Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: A bird in the bush with the data at hand: predicting ecological networks using traits and phylogenies
Recipient(s): Professor JM Tylianakis | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor GLW Perry | AI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor DP Vazquez | AI | Nat Scientific & Technical Research Cncl-CONICET
Public Summary: All species depend on interactions with others for their survival. These interactions can be seen as a complex network, the architecture of which is important for maintaining functioning ecosystems. Currently, we cannot predict how these networks of interactions will change under future conditions, because it is unclear when the characteristics of species (‘niche’ processes) or their probability of encountering one another at random (‘neutral’ processes) determines the occurrence of interactions. This project will study networks of interactions among plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers to understand the situations under which niche vs. neutral processes are most important. In particular, we will test whether exotic species and species that interact with many others choose their interaction partners less on the basis of their traits, and more based on their abundance. Then we will test whether the importance of niche vs. neutral processes is constant in time and space, and along environmental gradients. Finally, we will use these findings to model how changing importance of niche vs. neutral processes influences the vulnerability of interaction networks to invasions by exotic species, and the survival of native species.
Total Awarded: $865,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Professor JM Tylianakis
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 17-UOC-096
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2011
Title: A cardiac myometer
Recipient(s): Dr AT Taberner | PI | The University of Auckland
Prof IW Hunter | AI | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Assoc Prof DS Loiselle | AI | The University of Auckland
Assoc Prof PMF Nielsen | AI | The University of Auckland
Dr M-L Ward | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: With each beat of the heart, its cells spark a brief pulse of calcium, which triggers force development and cell shortening, funded by an expenditure of energy with its attendant liberation of heat and consumption of oxygen. Current knowledge of this process arises largely from experiments conducted on heart tissues or cells in which only two or three of these events are tracked simultaneously, often under conditions that do not mimic the pressure-volume cycles of whole-heart contraction.
There is an urgent need to be able to measure all five variables simultaneously, while subjecting isolated samples of heart tissue to realistic contraction patterns that mimic the pressure-volume-time loops experienced by the heart with each beat. This challenging objective is what we propose to achieve, by constructing an innovative miniaturised testing device: The Cardiac Myometer. With this device, we will finally be able, for the first time, to follow all five of these sub-cellular events, beat by beat, in living heart tissue under either normal or diseased conditions.
The new information gathered with the use of this novel instrument will increase our understanding of heart muscle behaviour, and thereby improve our ability to treat common diseases of the heart.
Total Awarded: $721,739
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr AT Taberner
Panel: EIS
Project ID: 11-UOA-199
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: A chemical cue for fungal-plant symbiosis
Recipient(s): Professor DB Scott | PI | Massey University
Associate Professor DF Ackerley | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Associate Professor PS Solomon | AI | Australian National University
Dr Y-H Chooi | AI | Australian National University
Professor CL Schardl | AI | University of Kentucky
Professor I Feussner | AI | University of Goettingen
Public Summary: Epichloe endophytes are fungal symbionts of temperate grasses that colonise the intercellular spaces and surfaces of the host aerial tissues, producing bio-protective molecules in return for sustenance and vertical transmission through the host seed. Crucial to maintaining this balanced mutualistic interaction with the grass host is chemical signalling between the two partners so that growth of the endophyte is restricted. However, initiation of flowering by the host can trigger a switch from restrictive to proliferative growth of the sexual endophyte species, culminating in the formation of a dense mass of fungal hyphae known as a stroma that blocks emergence of the grass inflorescence. We have identified a cluster of genes in the sexual species of this group of endophytes that we propose encode a set of enzymes for the synthesis of specialized metabolites that control this switch. The goal here is to determine the chemical identity of these molecules, how they act as chemical signals and understand how their levels regulate this important developmental transition. The results of this work will provide us with a fundamental insight into what distinguishes a beneficial symbiont from a pathogen.
