Ethical responsibilities in invasion biology
There is a classic problem in ethics of reconciling the moral standing of collectives (e.g. populations, species and ecosystems) with the moral standing of individuals. We…
High-Tech Solutions To Invasive Mammal Pests
This research team is helping to develop targeted, next-generation, socially acceptable and cost-effective new technologies to achieve landscape-scale freedom from rats, stoats and possums.
This research is Completed
Associate Professor James Russell
Overview Te Tirohanga Whānui
The ability to cost-effectively keep these pests that threaten our biodiversity at zero density will be transformational for Aotearoa New Zealand conservation. This BioHeritage Challenge project, led by Associate Professor James Russell of the University of Auckland, supports the scaling up of current efforts to eradicate pests by accelerating the provision of improved tools, methodologies and strategies for mammal pest control.
Read this project’s Predator Free New Zealand Bioethics Report, released May 2019
There is a formal national collaboration between this project, Predator Free 2050 and Genomics Aotearoa, with a research focus on the population genomics of New Zealand rats and science strategy for a Predator Free New Zealand.
These collaborations are helping the project team to complete a comprehensive report on the status of new pest control tools that are close to market in New Zealand. The report will facilitate stakeholder engagement, encourage early adoption and leverage private sector investment.
A bioethics panel is being facilitated as part of the project, with the cross-section of representatives working on an independent report on the social, cultural and ethical issues relating to a predator free New Zealand. The report will incorporate Māori perspectives towards modern pest control initiatives.
Articles about this research have been published in high-impact publications such as TREE and PLOS Biology, and the project also featured in the NetFlix docuseries Unnatural Selection (E3: Changing an Entire Species).
The project contributes to the BioHeritage Challenge’s goal of creating a world-class biosecurity system for Aotearoa.
Resource Outputs from this project
Publication
Publication
An overview of introduced predator management in inhabited landscapes.
We describe the rise of community predator control and large landscape projects aspiring for a ‘Predator Free New Zealand’, and how such an aspiration must…
Publication
Invasive alien species: denialism, disagreement, definitions, and dialogue
We recently suggested in TREE that recent elements of invasion biology discourse might be categorised as cases of more general science denialism. We did not intend…
Publication
The rise of invasive species denialism
Scientific consensus on the negative impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) is increasingly being challenged. Whereas informed scepticism of impacts is important, science denialism is…
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