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    Published 23 February 2016 Referencing Hub media
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    New Zealanders are a nation of potato lovers. We also have a thriving export market for our potatoes. Unfortunately, the tomato/potato psyllid pest is costing our commercial potato industry millions in lost export earnings. Learn about the Taewa Resistance Research Project being undertaken by researcher Aleise Puketapu from Plant & Food Research. Aleise is looking to our heirloom1 taewa – Māori potatoes – to find resistance2 to the psyllid.

    Transcript

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Māori have always been scientists, and we continue to be scientists. Our science has allowed us to live, work and thrive in the world for hundreds of years. My name is Dr Ocean Mercier, and I’m a lecturer in pūtaiao Māori at the Victoria University of Wellington. My job takes me all over the world to talk about Māori science and how traditional knowledge is being married with western science here in Aotearoa3 in order to find innovative solutions to universal global issues.

    In this programme, we’re going to show you how these worlds of science are intersecting and how the paths to our future are being formed.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    He tino taonga te taewa. (Taewa are a taonga4.) Introduced to Aotearoa in the late 18th century, ka tino kainga e te Māori (it was a staple Māori food crop5) with many varieties preserved from this time.

    Taewa were grown commercially until the late 19th century, and though production on this scale has ceased, they continue to be grown. Neke atu i te whitu tekau ngā momo taewa, ā, ahakoa te kore whai pūtea i te hoko taewa i ēnei rā (With over 70 known varieties, taewa may not have much commercial value these days.) It could still have a role in saving Aotearoa’s commercial potato industry millions of dollars.

    The discovery of zebra chip, a potato disease6 that stains the flesh of the potato when it’s fried, spelt disaster for commercial potato growers in Aotearoa. Much of the economic impact of zebra chip comes not from edibility issues but cosmetic ones. While not hazardous7 to health, infected potatoes have stained vascular8 rings and won’t be purchased by processing companies.

    Zebra chip was first identified in 1994 in Mexico. Since then, it’s been reported in the United States and Guatemala. New Zealand’s first suspected case of zebra chip occurred in 2006 when an Auckland greenhouse reported the symptoms of infection9.

    I ngā rohe tuawhenua o te tonga o Tāmaki, i te Rangahau Ahumāra Kai i Pukekohe, tērā a Aleise Puketapu, he kairangahau, e kimi ana i te tuakiri o te taewa e tauārai ana i te psyllid (But in rural South Auckland at Plant & Food’s Pukekohe site, research associate Aleise Puketapu is attempting to find psyllid resistance in taewa).

    Aleise Puketapu

    I did my Master of Science degree at Massey University in Palmerston North. My supervisor was Dr Nick Roskruge, and my research was based on the life cycle and epidemiology10 of the tomato/potato psyllid on three Māori food sources, and one of those was the Māori taewa. The tomato/potato psyllid is a small hemimetabolous insect, and what they do is land on the plants and suck cell11 content. As well as feeding on the plant, they actually transmit a bacterial disease called Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum, which is commonly known as zebra chip in New Zealand. There have been reports of up to 80% yield loss, which has huge financial implications for growers.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Kua noho a Tākuta Nick Roskruge, te kaiako12 o mua o Aleise, te kaiwhakatū hoki i Tāhuri Whenua13 te roopu kaiwhakatipu hua whenua Māori, hei pou mō tana rangahau. (Dr Nick Roskruge, Aleise’s former teacher and founder of the National Māori Vegetable Growers Collective Tāhuri Whenua, has been crucial to her research.)

    Dr Nick Roskruge

    Just by way of introduction about what taewa Māori are as compared to your modern potatoes, these are taewa Māori. If you look at them, they’ve got a large number of shoots from the seed14 tuber15, but these are the old Māori potato. We call them taewa. Some people call them rīwai, peruperu, different names. This particular one is the moemoe, so a nice sort of healthy looking plant. Aleise’s work – there’s a particular pest that’s been getting into all potato crops, so commercial and taewa, and Aleise’s work is looking at the impact of that pest and the better management systems for the future. So these are unique to New Zealand, they are potentially commercially a good option.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    I te tari o Rangahau Ahumāra Kai i te pokapū o Tāmaki Makaurau, kei te arahi a Tākuta Robin Gardner-Gee i te kaupapa a Aleise, ā, e mārama ana ia, he take nui te ārai psyllid. (At Plant & Food’s Auckland Central Office, Dr Robin Gardner-Gee is overseeing Aleise’s project and is aware how crucial controlling the psyllid is.)

