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    Population dynamics and anthropogenic threats to New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) in New Zealand : a thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Veterinary Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Hall, Alasdair
    New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri; ‘NZFS’) are New Zealand’s most encountered pinniped. However, substantial gaps exist in the knowledge of their abundance and distribution. This study provides NZFS abundance and distribution data for Kaikōura and Banks Peninsula and investigates anthropogenic risks in both locations. Additionally, the thesis undertakes the first nationwide NZFS abundance estimate in ca. 50 years. The Kaikōura population study was the first since the 2016 earthquake. Kaikōura’s NZFS population has grown and spread post-earthquake, with an upper population estimate of 21,560 – 28,327 NZFS in the 2022/23 breeding season. However, pup production at Ōhau Point, the most impacted colony, has not grown, and breeding distribution has changed significantly. Following earthquake damage, State Highway 1 (SH1), which runs close to NZFS colonies, was reconstructed. This study detected an almost fivefold increase in the annual number of NZFS recorded on SH1 from 2012 – 2022, compared to 1996 – 2005. Ten statistically significant NZFS incident clusters were located, representing 89% of the incidents. Cluster location shifted following post-earthquake road reconstruction. Monthly NZFS incident numbers were significantly positively associated with traffic and windspeed, and significantly negatively associated with temperature and rainfall. Road-abutting NZFS breeding explained most of the spatial variation in NZFS incidents. An abundance estimate of 13,147 – 17,675 NZFS was calculated for Banks Peninsula in 2023/24, and 25 previously unrecorded colonies were assessed. This study considered response strategies for an oil spill impacting Banks Peninsula’s NZFS, as the region is classified as ‘high risk’ for such incidents. Priority response strategies include preventing oil from reaching colonies, and hazing individuals away from waterborne slicks. From the most recently available count data, a minimum nationwide population estimate of 131,338 – 168,269 NZFS was calculated. Using recent counts and stage-structured population modelling, a more reliable estimate of 181,646 – 239,473 NZFS was calculated, a substantial increase on the most cited nationwide abundance figure, 100,000 NZFS. This thesis’ population findings provide useful baselines and highlight the need for improved NZFS population monitoring. This is particularly important due to the changing human-NZFS relationship, evidenced by the Kaikōura road reconstruction and the risk of oil spills in Banks Peninsula.
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    A decade of shaking in the Garden City: the dynamics of preparedness, perceptions, and beliefs in Canterbury, New Zealand, and implications for earthquake information
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2024-11-11) Becker JS; Vinnell LJ; Doyle EEH; McBride SK; Paton D; Johnston DM; Fallou L
    Introduction: This study explored earthquake preparedness over time—before, during, and 10 years after the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) in New Zealand (NZ; known as Aotearoa in te ao Māori). Method: Surveys of Canterbury residents were conducted in 2009, 2013, and 2021, using variables derived from Community Engagement Theory (CET). The surveys measured earthquake perceptions and beliefs, participation and engagement, and preparedness actions. Results were compared across the three samples. Results: Findings indicate that perceptions and beliefs (e.g., risk perception, outcome expectancy beliefs), and types of preparedness actions taken (e.g., collection of survival items, structural preparedness, community and/or agency relationships), differed over time, depending on people's experiences before, during, and after the CES. For example, during and after the CES, people were more likely to believe that preparing provided a benefit to daily life, but less likely to think it could reduce property damage, perhaps due to people's experiences of disruption and damage during the earthquakes. Discussion: An understanding of such dynamics can assist with the provision and timing of risk and preparedness information. This study highlights the importance of providing applicable and actionable preparedness information, that is relevant to people's experiences, throughout an earthquake sequence. Such information might evolve and change in focus over time depending on risks and needs. Focus could also be given to information that builds peoples beliefs and capacities to undertake preparedness in evolving situations. Understanding preparedness in the context of different experiences and timeframes is useful in helping update models such as the CET, where the dynamics of time might be better incorporated.