Total Awarded: $825,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Professor DB Scott
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 15-MAU-148
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: A computational theory of collective action
Recipient(s): Professor SJS Cranefield | PI | University of Otago
Professor JV Pitt | AI | Imperial College London
Public Summary: This project will apply computational modelling and simulation to investigate the problem of collective action: explaining how self-interested parties can be motivated to coordinate their action to achieve a common benefit. Problems of this sort include management of a common resource pool (such as a river or a fishery) and collectively reducing carbon emissions. Mathematical models from game theory predict that free-riding behaviour will dominate and cause the collective action to fail. However, a range of social factors, such as the existence of norms, a desire to earn 'social capital', and leadership mechanisms have been proposed to explain why collective action will often succeed in practice.
This project uses a computational approach to gain new understanding of the social reasoning underlying collective action problems. We will develop a computational model describing how individuals decide how to act based on personal and social goals and rewards, in combination with social incentives and group coordination mechanisms. Through simulations of various scenarios we will investigate which social factors have the most impact on achieving collective action.
The techniques developed will have the potential for use in building software to advise and assist people to coordinate their actions and achieve collective goals.
Total Awarded: $460,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor SJS Cranefield
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 17-UOO-143
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: A dilute supersolid of polar molecules
Recipient(s): Professor PB Blakie | PI | University of Otago
Professor W Bao | AI | National University of Singapore
Public Summary: A supersolid is an almost mythical phase of matter, existing in a confused state that combines the ubiquitous properties of a solid, with the surreal features of a superfluid. In this project we leverage a recent development in the field of polar molecules to propose a pathway to producing a novel dilute supersolid -- almost a billion times more dilute than an ordinary solid. Our work will provide a comprehensive theory for this exotic system, elucidating its fundamental properties, structure and phase diagram, paving the way for its production in the next generation of experiments.
Total Awarded: $790,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor PB Blakie
Panel: PCB
Project ID: 15-UOO-111
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: A fire in the belly of Hineāmaru – Ngāpuhi distinctiveness
Recipient(s): Dr MJ Webber | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: This project examines the distinctive and enduring identity traits of New Zealand’s largest iwi, Ngāpuhi. It theorises and contextualises these traits from a Ngāpuhi-centred position by answering the question “How do the distinctive tribal attributes and qualities of Ngāpuhi endure in its contemporary leaders?” Little is known about the perceived differences between iwi aside from what is shared by elders in traditional ceremonies on marae. However, capturing this knowledge is significant in terms of identifying the differences between iwi and celebrating the skills, attributes and deeds of Ngāpuhi ancestors. The findings of this strength-based and Ngāpuhi-focused project will disrupt dominant assumptions, challenging the negative ‘standard story’ of Māori potential perpetuated in educational contexts and the media and instead ignite tribal pride, optimism and a fire in the belly of Ngāpuhi youth.
Richly documented, reliable and inspirational accounts of Ngāpuhi history, as well as insights and analyses of Ngāpuhi distinctiveness will be produced as international journal articles, a school exhibition resource and a book. This project will define and develop a model of success that puts Ngāpuhitanga and Ngāpuhi icons at the centre and will provide an innovative, general theoretical model of indigenous success from a distinctly tribal perspective.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr MJ Webber
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 16-UOA-063
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: A friend of my friend is my friend: testing how habitat cascades increase ecosystem function and biodiversity
Recipient(s): Dr MS Thomsen | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor M Holmer | AI | University of Southern Denmark
Professor DR Schiel | AI | University of Canterbury
Associate Professor BR Silliman | AI | University of Florida
Associate Professor T Wernberg | AI | The University of Western Australia
Public Summary: Traditionally, ecologists have studied how enemy interactions, for example competition or trophic cascades, control biological communities. These interactions are the basis of much ecological theory and have been translated into management strategies. Emerging evidence now suggests, however, that indirect positive effects through ‘facilitation cascades’ are also important. In facilitation cascades, communities can be controlled through positive species effects from co-existing habitat-formers. Facilitation cascades have recently been documented in many terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, yet fundamental questions remain about their general importance and the mechanisms that underpin their existence. To successfully manage ecosystems, it is critical to understand where and when facilitation cascades are important, the mechanisms that allow habitat-formers to co-exist, and how co-existence enhances ecosystem function and biodiversity. Using estuaries as a model system, we will test how facilitation cascades (1) change along environmental gradients, (2) increase and decrease by different mechanisms, (3) are affected by human stressors, and (4) differ from indirect enemy interactions. This project will integrate facilitation cascades into a unified ecological framework of indirect species interactions, document their importance in maintaining ecosystem functions and biodiversity, and provide guidelines on how facilitation cascades can be incorporated into management and conservation of local ecosystems.