    Dr Robin Gardner-Gee

    What we’ve got here is the tomato/potato psyllid, so it’s a native16 of North America, and it arrived into New Zealand in about 2006. It was a major alert, and alarm went through the growing communities, and there was a major scientific research effort that came in with the growers to try and work out solutions.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    The psyllid feeds on plants by inserting its mouthparts into the leaves and phloem17 of the plant where nutrients18 are normally carried. The bacteria19 transferred by the psyllid during feeding can lead to the infection of tubers20 in potatoes.

    Dr Robin Gardner-Gee

    But in a plant like potato, they’re feeding, and the bacteria causes the plant to wither – premature dying – and then the bacteria can get down into the tubers of the plant, and that’s where the problems really start, because it changes the carbohydrate21 in the tuber, and that’s what causes what’s known as zebra chip. So you take that potato, it may look fine when you harvest it, but by the time it’s processed and goes into the deep fryer for your chips, it goes black because of that bacteria that this psyllid has transmitted months ago out in the field. And it’s that processing potatoes that have really been hardest hit by the psyllid.

    There was very little information before we started this work on how taewa varieties specifically might be responding to the new pest. Taewa aren’t part of the mainstream commercial crop. That’s where the potential for differences in tolerance or resistance to the psyllid comes in, and if there are varieties that are more tolerant of the psyllid, then that can be incorporated into new generations to provide more options for growers.

    Aleise Puketapu

    Through my work with Dr Nick Roskruge and working with Tāhuri Whenua and Koanga Gardens up in Northland, I’ve been able to access over 30 varieties of the 70 that are known, actually gaining the support of Māori and being able to use their knowledge and combine that with modern science. It’s huge for this project, because if we find something, we could potentially breed that back into other commercial varieties and hopefully shift that resistance from this variety to another one.

    After I finished my BSc, I went on to do a postgraduate22 diploma, and that’s where I met Nick. I could see Nick’s passion for what he was doing. He’s pretty much the master of his own field, so having access to that huge knowledge base is a major benefit, and he sculpted me into the scientist that I am today.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Hei tā Tākuta Nick Roskruge, kei te puta ngā hua ki ngā taha e rua, i te mahi a tana tauira o mua. (Dr Nick Roskruge sees mutual benefits from the work being undertaken by his former student.)

    Dr Nick Roskruge

    Well Aleise, she was a student in plant protection, and then she continued on to do a project which was related to the potato psyllid, which is an interest to the Māori community. And from that project, she developed some input to Tāhuri Whenua, which is the National Māori Growers Collective. So it’s a collective, it brings people together, but it’s also a place to disseminate information and to gather information and experience and make that experience available to the next generation of land managers if you like. It’s collaboration23, it’s all an extension of horticultural research, and her work in particular is an extension of what she was doing as a master’s student. And the people at Plant & Food have certain expertise24 that complements the expertise we have here. But currently she’s drawing from not just myself but from a number of experts both within Plant & Food, Massey and Tāhuri Whenua, so they all have something to offer.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    After the break, we join Aleise in the fields and look at how, by using scientific monitoring techniques and tapping into the vast knowledge of Tāhuri Whenua, she’s hoping to find a taewa strain25 resistant to psyllid. If she can find a taewa variety that is, it could save the potato industry in Aotearoa millions of dollars.

    Aleise Puketapu’s a scientist working at Plant & Food Research who’s been searching to find a strain of taewa resistant to psyllid infestation. These insects have had a devastating impact on potato and tomato crops since they were first discovered in our country in 2006. If Aleise can find a strain of taewa that’s resistant, it could have an enormous impact on the potato industry and tangible26 benefits for taewa growers.