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    Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC β-lactamase (AmpC) producing Escherichia coli in dairy calves from the Canterbury region : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Veterinary Studies in Veterinary Public Health at Massey University, Manawatū Campus Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Mwenifumbo, Merning
    Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a global public health concern threatening current effective prevention and treatment options. Infections caused by antimicrobial resistance strains are costly, often harder to treat and sometimes fatal. One group of bacteria that contributes to AMR are the extended beta lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC beta lactamase (AmpC) producing E. coli. These are on the critical list of important antibiotic-resistant bacteria of human importance compiled by the World Health Organisation and are a public health concern due to their resistance to an extended range of beta lactams. The main driver for the spread of AMR is the use of antimicrobials in both human and animals. One potential spread is by the feeding of waste milk to calves. Waste milk is the milk that contains antibiotics or other drugs. Waste milk is not recommended as feed for calves due to its association with the development of antibiotic resistance bacteria. Using the culture depended methods and whole genome sequencing, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of ESBL and AmpC producing E. coli isolated from recto-anal mucosal swabs (RAMS) from waste milk fed dairy calves, and to phenotypically and genotypically characterise ESBL and AmpC producing isolates. Recto-anal mucosal swabs samples (n = 40) from waste milk fed dairy calves collected from Canterbury region, New Zealand were screened for antimicrobial resistant E. coli. Fifty-eight percent (23/40) of the calves harboured antibiotic resistant E. coli. 25% (10/40) calves were positive for AmpC producing E. coli and none of the calves were positive for ESBL producing E. coli. The highest prevalence of resistance was observed for tetracycline. PCR and Sanger sequencing revealed that all the AmpC positive E. coli were chromosomal mediated with four mutations in the promoter region of the ampC gene. Whole genome sequencing of eight isolates resistant to both tetracycline and streptomycin revealed additional resistance genes that were not tested phenotypically. Using the Clermont phylogrouping method of E. coli, the AmpC positive, the tetracycline and streptomycin resistant E. coli isolates were distributed among phylogroups B1, C and D. In conclusion, this study revealed the presence of AmpC producing E. coli and other resistance genes in E. coli isolated from waste milk fed calves. Further epidemiological studies are required to determine whether these antibiotic resistant E. coli are associated with waste milk.
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    But what about the men? : storying rural men's experiences and perspectives of the 2016 Kaikōura/Waiau Earthquake, Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Rushton, Ashleigh
    Aotearoa, New Zealand is prone to environmental hazard events, and has experienced numerous significant disasters. While science research has focused on seismic and climate related risks, further research is needed to explore how social constructions of gender shape responses to, and coping strategies in the aftermath of disasters in New Zealand. Gender analyses of disasters also facilitate understanding the ways in which individuals and communities are adversely affected by natural hazard events. This thesis explores 19 rural men’s perspectives and experiences of the 2016 Kaikōura/Waiau earthquake, and critically examines their daily realities in the wake of the disaster. One research participant was Māori, and another was a British migrant, the other seventeen participants were Pākehā [European descent]. The qualitative research was underpinned by a feminist epistemology framed by social constructionism and an interpretivist approach to research. Feminist methodology informed data collection. Semi-structured interviewing was used to gather men’s earthquake stories and identify the subtleties and gendered elements of men’s experiences. Thematic analysis was employed to ascertain key elements embedded within, and across men’s earthquake narratives. Substantive themes identified included: sense of place, emotions, space-time and mobility. Sets of understandings about Antipodean, hegemonic masculinities, coupled with a bricolage of social theories, including the work of Moira Gatens, Pierre Bourdieu, Karen Davies and Doreen Massey provided the analytical framework for the thesis. Theoretical understandings of geographical space in the context of disaster are extended through incorporating Bourdieusian fields and metaphysical forms. An argument is advanced that metaphysical space(s), constituted through memories of, and feelings about the earthquake contribute to shaping participants’ disaster responses and recovery trajectories. The research chapters presented in this thesis explore the ways men’s ontological stories of the Kaikōura/Waiau earthquake were constructed in relation to emotion, sense of place and embedded in multiple mobile temporalities and metaphysical spaces. This doctoral research identifies that rural men’s realities in the aftermath of the Kaikōura/Waiau earthquake were fundamentally shaped by place, spaces and temporalities. Furthermore, place-specific hegemonic masculinity informed men’s behaviours and practices in response and recovery. Participants drew on meanings of, and attachment to place to navigate and cope with adversity and distress. Emotions related to the earthquake were evident throughout the interviews, inferring continuing trauma and anxieties. Nevertheless, men attempted to sustain representations of Antipodean, hegemonic masculinity by actively silencing distress and challenges. The study demonstrates that the research participants’ earthquake experiences were underpinned by multiple, intersecting metaphysical spaces and temporalities that in some cases, complicated and disrupted recovery. The research contributes to an understanding of complexities in relation to men’s personal experiences of disasters. Suggestions are provided for the inclusion of how localised sets of understandings about masculinities shape response and recovery in national and international disaster policies and practices.
