumper crop of sea lettuce expected to hit Tauranga beaches

• Sea lettuce takes over region’s beaches

Here is a great resource from the BOP Regional Council with background to the problem and some possible solutions.

Example of pest control – 1080

• Debate flares over more 1080 drops: NZ Herald article

• DOC to increase 1080 drops in ‘battle for our birds’: Stuff article

• Expanded 1080 drop to curb ‘plague’ of rats: 3News video

• 1080 and the Battle for Our Birds – experts respond: Science Media centre

• 1080 - A wicked problem: Science Learning hub resource

Stuff you can do

1. Join a nature group: there are heaps around, check out this list of environmental groups or join the Bay Conservation Cadets!

2. Challenge – become a Pest detective

3. iNaturalist: this is a web site and an app you can download to log observations of different species. Try using it to search for your chosen pest in NZ.

"Another wild card concerns the life we will bring to Mars and how it might adapt there. No matter how thoroughly we try to scrub our spacecraft before leaving Earth, it likely will be loaded with hitchhiking microbes. It is probably foolish to assume the rovers we have already landed on Mars were sterile, because we know the clean rooms they were assembled in were not as clean as we thought. One way or another, we will introduce life to the Martian landscape. And it will likely find a way to flourish, especially if we get the water flowing."

Petranek, Stephen. How We'll Live on Mars. Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2015.