    Aleise Puketapu

    I’m sort of working on both sides of the story. I’m working on the science as well as being an active member of Tāhuri Whenua, and I’m also on the committee there, so I’m accountable to the two sides of the story really.

    Not every scientist gets to go out into the field and plant seeds and watch their plants grow and help in the harvest as well, so definitely a perk of my job. So I have submitted taewa cultivars to two trials here at Carters. They are both designed by John Anderson at Plant & Food Research. The first trial is a screening trial to see if there are any characteristics of resistance to zebra chip and psyllid, and the second trial is a yield trial where I’ve submitted three of the most common varieties for that. That’s also designed by John Anderson. And what we’re doing is exposing those varieties to three different management regimes

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Aleise’s trial tests taewa resistance to psyllid under different insect control regimes – the full-spray regime places the taewa under little or no psyllid pressure, a mid-spray regime places them under mild psyllid pressure, while a no-spray regime places the taewa under natural psyllid pressure. By comparing the three trials, the natural resistance of specific taewa varieties can be ascertained.

    Aleise Puketapu

    It’s just about expanding the range of what we’re looking at. To have worked with both Nick and Tāhuri Whenua and sort of gaining their support and through their network, I’ve been able to access a number of varieties, and even from contacts from there, I’ve been able to contact families and marae that maybe have some varieties that haven’t been seen for many years. It’s about broadening the search for resistance. If we don’t look, we won’t find anything.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Anō mō te katoa o tōna ao a Nick e rangahau ana, e kohi ana i tēnei momo mātauranga, ā, kua paihere whanaungatanga ia ki nga kaiwhakatipu taewa o te motu. (Accessing and collating this knowledge has been a life’s work for Nick, who has relationships with taewa growers all over the country.)

    Dr Nick Roskruge

    So I’m just going to label this variety before it goes into standing out for the collection. It’s important that we maintain the genetic diversity27 between the crop just for future opportunity around pest and disease management. Even resistance to some of the management controls, you know, the chemicals28 and the different sprays, because over time, if they’re constantly used, the plant develops resistance, so having that diversity is useful to help respond to that.

    Internationally, breeding programmes rely on the diversity to be able to use different traits29 to build into the new cultivars that are being grown. In the case of Aleise’s project, it’s really about the response to a new pest that hasn’t been in the country until now and whether these varieties display different characteristics than your modern cultivars if you like. So it’s vitally essential that we keep, I suppose you’d call them heritage cultivars, purely because once they’re lost, they’re lost. So our job is to maintain it for future generations, in the sense of all the work we do is about the future, it’s about food security in the future as well.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Kua tino whai hua te kaiwhakatipu rīwai matua nei, a John Anderson i te mātauranga ira kua kohia nei, ā, e rikarika ana ia ki te nanao i ngā huarahi maha ki te kimi tikanga e whai ārai ai ngā momo rīwai katoa ka hokona. (The genetic30 material available from so many varieties of taewa has been beneficial for head potato breeder John Anderson, who’s keen to explore all avenues to find a way of building resistance in commercial potato varieties.)

    John Anderson

    There’s a question mark on one of the taewa lines whether it may have some resistance, and we certainly are using that in the breeding programme to a limited extent and the progeny31 from that as well as a whole number of other lines which may have some potential resistance to the psyllid. We’re using those as parents and bringing them into environments like this, where we’re selecting in the field and trying to select varieties which will not show the symptoms of zebra chip.

    So we have one line, tūtaekurī, which appears to have some possible resistance to zebra chip. Can’t be certain of that at the moment, but we are certainly using that in our breeding programme in an attempt to breed for resistance to zebra chip. It could be very significant, it could be hundreds of millions of dollars and also, at the moment, to control the psyllid and to control the level of zebra chip, you’re getting, quite high amounts of insecticide32 are used, and if we can help reduce the levels of insecticide used in New Zealand and overseas, this has a real advantage both environmentally and in terms of the quality of food, and people feel more confident in the food that they’re eating when lower levels of insecticide are used.

