Alison Ballance

Over the last 25 years the yellow-eyed penguin population on mainland New Zealand has seen some dramatic declines

Naturally occurring mitochondrial mutations that cause infertility in sons could be the basis of novel pest control measures

Aptamers and gold nanoparticles are the basis of a novel sensor for detecting oestrogen in the environment

Self setting traps that only need to be checked every few months are another tool in the fight against introduced predators such as rats and stoats

The aerial use of 1080 poison to kill rats, mice, stoats and possums across large areas of conservation land is having positive results for native birds.

OPUS Research's audio tactile driving simulator is being used to test the wear of rumble strips on roads

The Bounty Islands are just bare rocks in a wild ocean, but nonetheless they are home to a large endemic spider - and no one has ever seen a mature male

The pavement team at OPUS Research study the properties of bitumen and the wearability of the road's base course to work out ways of making roads last longer

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a 1:50 scale model in the Water Lab are helping Crile Doscher understand coastal processes around the outlet to Lake Forsyth

Geodesy is the study of the shape and size of the earth, and it underpins systems such as the Global Navigation Satellite System and allows very accurate surveying of major infrastructure projects