Investigating toxins – introduction

Poisonous creatures are fascinating – from a distance. New Zealand is often touted as a good place for people to live because it’s free from seriously poisonous plants and animals – or so we ...

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ARTICLE

Poisons and toxins

Poisons are substances that cause harm to organisms when sufficient quantities are absorbed, inhaled or ingested. A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms ...

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ARTICLE

Toxins and food webs

All living things depend on one another to live. Animals eat plants and/or animals to survive. Food webs describe the feeding connections between organisms in an ecosystem. The three main groups ...

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ARTICLE

Poisonous animals in New Zealand

New Zealand has a very small number of poisonous and venomous animals. The grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) is an example of a poisonous animal. It is toxic when eaten ...

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ARTICLE

Measuring toxicity

Toxicity can be measured by the effect the substance has on an organism, a tissue or a cell. We know that individuals will respond differently to the same dose of a substance because of a number ...

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The chemistry of 1080

1080 is the brand name for sodium fluoroacetate – a manufactured poison. It is the sodium salt of a naturally occurring plant toxin called fluoroacetate. Plants use this toxin to defend ...

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ARTICLE

All in the dose

Poisons are substances that can be lethal. They are chemicals, either manufactured or naturally produced. We know that everything is made from chemicals, so are all chemicals poisons? Actually ...

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Butterfly defence mechanisms

Butterflies are the exhibitionists of the insect world. For many invertebrates, camouflage is the best defence against predators, so how do brightly coloured butterflies protect themselves? The ...

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INTERACTIVE

Bioaccumulation in the sea

This interactive demonstrates bioaccumulation of marine toxins. It shows how toxins move through a marine food web.

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ARTICLE

1080 and the risk to non-target species

In 2017, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge surveyed 8,000 people about pest control, and 84% agreed that pests are a significant conservation problem. However, there is ...

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Poisonous plants in New Zealand

There are over 100 poisonous plants in New Zealand. As children grow up, they often come into contact with plants that have poisonous properties. However, children usually don’t eat enough of a ...

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Lead

Lead is a chemical element – a substance that contains only one type of atom. Its official chemical symbol is Pb, and its atomic number is 82, which means that a lead atom has 82 protons in its ...

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Alternatives to 1080

Hunting, trapping and poisons are the three most commonly used methods of mammalian pest control in New Zealand. Each method has benefits and limitations. Extensive research is focused on ...

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ARTICLE

1080 – an overview

1080, or sodium fluoroacetate, is a poison used to control pest species. It is the salt form of a naturally occurring toxin found in poisonous plants in South America, Africa and Australia. New ...

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INTERACTIVE

1080 and pest control – a timeline

This timeline explores the history and science of mammalian pest control in New Zealand. A full transcript is underneath the timeline.

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Poisons – timeline

This timeline gives some key dates relating to discoveries about poisons and toxins. 850 BCE – Homer Homer writes of the use of arrows poisoned with venom (ancient Greek – toxikon) in the epic ...

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ACTIVITY

Tracking toxins

In this activity, students model bioaccumulation of toxins in marine animals. They participate in a food web game where feeding decisions determine their survival. By the end of this activity ...

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ARTICLE

1080 – a wicked problem

Aotearoa New Zealand faces a wicked problem – do we kill introduced pests or do we allow them to kill our native animals, damage our forests and endanger our primary industries? While most New ...

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TEACHER PLD

Chemistry made simple – atoms

In this recorded professional learning session, Greta Dromgool will build your knowledge and confidence to teach the particle nature of matter – a key concept in the New Zealand science ...

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Food poisoning

The food we eat can poison us. There are over 200 known diseases that can be transmitted by food. Bacteria or viruses are the main cause of food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually the result of ...

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ARTICLE

1080 and water quality

New Zealand uses 1080 to control introduced pests. Decades of research show that 1080 degrades quickly in water and soil. There are also regulations that protect drinking water supplies. There ...

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Case study: Zinc in the environment

We use chemicals every day, and they’re all around us. We know different chemicals come in different forms and that they will behave differently in different situations depending on things like ...

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Mercury

Mercury – named after a Roman god known for speed and agility – is a chemical element that has fascinated humans for thousands of years. Mercury is the only metallic element that is liquid under ...

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Grey side-gilled sea slugs

In 2009, some grey side-gilled sea slugs (Pleurobranchaea maculata) were found to be toxic following the deaths of several dogs on Auckland beaches. It was not previously known that these slugs ...

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