    Aleise Puketapu

    So this is the full-spray plot for the yield trials. The crop is reaching maturity. It’s about 3 months old. Within the next month, the tops will be cut off, and they’ll be sprayed, and the potatoes will be left in the ground to harden off.

    If you have a look over here, these plants have been sprayed off. They’ll be left to sit for about 7 days for the skins harden off before we harvest them. They’re not quite ready yet so I can’t show you that, but once we’ve harvested, we’ll take the taewa back to Plant & Food Research, and that’s where I’ll do all my testing for resistance.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Kia hauhaketia ngā taewa, ka hou atu a Aleise ki te āta wherawhera-ā-pūtaiao i ngā tikanga tauārai i te psyllid. Hēoi, ehara i te mea kei rō taiwhanga pūtaiao ia, me kii pēnei, kei rō kauta kē. (Once the taewa are harvested, Aleise can get into the science of checking for psyllid resistance. But it’s not your typical lab she uses, it’s more of a kitchen.)

    Aleise Puketapu

    If there is any zebra chip present in the tuber, you can tell just by raw assessment. With the taewa, it’s a bit harder, because some of the varieties actually have a pronounced vascular ring already, and that’s what we’re looking at. Mandolins are not your common piece of scientific equipment.

    Science was a huge part of indigenous33 culture. We have the rongoā34. Our ancestors used to use things like kawakawa as an insect deterrent, so more mātauranga35 than anything else. The research that I am doing is about repatriation, and after I’ve finished this project, it’s about distributing that science and getting the results to Māori people.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    After the break, we move from slicing and dicing to deep frying as Aleise checks a selection of taewa for resistance to psyllid. Nick Roskruge hopes Aleise’s findings are beneficial for growers hoping to rebuild the commercial potential of the taewa.

    He kaipūtaiao36 a Aleise Puketapu (Aleise Puketapu is a researcher) searching for a variety of taewa resistant to the psyllid, a bug37 that’s wreaked havoc with potato and tomato crops. First discovered here in 2006, the insect is decimating potato harvests and causing millions of dollars of damage to the industry. Aleise’s ability to access the mātauranga around the taewa was an enormous asset that her supervisor Dr Robin Gardner-Gee was keen to tap into.

    Dr Robin Gardner-Gee

    When Aleise started here, one of things I was really impressed by was the links that she had already built into Māori horticulture, her involvement with Tāhuri Whenua, and so I felt that that was just a huge asset for Plant & Food, and so one of the things that I felt I could do to build her was to encourage – just to give her the space to keep on maintaining those links, building those links at the same time as she was building her experiences and skills as a scientist. So it was getting that balance between what she was already bringing in, keeping on growing that, and then what we could offer her as a major research institute, which was access to a whole range of scientists and different approaches and different types of work here.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Nā tēnei mātauranga pūtaiao, kei te aromatawai a Aleise i te noho mai a te pāra zebra kua puta nei i te psyllids o ngā taewa kua kohia e ia. (Using this scientific knowledge, Aleise is monitoring the presence of zebra chip caused by psyllids in the taewa she’s collected.)

    Aleise Puketapu

    OK, now I’m going to get ready to fry38 these potato slices. First of all, I’ll assess them on our raw scale. It’s a scale of 0 being clear of any inconsistencies or browning in the vascular ring and 5 being the worst. Tūtaekurī is probably the hardest to score because of its colour. We’re looking for any sort of browning, which will become more pronounced when we fry. Browning could potentially indicate the presence of zebra chip.

    This variety of matariki39, there’s about six scale 1 crisps and a scale 3. Everything I do is based on observation – this process, and when I’m looking out in the field for insects and looking for psyllids or signs of zebra chip. Frying and doing the raw assessment is I’d say the quickest way of getting any feedback.

