Meet your experts and replay web conferences
Replay web conferences
The following questions from schools are answered by Marine Researcher Dr Kura Paul-Burke in web conference 1:
- What are some species that live in Ōhiwa Harbour?
- Where does the fresh water that enters the harbour come from?
- How do animals live in estuaries if they consist of salt and fresh water?
- What are the non-living elements of the harbour ecosystem?
- What are the producers, consumers, decomposers, and inorganic matter in the harbour?
- How are humans harming the ecosystem?
- What effect is nearby farming having?
- What would happen if the mussels disappeared?
- How can we prevent sedimentation?
- What is the current health of Ōhiwa Harbour?
- What are fiords?
- How do we stop over-fishing?
- Can you explain what sedimentation is?
- What would happen without fish?
- Is Ohiwa Harbour protected?
- How many plastic bags are going into the ocean?
- Do starfish help clean the ecosystem too?
- If we recorded all of the connections for the marine ecosystems what would it look like?
- How can we help to stop the pollution?
- What are the areas the marine environment can be divided into?
- What is an estuary?
- Other than mussels, what other species of sea creature filter water?
- In the harbour behind you, do other species of sharks come in?
- What is the local food chain?
The following questions from schools are answered by Marine Researcher Dr Kura Paul-Burke in web conference 2:
- Is the Rena oil spill still affecting the wildlife in New Zealand?
- We are more aware that plastic is polluting our oceans, is what we are doing making a difference?
- Are there more whale standings happening and are we, as humans making that happen?
- Where is the place whale strandings are happening the most and why do you think this is?
- Which animal species do you notice the most is declining?
- What evidence do you have that pollution is affecting the animals in New Zealand oceans?
- How much of our oceans are still unexplored and how many species do you think there may be undiscovered?
- Can you tell us more about sea weed, what it's made of and how important it is to the food chain?
- How many species of fish are there around New Zealand?
- Are boats affecting New Zealand's wildlife and if so how?
- Do all the boats disturb the species in the harbour?
- What is the most endangered sea species in Aotearoa?
- How would the harbour cope if one vital species like mussels died out?
- If you were able to change something that is happeing to our moana, what would it be?
- Are marinas and moorings and anchors bad, do they harm our sea life?
The following questions from schools are answered by Marine Ecologist Leigh Tait in web conference 3:
- Are there still problems and threats within our marine reserves?
- Have there been any noticeable effects from climate change in and around the harbour?
- How many fish, for example snapper, would be a sustainable recreational limit and should there also be a size limit for the big snapper, so fish bigger than 50cm also have to be let go?
- If there were an increasing number of sharks in the harbour, would that be good or bad?
- What new ideas do you have for how to protect marine areas, for example, should New Zealand have more marine reserves?
- Are there mangroves within the harbour? What do they do within the ecosystem?
- Our school is by the ocean on the Coromandel Peninsula and there are a lot of pine forests close by. What problems are caused in the ocean when the trees are cleared and then we have a lot of rain?
- When it is low tide, do the ika stay in the harbour or do they move about with the tide?
- The mussels are very important, so are the sea stars that eat them good or bad and why have the numbers of the eleven-armed sea star increased so much?
- Are there any examples near the Ōhiwa Harbour where an ecosystem has reached its tipping point and what were the consequences?
- Can you please explain how a crab breathes underwater?
- What is the worst human impact we are having on the ocean?
- Have you found any fossils in the ocean?
- What impact would the megalodon have on the ocean ecosystem if it was still alive?
- Would there be a difference if there was no algae in the ocean?
Meet the experts
Meet Dr Kura Paul-Burke, Marine researcher
Meet Leigh Tait, Marine Ecologist
Web conference activity for learners: Students can work on this activity while they listen to live or recorded web conferences/podcasts - Word (25k) | PDF (167k) | Google Doc