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    The contradictions of freedom : freedom camping tensions, tourism governance and changing social relationships in the Christchurch and Selwyn districts of New Zealand : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Aston, Shannon
    In 2011, the National led government of New Zealand hastily enacted the Freedom Camping Act (2011) in order to accommodate the bourgeoning number of foreign tourists expected to arrive for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This was despite opposition concerns that existing public infrastructure, and particularly sanitation facilities, would not be able to meet the growth in demand. In the years since the introduction of FCA (2011), the popularity of freedom camping primarily among budget conscious Europeans has increased and there has been an ever growing number of freedom campers arriving on New Zealand’s shores. Freedom camping is defined in the Act as camping in self-contained and non-self-contained vehicles on public land managed by local governments or the Department of Conservation. Promoted by the national government and tourism industry for its potential to contribute to national tourism revenue, public and political concerns have surfaced around the social, economic, cultural and environmental costs and benefits of freedom camping. Significant points of tension and conflict have come to characterise freedom camping which illuminate multiple contradictions both in its conceptualisation and the way it is experienced by various groups. Freedom camping is embedded in neoliberal governance and discourse and is a policy directive enacted in national legislation. However, its management is devolved to local governments and its effects are highly localised. In this thesis I examine the different management approaches to freedom camping and the effects of these approaches in two neighbouring areas of New Zealand’s South Island: the Christchurch and Selwyn districts. Christchurch is a major urban area and tourism hub and since 2015 has had a freedom camping bylaw in place which restricts freedom camping in its environs. In contrast, Selwyn is a rural district with a rapidly growing urban centre. It has no freedom camping bylaw and manages two large freedom camping areas in its district. Drawing on extensive document analysis and three weeks of qualitative field research involving interviews, observation and site visits in the two districts in late 2018, this thesis speaks to two specific research questions: • How do people in the Christchurch and Selwyn regional districts feel about freedom camping, the Freedom Camping Act 2011 and its management? • How is freedom camping and the Freedom Camping Act 2011 reshaping social relations within and between the Christchurch and Selwyn regional districts? This thesis locates the FCA (2011) and freedom camping within current discourse on tourism governance in neoliberal government structures and in answering the research questions, explores three key areas. First, I examine the governance of freedom camping, the state of the legislation and how different regional approaches to freedom camping create inconsistency and community stress. Second, I consider freedom camping as a contradictory process of capitalism and interpret economic power over nature through the framework of political ecology. The third area is an analysis of tourist-hosts relations which sets a broader framework to examine tensions over freedom camping’s visibility seen through the cultural lens of the “New Zealand camper identity”. The thesis concludes that freedom camping through the FCA (2011) makes multiple interpretations of freedom compete in, and for, contested public spaces. Four freedoms are identified that emerge from the tensions. Freedom from cost relates to seeking free sites and overusing public space. Freedom of mobility is the legislation encouraging freedom campers to locate themselves in contested public places. Freedom as birthright is New Zealander’s interpretation of freedom in nature as a birthright which is utilized by the national tourism industry. The freedom of regulated responsibility involves the language of freedom being removed from freedom camping by the central government after eight years of significant social and environmental stress due to freedom camping. These freedoms are both interconnected and internally contradictory leaving the future meaning and practice of freedom camping uncertain.