    Now we’re ready for frying. What we’re looking for is if there’s any sort of browning of the vascular ring. Because Liberibacter convert the starches to sugar, these sugars should burn off first. So when we take them out, we’ll see if there’s any browning of the vascular ring and possible zebra chip. Doing the frying like this is the fastest way of getting any feedback. The only other way is going through DNA40 processing, which is quite a time-consuming process, whereas this takes 3 minutes, and we can put through as many varieties as you want. I suppose there are many facets of science, from backyard science to your high-tech PC2 lab or something like that, but here we have our deep fryer, so that’s our most technical piece of equipment.

    So what we’re looking for is any browning of the vascular ring. See here, that would be a 0, and this one here on our scale, which is up on the wall, would be a 4.

    This is the second year of a 2-year trial. If there are any varieties that show some sort of resistance, we’ll have to look at it in-depth after that, probably another 2 or 3 years of trials, and then from there, if there is any true resistance, we’d have to report back to Potatoes New Zealand and Plant & Food Research and look at the possibility of using that variety as a parent. If we did find a resistant variety, it would have a profound effect on the world. You’d see benefits in North America, South America, Hawaii and wherever else the potato psyllid may venture in the future.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    He tūmanako ana a Nick, ma te mātauranga nei, ka ora te taewa he tupu tauhokohoko kōkiri e aronui ae hoki nga kai whakatipu ki nga momo e kaha ana ki te ārai psyllid. (Nick hopes this information will help the taewa reach its commercial potential and entice grower to grow the psyllid-resistant varieties.)

    Dr Nick Roskruge

    This sort of research is important, certainly for commercial opportunities because the psyllid has the ability to drop yields by about 80%. Aleise’s work contributes to our understanding of these crops, the taewa Māori, and all of the outputs of her work will help growers do a better job effectively of their crop. At the end of the day, it’s about being economic and it’s about having a crop that is suitable for the market. It’s important also that students like Aleise, when they’ve graduated and they become a part of the workforce, are picked up by research institutions like Plant & Food because they’ve got so much to offer. In Aleise’s case, it’s that understanding of plants, that understanding of plant protection, but it’s also the āhua Māori – the Māori purpose about her approach to science and her interpretation of science and because these crops are being grown as a kaupapa Māori41 initiative, so they’re grown by Māori growers on Māori land with a Māori future in mind, then having someone like Aleise in the system was just a huge opportunity. We need more of them, we haven’t got enough young Māori doing science, and Aleise is an excellent example of where you can go.

    Aleise Puketapu

    I think I’m very lucky to work on both sides of the story. On one hand, I have the Māori values system, because that’s who I am. I have my own value system as well, and then I have my teachings, my science and everything like that. I’m hoping my role within Plant & Food Research as a Māori scientist will bridge the gap between Māori and research scientists, and hopefully we can ultimately come together and end up with some really positive benefits.

    Dr Ocean Mercier

    Aleise’s trials will feed into Plant & Food’s fight against the psyllid, and the results could have global consequences. Her research could help save millions if not billions of dollars for the industry in lost yield as well as lessening commercial growers’ reliance on pesticides42. And for taewa growers, the information she gains could help this taonga crop reach its commercial potential.

    Acknowledgements
    Video courtesy of Scottie Productions.
    © Scottie Productions, 2013.

