Landcare Research (

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

: Manaaki Whenua) is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute whose focus of research is

the environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, biotic and abiotic component, abiotic things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to Earth or some parts ...

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

, and

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

. The New Zealand Government intends to merge the institute into the New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science on 1 July 2025.

History

Manaaki Whenua was originally part of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), but was established as an independent organisation when the Crown Research Institutes were created in 1992. As part of that process, it was semi-commercialised, and now operates as a government-owned company rather than as a government department. The commercialisation has led to greater emphasis on financial viability, and Manaaki Whenua is employed by various private groups to provide advice and information. It is currently chaired by Board Chair Colin Dawson. On 14 May 2025,

Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology The Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology is a Ministers in the New Zealand Government, minister in the New Zealand Government. The minister's responsibilities include leading the science and innovation system and setting the directio ...

Shane Reti Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, and a Cabinet Minister with the roles of Minister for Pacific Peoples, Minister of Science, Innovation, and Technology, ...

announced that Manaaki Whenua would be integrated into a new Public Research Organisation called the New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science on 1 July 2025.

Locations

The main site is in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

, near

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. There are also other sites at

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

on the Tamaki campus of

Auckland University The University of Auckland (; Māori language, Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the Unive ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

Collections

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research holds several collections of

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

s that are of significant national importance to New Zealand. Detailed information on all the specimens can be found though the Systematics Collections Data (SCD
website

International collection of microorganisms from plants

The

International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants The International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP) is a major international culture collection of live bacteria, fungi, and chromists based in Auckland, New Zealand. The ICMP had its origin in 1952 as the personal collection of pla ...

in Auckland holds live bacterial and

fungal A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the tradit ...

specimens that are preserved under

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

or in

freeze dried Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, thereby removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by m ...

ampoules An ampoule (also ampul and ampule) is a small sealed vial which is used to contain and preserve a sample, usually a solid or liquid. Ampoules are usually made of glass. Modern ampoules are most commonly used to contain pharmaceuticals and chem ...

. Currently there are over 20,000 specimens in the collection.

New Zealand Fungarium (PDD)

The New Zealand Fungarium (PDD) Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa, located in Auckland, is the major collection of New Zealand fungi. It contains 109,584 dried

specimens, including all the New Zealand fungal

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. It is one of the most extensive compilations on the national fungal biota of any country.

New Zealand Arthropod Collection

The New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC) or ''Ko te Aitanga Pepeke O Aotearoa'' in Māori. The NZAC has over 6 million specimens (1 million pinned and 5 million preserved in fluid) and has the most complete coverage of terrestrial

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s of all the collections held in New Zealand. In addition to its fundamental value to the science of taxonomy and systematics, the collection underpins

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

and border control decisions (e.g., verifying the presence or absence of species in New Zealand); and contributes to listings of threatened insect species. The NZAC is held at Landcare Research's Tamaki site.

National Nematode Collection of New Zealand

The National Nematode Collection of New Zealand (NNCNZ) contains thousands of

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

specimens. It is contained within the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.

Allan Herbarium

The Allan Herbarium (CHR) Te Kohinga Tipu o Aotearoa at

, contains species from around the world but specialises in plants (

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

and exotic) of the New Zealand region and the Pacific. It also has specialist collections of

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

, fruit, wood, plant leaf

cuticle A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...

, liquid-preserved specimens, and

microscope slide A microscope slide is a thin flat piece of glass, typically 75 by 26 mm (3 by 1 inches) and about 1 mm thick, used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. Typically the object is mounted (secured) on the slide, and then ...

s. The oldest samples are the 91 duplicate specimens collected by

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

and Solander during

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

's first voyage to New Zealand in 1769–1770. There are currently over 550,000 specimens in the Allan Herbarium with 5,000–8,000 being added annually. Two-thirds of the specimens are of indigenous plants with the remainder divided between naturalised, cultivated, and foreign specimens. It was named for

Harry Allan Harry Howard Barton Allan (27 April 1882 – 29 October 1957) was a New Zealand teacher, botanist, scientific administrator, and writer. Despite never receiving a formal education in botany, he became an eminent scientist, publishing ove ...

, to acknowledge his contributions to New Zealand

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

National New Zealand Flax Collection

Manaaki Whenua is kaitiaki of an ethnobotanical collection of traditional weaving varieties of harakeke ( NZ flax, ''Phormium'' spp.) donated by Rene Orchiston of Gisborne. The 50 harakeke were selected long ago from natural stands and cultivated by Māori weavers for their special leaf and fibre properties. There are varieties specially suited to making kete, whariki, piupiu and cloaks.

Research

Science includes research into the processes that maintain New Zealand's ecosystems, enable natural flora, fauna and fungi to flourish, and protect soil and catchments for a range of production and other purposes. The impacts of disruption to ecosystems; biosecurity risks from foreign weeds, pests and micro-organisms; and contamination to land, water and air caused by the production of natural, manufactured or waste compounds are investigated. Research is also undertaken to develop tools to help mitigate inefficient resource use and excess waste, and systems designed to improve resource use productivity, lifestyle and business viability. Research focuses on six key areas: BioBlitz Auckland 2005

* Conserving and restoring our biodiversity and the healthy resilience of natural ecosystems * Reducing pest, disease and weed impacts in our natural and managed ecosystems * Understanding, mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change * Sustaining the long-term health of soils, waterways and landscapes for the continued viability of our rural environments * Enhancing urban biodiversity and developing low-impact approaches for

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

s * Fostering environmentally sustainable and globally competitive business practices

BioBlitz

Manaaki Whenua has organised several

BioBlitz A BioBlitz, also written without capitals as bioblitz, is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers conduct an intensive ...

events – a survey of all species in a given area. The first New Zealand BioBlitz was held in the Auckland suburb of

St Heliers St Heliers is a seaside suburb of Auckland with a population of as of This suburb is popular amongst visitors for the beaches, cafés, and views of Rangitoto Island, the distinctive volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. St Heliers is locate ...

on 30 April – 1 May 2004; in a remnant of native forest at Dingle Dell reserve, 925 separate species were found, and 631 species were found in a native bush gully at Meadowbank Primary School. A second BioBlitz in the

Auckland Domain The Auckland Domain, also known as Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, is a large park in Auckland, New Zealand. Consisting of of land, Auckland Domain is the oldest park in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, New Zealand, Grafton, the ...

on 12–13 March 2005 found 1575 distinct species. Another BioBlitz occurred at Hagley Park in

on 8–9 April; here 1197 species were found. In 2006, BioBlitz was held in

; this event uncovered 948 species.‘BioBlitz’ Finding Nature in the City
, Manaaki Whenua BioBlitz web pages, accessed 28 March 2008.

People

The following people are associated with Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research:

Governance positions

* Colin Dawson, Board Chair * John Rodwell, Deputy Chair

Researchers

see https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/about-us/our-people/ * Ross Beever * David A Wardle * Gregor W. Yeates * Janet Wilmshurst

References

External links

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Digital Library
– publications produced by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and predecessor organisations, divisions of the former DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) and Forest Research Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research Crown Research Institutes of New Zealand