Our Living Laboratory
Karori Sanctuary Trust works closely with New Zealand's leading educational institutions to provides unique research opportunities. With a wide range of habitats and some of New Zealand's most threatened species living in a wild state just minutes from town, our sanctuary has become a unique living laboratory for students of all ages.
Find out about some of the current and past research projects the Trust has facilitated by clicking on the links below.
Birds
- Do North Island robins exhibit diurnal food caching behaviour. Fischer, van Niekerk, Cahill. VUW.
- Fine-scale food hoarding decisions in NZ robins: is inter-sexual competition important?. 2004. Burns, KC. VUW (240kb pdf)
- Food-hoarding behaviour of the North Island robin. 2006. Steer, Jamie. VUW.
- How successful has the North Island robin translocation programme been? Small, Delia. VUW.
- The establishment of whiteheads (Mohoua albicilla) following translocation. 2007. Hicks, Stephanie. VUW.
- Which birds are using the birdbaths? 2004. Barnes, Alysia. VUW.
Reptiles
- Returning tuatara (Sphenodon spp.) to the New Zealand mainland.
- Preferred body temperature of tuatara.
- Tuatara mating and nesting behaviour.
- Monitoring the success of translocated tuatara at the Karori sanctuary. 2009. Crossland, Sean. VUW.
Flora
- Herbivory in the face of climate change: A long-term study.
- Is leaf heteroblasty an adaptation to shade?
Invertebrates
- Mosquito abundance in the Karori sanctuary.
- How are the ground-dwelling beetles doing after mammal pest eradication?