Tom Saunders

What is taxonomy and why should we be concerned about its decline?

Tom — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 04:22:16 +0000

Update: A condensed version of this post is published on Newsroom.co.nz here. We may be alone. Our planet could be the only place in the universe where, over billions of years, matter became aware of itself. Despite the dazzling variety of life on Earth, all living things are united by the genetic material inside our...

Identify & Record Nature with iNaturalist

Tom — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 21:40:25 +0000

Ever seen a weird creature and wanted to know more about it? iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. The iNaturalist platform is supported by the California Academy of Sciences based in...

My 2nd Published Paper

Tom — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 22:23:53 +0000

My second ever scientific paper has just been published! You can read it here. It’s published open access in the journal PeerJ, which means it is freely accessible by anyone. This paper deals with the experimental part of my masters research. I put out loads of insect traps at a couple of sites in the...

A 1080 on pest control

Tom — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 20:28:32 +0000

We’re going round in circles on the issue of pest control. We haven’t even had a proper conversation about how we define pests, why we should eradicate them, and what the ethics are of such a mammoth undertaking. The unveiling of the Predator Free 2050 strategy drew lots of praise, but first we need to...

What Are Parasitoid Wasps?

Tom — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 19:50:56 +0000

Most Wasps Are Misunderstood… ‘Wasps’ are truly a diverse group of insects – with over 100,000 species known out of an estimated total of 350,000, they make up a considerable chunk of biodiversity. It’s true that some wasps wreak havoc against native biodiversity and cause serious allergic reactions when they turn their sights on people....