    1. heirloom: Heirloom plant breeds have been around for generations, often only in small numbers. They are passed down within a family or community and generally not used in large-scale agriculture. They reflect a much greater genetic diversity than the breeds currently grown on a large scale.
    2. resistance: 1. The opposition to the flow of electric current through a circuit. 2. The ability to withstand harmful or unfavourable conditions, such as an infectious disease.
    3. Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
    4. taonga: Within the Māori world view, a taonga is a treasure that represents whakapapa in relation to a kin group’s estate and tribal resources. Amongst many things, a taonga can be a living creature, a landscape, an object or a song. Taonga are important to the mana (honour and prestige) of the iwi associated with them.
    5. crop: 1. In agriculture, a cultivated plant that is grown on a large, commercial scale. The term most often refers to cereals, fruits and vegetables. 2. A compartment of muscle tissue that birds use to store and soften their food before it moves on to be processed by the gizzard.
    6. diseases: 1. An abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions. 2. In plants, an abnormal condition that interferes with vital physiological processes.
    7. hazardous: A situation that poses a level of threat to life, health or the environment.
    8. vascular: Containing vessels that carry or circulate fluids, such as blood, or sap, through the body of an animal or plant.
    9. infection: Invasion of the body or a species by something that could be harmful or cause a disease.
    10. epidemiology: The branch of medical science that deals with the study (including type, origin and geographical spread) and control of diseases in a population – literally, the study of epidemics.
    11. cell: 1. Building block of the body. A human is made of millions of cells, which are adapted for different functions and can reproduce themselves exactly. 2. A simple electrolytic device that enables chemical energy to be transformed into electrical energy.
    12. kaiako: A teacher or instructor.
    13. whenua: Land.
    14. seed: 1. Part of the sexual reproduction of angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (cone plants). Contains an embryo and its food store, which creates a new plant when conditions are right. 2. Offspring or progeny.
    15. tuber: A thickened underground stem, for example, a potato. A tuber stores food so the plant can lie dormant over winter and is a way of producing new plants asexually.
    16. native: A species that lives naturally in a country, as opposed to species that have been introduced by the activity of humans. 
    17. phloem: The vascular tissue that serves as a path for the distribution of food material in a plant.
    18. nutrient: A substance that provides nourishment for growth or metabolism.
    19. bacteria: (Singular: bacterium) Single-celled microorganisms that have no nucleus.
    20. tuber: A thickened underground stem, for example, a potato. A tuber stores food so the plant can lie dormant over winter and is a way of producing new plants asexually.
    21. carbohydrate: Any of a large group of energy-producing compounds, including sugars and starches, that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
    22. postgraduate: A student who has obtained a first degree and is now working towards a higher degree such as master’s or PhD.
    23. collaboration: Working together with a common purpose.
    24. expertise: Having excellent knowledge or skills in a particular area.
    25. strain: In microbiology, a subtype of a species of microorganism.
    26. tangible: 1. Something physical that you can touch. 2. Definite.
    27. genetic diversity: The variety of genetic material within a single species of organism that permits the organism to adapt to changes in the environment.
    28. chemicals: Everything is made up of chemicals. All matter (anything made of atoms) can be called chemicals. They can be in any form – liquid, solid or gas. Chemicals can be a pure substance or a mixture.
    29. trait: Characteristic, usually a physical characteristic of a living organism, such as the height of a plant or the hair colour of a mammal.
    30. genetic: Of, relating to, or determined by genes.
    31. progeny: Offspring of animals or plants.
    32. insecticide: A chemical (synthetic or organic) used to kill or repel insects.
    33. indigenous: Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment. People who are the original inhabitants of an area, or their descendants.
    34. rongoā: Traditional Māori medicine.
    35. mātauranga: Māori cultural knowledge and understanding of the world; Māori wisdom.
    36. kaipūtaiao: A Māori term for a scientist.
    37. bug: In biology, an informal term for an insect, insect-like creature, virus or other microorganism.
    38. fry: Newly hatched baby fish.
    39. Matariki: A star cluster that appears in the early morning sky for the first time in the year in late May or June. It marks the beginning of the Māori New Year.
    40. DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that contains the instructions needed for an organism to develop and function. These instructions are stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T).
    41. kaupapa Māori: Generally refers to a foundation of understanding and knowledge created by Māori that expresses Māori aspirations, values and principles.
    42. pesticide: A substance or mixture of substances intended to repel, prevent or destroy plant, fungal or animal pests.
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      heirloom

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    2. Heirloom plant breeds have been around for generations, often only in small numbers. They are passed down within a family or community and generally not used in large-scale agriculture. They reflect a much greater genetic diversity than the breeds currently grown on a large scale.

      taonga

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    4. Within the Māori world view, a taonga is a treasure that represents whakapapa in relation to a kin group’s estate and tribal resources. Amongst many things, a taonga can be a living creature, a landscape, an object or a song. Taonga are important to the mana (honour and prestige) of the iwi associated with them.

      hazardous

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    6. A situation that poses a level of threat to life, health or the environment.

      epidemiology

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    8. The branch of medical science that deals with the study (including type, origin and geographical spread) and control of diseases in a population – literally, the study of epidemics.

      whenua

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    10. Land.

      native

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    12. A species that lives naturally in a country, as opposed to species that have been introduced by the activity of humans. 

      bacteria

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    14. (Singular: bacterium) Single-celled microorganisms that have no nucleus.

      collaboration

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    16. Working together with a common purpose.

      tangible

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    18. 1. Something physical that you can touch.

