Kauri dieback

Kauri dieback

The BioSense founding team met and bonded over tackling kauri dieback disease, and we have built a team that share our commitment to stopping its spread– via surveillance, research, treatment, education and collaboration.

Surveillance

We have experience in aerial and ground-based surveillance programmes, on both large and small scale.  We can detect symptomology using the latest aerial surveillance technology, as well as expert human observation of field symptoms.    

Our core team has been instrumental in kauri dieback surveillance programmes on public and private land since 2010 – planning and conducting surveys, analysing and reporting results and making recommendations.  And many of our expert contractors have been part of ground surveillance teams walking the track networks across Auckland’s park network and visiting private land to record symptoms and take soil samples.

We have investigated over 2,000 sites of potential kauri dieback, conducted health assessments on over 70,000 kauri and collected over 3,500 diagnostic samples for analysis.

The diversity and expertise within BioSense and throughout our extensive networks enable us to be responsive to a range of projects.  We will plan, execute and manage every aspect of your surveillance project to meet your needs and keep you informed at every step, sharing knowledge along the way, and working with you on management plans based on results.

Treatment and research

We are guided by best practice, research and innovation, to deliver outcome-driven solutions to protect our kauri.

Our knowledge, experience and team of expert tree climbers led by Fredrik Hjelm can provide safe access to the canopy and we have undertaken seed collection and canopy research, contributing to vital research projects to protect our taonga species.

We have collected seeds from 750 kauri trees across the North Island to be screened for kauri dieback genetic resistance and collected seeds to be used in biological control trials.

We have also designed and conducted the first large-scale application of phosphite treatment for kauri dieback with more than 12,500 kauri treated and assessed to enable long-term impact monitoring.    Lee Hill is also a founding member of the team at Kauri Rescue, a citizen science project that works with private landowners wishing to treat their trees with phosphite, or other biological control tools.

Our research capability has only strengthened with the addition to the team of Dr Stan Bellgard, as a consultant.  Stan was the lead research scientist for kauri dieback disease at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research for nearly 12 years.  His research into Phytophthora species has resulted in the description of two new species in Clade 5, including phytophthora agathidicida (kauri dieback disease) and he also led research into kauri dieback vectors, detection methods, and host species.

BioSense ae also experts in forest hygiene – ensuring we do not spread the disease through our work, contributing to the development of best practice guidelines, and we can provide training to groups and individuals.