Objective To determine whether insulating existing houses increases indoor temperatures and improves occupants' health and wellbeing.Design Community based, cluster, single blinded randomised study.Setting Seven low income communities in New Zealand.Participants 1350 households containing 4407 participants.Intervention Installation of a standard retrofit insulation package.Main outcome measures Indoor temperature and relative humidity, energy consumption, self reported health, wheezing, days off school and work, visits to general practitioners, and admissions to hospital.Results Insulation was associated with a small increase in bedroom temperatures during the winter (0.5°C) and decreased relative humidity (−2.3%), despite energy consumption in insulated houses being 81% of that in uninsulated houses. Bedroom temperatures were below 10°C for 1.7 fewer hours each day in insulated homes than in uninsulated ones. These changes were associated with reduced odds in the insulated homes of fair or poor self rated health (adjusted odds ratio 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 0.68), self reports of wheezing in the past three months (0.57, 0.47 to 0.70), self reports of children taking a day off school (0.49, 0.31 to 0.80), and self reports of adults taking a day off work (0.62, 0

Kauri (Agathis australis), which is one of the world's largest and longest‐living conifer species, is under threat from a root and collar dieback disease caused by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida. The noted incidence of kauri dieback has increased in the past decade, and even trees >1000 years old are not immune. This disease has profound effects on both forest ecosystems and human society, particularly indigenous Māori, for whom kauri is a taonga or treasure of immense significance. This review brings together existing scientific knowledge about the pathogen and the devastating disease it causes, as well as highlighting important knowledge gaps and potential approaches for disease management. The life cycle of P. agathidicida is similar to those of other soilborne Phytophthora pathogens, with roles for vegetative hyphae, zoospores and oospores in the disease. However, there is comparatively little known about many aspects of the biology of P. agathidicida, such as its host range and disease latency, or about the impact on the disease of abiotic and biotic factors such as soil health and co‐occurring Phytophthora species. This review discusses current and emerging tools and strategies for surveillance, diagnostics and management, including a consideration of genomic resources, and the role these play in understanding the pathogen and how it causes this deadly disease. Key aspects of indigenous Māori knowledge, which include rich ecological and historical knowledge of kauri forests and a holistic approach to forest health, are highlighted.

Kauri dieback is a pest issue that is increasingly affecting kauri forests A water and soilborne pathogen Phytophthora taxon Agathis (PTA) has been identified as a causal agent of kauri dieback at multiple locations particularly within Auckland and Northland In 2008 a passive surveillance and adaptive management programme was initiated to manage the disease across the natural range of kauri Surveys were initially undertaken to determine the distribution and rate of spread of kauri dieback on private land in the Auckland region Methods to evaluate and monitor overall tree health disease symptoms and other potential contributing factors were developed Diagnostic sampling was undertaken to isolate and identify pathogens associated with kauri dieback Along with PTA other Phytophthora species and environmental stress were frequently associated with symptoms at over 400 properties inspected Further management is now required to develop control tools and mitigate further spread

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A lthough islands cover only ~5% of the global land area, they support ~20% of terrestrial plant and vertebrate species (Courchamp et al. 2014). Insular species are particularly vulnerable to extinction; one-third of critically endangered species and nearly two-thirds of recent extinctions consisted of species endemic to islands (Tershy et al. 2015), and these declines may have impacts on Indigenous peoples (Lyver et al. 2019). Several interacting factors contribute to this vulnerability, including invasions by non-native species and habitat loss (Simberloff et al. 2013). Island ecosystems are particularly susceptible to multiple climate-change factors, including rising sea level and loss of suitable climatic conditions (Courchamp et al. 2014), but conservation and restoration efforts rarely account for such interacting drivers of change (Parmesan et al. 2013). Understanding the effects of climate change on island ecosystems necessitates knowing how climate interacts with other ecologically influential processes (eg habitat loss, land transformation, invasive species). Here, we use the example of New Zealand to highlight interactions between changing climate and other threats to biodiversity, and stress the need to collect and maintain long-term datasets to improve strategies to mitigate climate-change effects. Lessons learned from New Zealand are relevant to islands (and potentially continental systems) elsewhere (Simberloff 2019), particularly with respect to the indirect and interactive effects of climate-change impacts. Although we focus on land-based ecosystems, we note that warming seas and ocean acidification are affecting marine systems in New Zealand's territorial waters, as well as elsewhere. Finally, we emphasize the need to work with Indigenous communities to improve the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation approaches. New Zealand (also known by the Indigenous name Aotearoa) consists of three main islands, along with hundreds of smaller islands in rivers, lakes, and harbors, as well

If we are to make meaningful and measurable progress in restoring New Zealand's biological heritage by 2050, a range of fundamental issues need to be addressed. These relate not just to restoration science but also to building ecosystem resilience in the wider socio‐economic and cultural context within which restoration occurs.

Invasive soil-borne pathogens are a major threat to forest ecosystems worldwide. The newly discovered soil pathogen, Phytophthora 'taxon Agathis' (PTA), is a serious threat to endemic kauri (Agathis australis: Araucariaceae) in New Zealand. This study examined the potential for feral pigs to act as vectors of PTA. We investigated whether snouts and trotters of feral pigs carry soil contaminated with PTA, and using these results determined the probability that feral pigs act as a vector. We screened the soil on trotters and snouts from 457 pigs for PTA using various baiting techniques and molecular testing. This study detected 19 species of plant pathogens in the soil on pig trotters and snouts, including a different Phytophthora species (Phytophthora cinnamomi). However, no PTA was isolated from the samples. A positive control experiment showed a test sensitivity of 0-3% for the baiting methods and the data obtained were used in a Bayesian probability modelling approach. This showed a posterior probability of 35-90% (dependent on test sensitivity scores and design prevalence) that pigs do vector PTA and estimated that a sample size of over 1000 trotters would be required to prove a negative result. We conclude that feral pigs cannot be ruled out as a vector of soil-based plant pathogens and that there is still a high probability that feral pigs do vector PTA, despite our negative results. We also highlight the need to develop a more sensitive test for PTA in small soil samples associated with pigs due to unreliable detection rates using the current method.