      2. Definite.

      trait

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    20. Characteristic, usually a physical characteristic of a living organism, such as the height of a plant or the hair colour of a mammal.

      insecticide

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    22. A chemical (synthetic or organic) used to kill or repel insects.

      mātauranga

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    24. Māori cultural knowledge and understanding of the world; Māori wisdom.

      fry

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    26. Newly hatched baby fish.

      kaupapa Māori

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    28. Generally refers to a foundation of understanding and knowledge created by Māori that expresses Māori aspirations, values and principles.

      resistance

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    30. 1. The opposition to the flow of electric current through a circuit.

      2. The ability to withstand harmful or unfavourable conditions, such as an infectious disease.

      crop

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    32. 1. In agriculture, a cultivated plant that is grown on a large, commercial scale. The term most often refers to cereals, fruits and vegetables.

      2. A compartment of muscle tissue that birds use to store and soften their food before it moves on to be processed by the gizzard.

      vascular

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    34. Containing vessels that carry or circulate fluids, such as blood, or sap, through the body of an animal or plant.

      cell

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    36. 1. Building block of the body. A human is made of millions of cells, which are adapted for different functions and can reproduce themselves exactly.

      2. A simple electrolytic device that enables chemical energy to be transformed into electrical energy.

      seed

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    38. 1. Part of the sexual reproduction of angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (cone plants). Contains an embryo and its food store, which creates a new plant when conditions are right.

      2. Offspring or progeny.

      phloem

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    40. The vascular tissue that serves as a path for the distribution of food material in a plant.

      carbohydrate

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    42. Any of a large group of energy-producing compounds, including sugars and starches, that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

      expertise

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    44. Having excellent knowledge or skills in a particular area.

      genetic diversity

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    46. The variety of genetic material within a single species of organism that permits the organism to adapt to changes in the environment.

      genetic

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    48. Of, relating to, or determined by genes.

      indigenous

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    50. Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment.

      People who are the original inhabitants of an area, or their descendants.

      kaipūtaiao

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    52. A Māori term for a scientist.

      Matariki

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    54. A star cluster that appears in the early morning sky for the first time in the year in late May or June. It marks the beginning of the Māori New Year.

      pesticide

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    56. A substance or mixture of substances intended to repel, prevent or destroy plant, fungal or animal pests.

      Aotearoa

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    58. The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.

      diseases

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    60. 1. An abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions.

      2. In plants, an abnormal condition that interferes with vital physiological processes.

      infection

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    62. Invasion of the body or a species by something that could be harmful or cause a disease.

      kaiako

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    64. A teacher or instructor.

      tuber

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    66. A thickened underground stem, for example, a potato. A tuber stores food so the plant can lie dormant over winter and is a way of producing new plants asexually.

      nutrient

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    68. A substance that provides nourishment for growth or metabolism.

      postgraduate

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    70. A student who has obtained a first degree and is now working towards a higher degree such as master’s or PhD.

      strain

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    72. In microbiology, a subtype of a species of microorganism.

      chemicals

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    74. Everything is made up of chemicals. All matter (anything made of atoms) can be called chemicals. They can be in any form – liquid, solid or gas. Chemicals can be a pure substance or a mixture.

      progeny

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    76. Offspring of animals or plants.

      rongoā

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    78. Traditional Māori medicine.

      bug

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    80. In biology, an informal term for an insect, insect-like creature, virus or other microorganism.

      DNA

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    82. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that contains the instructions needed for an organism to develop and function. These instructions are stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T).