The Victoria University
Coastal Ecology Laboratory in Wellington’s Island Bay supports the School of Biological Sciences’
coastal ecology research.
Coastal ecology is the scientific study of organisms that inhabit
coastal environments.
Coastal ecologists study. The natural
history and
biology of organisms (plants, animals, algae, microbes), Interactions between organisms, how organisms are affected by their environment.
Coastal ecology emphasises the importance of ecological connections between the land and sea, and therefore includes the study of land-based ecosystems (terrestrial ecology) and marine ecosystems (marine biology). Within New Zealand, the land and sea are well-connected: rivers transport materials from the land to
coastal oceans, sea birds transfer marine-derived materials back to land, and land-based human populations routinely extract organisms from
coastal oceans.
Victoria University first proposed a marine laboratory and aquarium at Island Bay in the 1920s. Although the Wellington City Council had previously granted a site for this facility, it was not until the 1960s that the Island Bay Marine Laboratory first came into existence. The Universitys first Marine Laboratory occupied a set of buildings that were originally constructed in the late 1940s by the Glaxo Company. In 1996, the Island Bay Marine
Education Centre began, sharing Victoria University’s research facilities until 2005, when the Marine
Education Centre moved to its current location at the old Bait House in Island Bay.
The Victoria University
Coastal Ecology laboratory’s much of the active research and teaching conducted from the lab focuses on population and community
ecology of
coastal ecosystems, including
coastal forests and watersheds, sand dune plant communities, and intertidal and shallow sub-tidal rocky reef ecosystems.
The Collaborations of Victoria University
Coastal Ecology laboratory are VUCEL researchers maintain strong collaborative links with research groups at NIWA, (National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Science) , Cawthron, the Department of Conservation, and with researchers at other universities in New Zealand and overseas
Last Updated on: Sep 24, 2024