Total Awarded: $695,652
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Dr MS Thomsen
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 13-UOC-106
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: A genomic study of the people of Wairau Bar: health, history and origins of the first New Zealanders
Recipient(s): Professor EA Matisoo-Smith | PI | University of Otago
Dr CD Millar | AI | The University of Auckland
Professor DM Lambert | AI | Griffith University
Public Summary: Wairau Bar is one of the most culturally and historically significant archaeological sites in New Zealand. Dating to the early 14th century, with artifacts that can be sourced to ancestral East Polynesia, it contains one of the largest and best preserved early burial populations in all of the Pacific. Indeed, the koiwi tangata (human remains) from Wairau Bar provide the best representation we have of the founding population of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and thus of early East Polynesia. An ancient DNA genomic study of the Wairau Bar population would allow us to: 1) Identify the likely origins of the first colonists of Aotearoa; 2) Use demographic modelling to reconstruct the population history of Aotearoa through time; and 3) Identify if the founding population carried known genetic markers associated with gout, diabetes and other diseases that affect Maori and Pacific Islanders disproportionately today.
Total Awarded: $767,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor EA Matisoo-Smith
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 15-UOO-169
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: A global history of the Hague Peace Conferences, 1899 - 1914
Recipient(s): Dr MM Abbenhuis | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: The two Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 were extraordinary events that had a significant impact on subsequent twentieth-century international affairs. Bringing the world’s leaders together to discuss disarmament, arbitration and the international law of war, these gatherings established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, ratified key international laws of war and neutrality, and signaled an era of public diplomacy and internationalism that excited contemporaries. They also initiated a new format for multi-lateral peacetime negotiation that remains with us today. Academics too often treat the histories of international peace, law, humanitarianism, science, economics, militarism and politics as distinct developments. My approach is to contest these narrowing boundaries. Based on extensive archival research, this project will write a global history of the conferences and the developments they inspired. Using the perspectives of participants, commentators, locals and the media, it argues that the Hague peace conferences were a key component of international history on the eve of the First World War.
Total Awarded: $521,739
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr MM Abbenhuis
Panel: HUM
Project ID: 13-UOA-021
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: A green approach to denitrification of water
Recipient(s): Dr AL Garden | PI | University of Otago
Associate Professor E Skúlason | AI | University of Iceland
Public Summary: Excessive use of agricultural fertiliser has greatly increased the amount of reactive nitrogen in the biosphere in recent years. Nitrate, the most oxidised form of reactive nitrogen, is the main nitrogen-containing pollutant present in groundwater. With the persistent intensification of agriculture and the ever-increasing demand for clean water, an efficient method for denitrification is urgently required.
Catalytic denitrification is a particularly promising method as it can in principle convert harmful nitrate into harmless molecular nitrogen, quickly and without dangerous byproducts. The use of nanoparticles as catalysts is especially exciting as they can exhibit unique reactivity compared with conventional catalysts and much less of the catalytic material is required.
In this proposal we will use a combination of novel computational techniques to investigate the rate and products of catalytic denitrification using nanoparticle catalysts. The ultimate goal of our research is to identify the optimum nanoparticle catalyst for quick and safe removal of nitrate from drinking water. Our work will directly guide the future technology for denitrification.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr AL Garden
Panel: PCB
Project ID: 16-UOO-216