"Facing the Future: Measuring the Biological Impacts of the Rena Disaster"
Tuesday November 13, 2012. 7.30 pm
Room S.G.01, Gate 8 or Gate 1, Waikato University
All welcome and there is no charge
Assoc. Prof. Nicholas Ling
When the container ship, the Rena struck a reef in October last year, it created what has been described as New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster. The incident motivated many research projects to primarily establish the ecological impacts of the Rena disaster, the extent of chemical contamination, and to examine ecosystem recovery by microbial breakdown of weathered oil and through experimental ecotoxicology.
This talk summarises the results of the ecological monitoring conducted so far and outlines the role of the experimental ecotoxicology programme in understanding sub-lethal impacts of the Rena oil and predicting long-term impacts and recovery in key kai moana species.
Nick Ling is a graduate of the University of Auckland and has more than 20 years’ experience in the fields of aquatic ecophysiology, ecotoxicology, fish ecology and conservation. He is currently a key researcher in the Freshwater Restoration Outcome Based Investment research programme on pest fish control and heads the ecotoxicology component of the Rena Recovery Plan.
