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About us
About Us
EOS is a satelite group of dynamic and engaging researchers that is closely affiliated with the School of Applied Sciences, within the wider Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences.
The Institute has several key and complementary roles:
Commercial research
The Institute undertakes commercial, pure and applied research for or on behalf of a diverse range of clientele, including but not limited to:
- environmental consultants,
- regional councils,
- government departments and ministries,
- crown research institutes,
- museums,
- non-government conservation organisations.
Although achieving a balance between commercial and academic responsibilities can prove challenging, our commercial services ensure the experience and research topics that we provide our staff and can offer our postgraduates are topical, applied, and have demonstrated and immediate end-user value.
Postgraduate supervision
EOS is actively involved with teaching and supervision of postgraduates throughout the University, and engages postgraduates in research of demonstrated pure and applied value. Supervision of new and emerging researchers is one of our most important core research activities.
Endless opportunities exist for you to build on and become involved in our research. Come contribute to our understanding of the patterns in the distribution, abundance and diversity of species, and the processes that threaten or otherwise affect them today. Contact us now to find our how.
Infrastructure
Funds generated from our commercial activities are re-invested into the Institute to build infrastructure to enable staff growth, postgraduate research capability, and expansion of research opportunities for all. The Institute has some pretty novel and cutting-edge technology.
Investment in our people and equipment base ensures we can better understand the patterns in the distribution and abundance of species (the basic building blocks of communities), and the processes that affect these patterns in an ever-changing world. To achieve these diverse roles we collaborate widely within and outside the University, and both nationally and internationally.
PersonnelSince it was first established in 2002, the Institute has steadily developed in terms of personnel. Currently 4 staff are employed by the Institute, each with research expertise that complements that of the School of Applied Sciences. Since establishment, quite a number of EOS staff have moved on to roles within the School of Applied Sciences, thus the Institute plays an important role as a portal for young and emerging scientists to progress their academic career. We maintain a close and collegial working relationship with all of our previous employees.
Although personnel have changed since the Institute was first established, our core research programmes have not. EOS is first and foremost concerned with determination and description of the patterns in species distribution, abundance, community structure, and habitat throughout the greater Auckland region (the Hauraki Gulf and its offshore islands), in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments, in describing these species, and in determining the underlying processes that influence their population dynamics.
Our research
EOS research is diverse, and incorporates aspects of both pattern and process (hypothesis) driven science. For example the following are all aspects of research regularly undertaken by Institute and affiliated staff:
- aspects of whale biology, diet, causes for whale strandings, and the health and safety implications of whale burial in beaches post stranding,
- coastal to deep-sea fish trophic ecology,
- native frog ecology,
- marine biosecurity, including monitoring for new and spread of established marine invasive species,
- forest, freshwater, estuarine and marine ecology,
- the effects of marine-based aquaculture (mariculture) on sea-bed communtities,
- development of biodiversity databases, and enhancing their role in coastal conservation and resource management,
- interactions between species and their environment, particularly in hitherto poorly studied soft sediments,
- and cephalopod (squid and octopus) systematics, phylogeny and ecology.
EOS has an established team of marine invertebrate taxonomists, and others capable of identification of myiad marine invertebrate taxa. If we don't know what the species are, we cannot identify them, and we know nothing about their life history or ecology, then we simply cannot study them, generate large data sets for statistical analyses, understand the patterns in their distributions, or determine those environmental variables that affect them. Basically, if we cannot identify these species then we cannot protect them. This taxonomic research team is complemented by others with research expertise in GIS, marine and terrestrial experimental and theoretical ecology, aquaculture, fisheries, and soft-sediment biology.
Research dissemination
Our research is published in many national and international journals, with journals targetted to reach specific audiences. Some of this research has been profiled in international documentaries by the likes of the BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery Channel.
The Institute also regularly holds seminar series to provide postgraduates and staff the opportunity to relay their research to the wider academic community, and public.
For more information on current research programmes, and postgraduate research highlights, check out our research highlights page.