School of Science
Research at AUT's School of Science is focused on key scientific issues with regional and global significance. The common theme connecting all research areas is sustainability – in the broadest sense as it relates to environmental and human health. Our research is closely allied to teaching and learning opportunities at undergraduate and postgraduate level within the school. Research is organised in three thematic areas:
Items in these collections are protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). These works may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use:
- Any use you make of these works must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person.
- Authors control the copyright of their works. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the work, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate.
- You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the work.
Recently Added
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Subsurface Microbial Habitats in an Extreme Desert Mars-analog Environment
(Frontiers Media, 2019)Sediments in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Desert are a terrestrial analog to Mars regolith. Understanding the distribution and drivers of microbial life in the sediment may give critical clues on how to search for ... -
Isolation of Polymorphic Microsatellite Loci in the New Zealand Endemic Sand-Binder, Ficinia spiralis (Cyperaceae)
(Botanical Society of America, 2017)Premise of the study: Ficinia spiralis (Cyperaceae) is a declining sand-binding sedge of ecological and cultural importance. Microsatellite primers were developed in F. spiralis to investigate how population genetic structure ... -
Bacterial and Fungal Communities Respond Differently to Varying Tillage Depth in Agricultural Soils
(PeerJ, 2017)In arable cropping systems, reduced or conservation tillage practices are linked with improved soil quality, C retention and higher microbial biomass, but most long- term studies rarely focus on depths greater than 15 cm ... -
Aspect Has a Greater Impact on Alpine Soil Bacterial Community Structure Than Elevation
(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017)Gradients in environmental conditions, including climate factors and resource availability, occur along mountain inclines, providing a ‘natural laboratory’ to explore their combined impacts on microbial distributions. ... -
Preclinical Development of MGO Manuka Honey Microemulsion for Blepharitis Management
(BMJ Publishing Group, 2017)Objective To evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial effects of cyclodextrin-complexed and uncomplexed Manuka honey on bacteria commonly associated with blepharitis, and in vivo rabbit eye tolerability of a cyclodextrin-complexed ... -
Biomass Assessment of Geoduc (Panopea zelandica) From Northern Golden Bay in Fishing Management Area 7
(AUT Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, 2017) -
Behaviour Reactions of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
(Nature Publishing Group, 2019)Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent a novel and cost effective research tool to investigate cetacean behaviour, as conventional aircraft are expensive, limited in the altitude they can fly at and potentially disturb ... -
Modelling the Key Drivers of an Aerial Phytophthora Foliar Disease Epidemic, From the Needles to the Whole Plant
(Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2019)Understanding the epidemiology of infectious diseases in a host population is a major challenge in forestry. Radiata pine plantations in New Zealand are impacted by a foliar disease, red needle cast (RNC), caused by ... -
Dual Analysis of Virus-host Interactions: The Case of Ostreid Herpesvirus 1 and the Cupped Oyster Crassostrea Gigas
(Libertas Academica, 2019)Dual analyses of the interactions between Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) and the bivalve Crassostrea gigas during infection can unveil events critical to the onset and progression of this viral disease and can provide novel ... -
Itaconic Acid Inhibits Growth of a Pathogenic Marine Vibrio Strain: A Metabolomics Approach
(Nature Publishing Group, 2019)The antimicrobial role of itaconic acid (ITA) has been recently discovered in mammalian cells. In our previous studies, we discovered that marine molluscs biosynthesise substantial quantities of ITA when exposed to marine ... -
Hydraulic Coupling of a Leafless Kauri Tree Remnant to Conspecific Hosts
(Elsevier BV, 2019)SUMMARY Trees are commonly regarded as distinct entities, but the roots of many species fuse to form natural root grafts allowing the exchange of water, carbon, mineral nutrients, and microorganisms between individuals. ... -
SINOPSIS – the Solomon Islands National Ocean Planning Spatial Information System: Spatial Decision Support Tools for Seaweed Aquaculture Planning in the Solomon Islands
(New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research (NZIPR), 2019)Seaweed cultivation can provide important income in remote areas and significant exports for nations like the Solomon Islands. This industry may also provide a sustainable alternative to more extractive industries like ... -
Metabolic Biomarkers of Monochorionic Twins Complicated With Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction in Cord Plasma and Placental Tissue
(Springer Nature, 2018)The selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR) of monochorionic diamniotic (MCDC) twins causes phenotypic growth discordance, which is correlated with metabolomic pertubations. A global, untargeted identification ... -
Advanced Photogrammetry to Assess Lichen Colonization in the Hyper-arid Namib Desert
(Frontiers Media, 2017)The hyper-arid central region of the Namib Desert is characterised by quartz desert pavement terrain that is devoid of vascular plant covers. In this extreme habitat the only discernible surface covers are epilithic lichens ... -
Alkyl Linker Effects on the Coordination Topology of Ditopic Di(2-pyridylmethyl)amine Carboxylate Ligands with Znˡˡ and Cuˡˡ: Polymers Vs. Macrocycles
(The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015)A series of ditopic ω-di(2-pyridylmethyl)amine carboxylic acid ligands incorporating a range of n-alkyl linkers (CnCOOH, n = 3-5, 7, 10 and 11) have been synthesised. Solution phase studies showed a 1:1 coordination ... -
N-butanol Subfraction of Brassica Rapa L. Promotes Reactive Oxygen Species Production and Induces Apoptosis of A549 Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells Via Mitochondria-dependent Pathway
(MDPI AG, 2018)Brassica rapa L., an edible and medical vegetable, has been traditionally used in Uyghur folk medicine to treat coughs and asthma in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. In this study, we prepared an n-butanol ... -
Investigation of Different Molecular Weight Fucoidan Fractions Derived from New Zealand Undaria pinnatifida in Combination with GroA Therapy in Prostate Cancer Cell Lines
(MDPI AG, 2018)Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweeds, has been shown to possess various antioxidant, anticoagulant, antiviral, and anticancer functions. In this study, we focused on low molecular weight fucoidan ... -
Fucoidan Extracted From New Zealand Undaria Pinnatifida – Physicochemical Comparison Against Five Other Fucoidans: Unique Low Molecular Weight Fraction Bioactivity in Breast Cancer Cell Lines
(MDPI AG, 2018)Fucoidan, the complex fucose-containing sulphated polysaccharide varies considerably in structure, composition, and bioactivity, depending on the source, species, seasonality, and extraction method. In this study, we ... -
Age, Growth and Reproductive Characteristics of the Blue-barred Parrotfish Scarus Ghobban From Taiwan and Solomon Islands
(Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI), 2017)Age, size, growth and sex ratio of the Blue barred parrot fish Scarus ghobban were investigated from Taiwan and Solomon Islands. While both populations exhibited similar rapid early growth, the longevity, maximum size and ... -
Leaf Stable Isotope and Nutrient Status of Temperate Mangroves As Ecological Indicators to Assess Anthropogenic Activity and Recovery From Eutrophication
(Frontiers Research Foundation, 2016)We measured nitrogen stable isotope values (δ15N), and total phosphorus (%P) and total nitrogen (%N) contents in leaves of the temperate mangrove (Avicennia marina sp. australasica) from three coastal ecosystems exposed ...