Genomics Aotearoa has partnered with the Waiora Manuherekia Project team to share how new genomics tools can better care for and manage resources and wildlife.
The Lab in a Box science outreach platform has been used to tour all the schools in the Central Otago catchment of Manuherekia. The Manuherekia River is an iconic river that is home to some of Aotearoa’s most endangered species such as the Manuherekia Alpine Galaxis and the Central Otago Roundhead Galaxis. However, it also faces significant challenges with more intensive farming in the catchment and sometimes competing demands for water for irrigation and recreational fishers’ desire to maintain trout populations.
In conjunction with Wilderlab, GA is introducing students to new tools like environmental DNA (eDNA) and how it can be used to better understand and manage the environment. The Lab in a Box started its tour at the Central Otago A&P Show in Omakau and then travelled to Omakau and Poolburn schools before heading to Alexandra where it is hosting students from Dunstan High School and The Terrace, St Gerard’s, and Alexandra Primary schools.
“The tour has been great. At each location, we gather some local river life that the students can explore under microscopes and learn about the diversity of algae and invertebrates. We can then explain how eDNA is now a tool available to learn what lives in or around the river, even if we can’t see whatever it is, or if it's kilometres away. We often combine this with a game of “Biodiversity Jenga” so the students can get an appreciation of how ecosystems are so interdependent on their parts, and if we continue to take from them without putting back or maintenance, over time they reach a tipping point… and how eDNA can provide a useful diagnostic to gauge just how healthy, or not, a particular stream ecosystem might be.
“For some of the younger students we also introduce them to what DNA is for the very first time by mushing up some bananas and then extracting its DNA together….when they see the white thread of DNA appearing in the tubes there are always loads of “Wooow!”. So we’re hopeful they’ll go away not just realising science is fun but also super useful”.
Text and Photos Credit: Craig Grant - Otago Museum