Show Notes
Weeds are everywhere in Aotearoa New Zealand. They creep along roadsides, smother forest edges, clog waterways and hydrodams, and quietly take over harbour hillsides. Most of us just see green.
In this conversation, Professor Margaret Stanley, recently recognised as Science Communicator of the Year, helps us see what is really going on in that green backdrop. She explains what makes a plant a weed, why only a small fraction of introduced species become invasive, and how new weeds continue to “jump the fence” from gardens, forestry, horticulture and houseplants.
We look at problem species like banana passionfruit, ragwort, agapanthus, climbing asparagus, aquatic weeds and more. Margaret talks through the tools we currently have, from herbicides and hand-pulling to biocontrol agents like beetles and rust fungi, and why each tool has limits.
The episode also explores how climate change will shift weed ranges, why aquatic weeds are so hard to manage, and how nursery choices, urban planting and cultural values shape the plants around us. Above all, it highlights the role of communities in early detection and prevention through tools like iNaturalist, local council programmes and on-the-ground volunteer mahi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Under the Lens
No one has said we don't need biosecurity. There are ways to do this. There are people with knowledge, there are communities who care, and there are ways to secure and protect the unique landscapes of Aotearoa.
Tame Malcolm (Te Arawa: Ngāti Tarāwhai, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Ngararanui, Ngāti Whakaue) has spent his career getting people excited about the bush, the birds, and the ecosystems that make Aotearoa unique. Because as he puts it, no one protects what they don't know. In this episode the General Manager of Te Arawa Lakes Trust explores what biosecurity could look like if we wiped the slate clean and started from something uniquely ours, grounded in Aotearoa's own identity, culture, and knowledge.
Biology has changed. The amount of biological data we can now collect has exploded, from automated sensors at our borders to genomic data tracking where pests come from. But are we maximising the opportunities to gather insight that this data could offer?
Biosecurity is often thought of as systems and agencies. But communities, people, and places are also doing the long term work, often with little resourcing and even less say in how it gets done.
Season two of Under the Lens is here, and we are starting somewhere unexpected. Fellow co-hosts Amanda and Peter turn the lens on Nick Waipara, drawing on his 25 years in biosecurity to ask what a reimagined system would actually look like.