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    Understanding the post disaster effects on mothers after the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Social Work at Massey University, Palmerston North, Aotearoa, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Jennings, Angelina
    The city of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand experienced two large earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011. The most destructive of these earthquakes was in February which resulted in 185 casualties. The purpose of this study was to explore the post disaster experiences of mothers and consider factors which helped or hindered their recovery. A qualitative study was utilised in order to understand the post disaster experiences of mothers and their coping resources. Data was collected via semistructured interviews with six mothers, using open-ended questions, which focused on personal, environmental and psychological impacts of the earthquakes to understand their experience. Topics included the immediate experience of the event, factors which impacted on their recovery, their community experience and roles in the wider recovery effort. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Key findings were established from themes within the research which underpinned experiences for mothers; these included care of children, the importance of social networks, the role of the community and mothers’ evolving role in the wider recovery effort. Core characteristics of resilience, such as adaptability, flexibility, optimism and coping skills, were portrayed by participants, which became paramount in supporting their post disaster recovery. These findings underpinned practice approaches for social workers when working with mothers post disaster and highlighted the significance of the social workers’ role in promoting the involvement of women within their community and in future disaster management planning and discussions.
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    The Canterbury tales : an insider's lessons and reflections from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence to inform better public communication models : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English and Media Studies at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) McBride, Sara Kelly
    This research evaluates the public earthquake preparedness communication before the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (2010-present) and examines communication learnings to create recommendations for improvements in implementation for these campaigns in future. The research comes from an “insider” perspective from someone who worked on these campaigns in Canterbury before the earthquakes. In this research I use this insider lens to analyse the Q-Files booklets, developed by the Public Education Public Information group (PEPI) and coordinated by the Canterbury Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group, both groups in which I worked professionally before the earthquakes. These booklets aimed to communicate the geological hazards and risks in Canterbury to persuade publics to prepare. For my analysis, I developed a “best practice matrix”, derived from the most relevant literature, to determine how closely these booklets aligned to best-practice academic research. I also used readability tests and word counts to triangulate the data. I interpreted that the Q-Files were overly long, jargon-laden text filled with little positive outcome expectancy messages, and would have failed to persuade most people that earthquakes were a real threat in Canterbury. Paradoxically, it is likely these booklets created fatalism in publics who read them. While the overall intention was positive, to scientifically explain geological risks to encourage the public to prepare for these events, my analysis identified that the implementation could have been greatly improved. After summarising my findings, I shared these insights with my community of practice and found that many of my former colleagues shared with me their frustrations, concerns and disappointments with not only the Q-Files but the overall management of public preparedness communication within Canterbury. Finally, I reflect on what it means to have been part of the development of a failed risk communication campaign. I interpret that scientism was the fundamental belief system inspiring the PEPI group in Canterbury to create the Q-Files. I argue that the PEPI group created echo-chamber-like effects, supporting and reflecting their own belief systems in their public communication. The group’s self-containment led to the creation of documents filled with jargon, gobbledygook and scientificism. Based on my findings, I highlight areas for improvement in strategic approaches for more successful campaigns in future as well as potential research pathways.
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    Teenagers' perspectives on the Canterbury earthquakes : an insight into their needs and experiences : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Pine, Nicola Stacey
    Natural disasters inflict physical, psychosocial, and economic impacts on individuals and their communities. Although a substantial number of disaster survivors are teenagers (13-19 years), this population group has not been widely investigated, especially regarding their views on their post-disaster needs and received supports. Such information would be important when planning post-disaster supports for current and future disaster-exposed teenagers. The aim of this research therefore, was to explore teenagers’ experiences and retrospective views of their needs, supports, and recovery following the Canterbury, New Zealand earthquakes. The first study surveyed 398 Christchurch secondary school students (aged 16-18 years [male = 169; female = 229]) who had experienced at least one of the major Canterbury earthquakes between September 2010 and June 2011. The survey’s purpose was to obtain an overview of teenagers’ experiences (including their needs and supports received), using both qualitative and quantitative data. Content analysis of this data revealed nine overall themes, including: physical basics, secondary stressors, social support, psychological impact, coping, school, support figures, gender, and recovery. Decile 2 school participants reported a need for physical basics significantly more than deciles 3, 9 and 10, and decile 10 reported a need for social support significantly more than decile 2. With gender, females reported a need for social support significantly more than males, and males reported a need for physical basics significantly more than females. Also, participants reported that their parents/caregivers understood their needs better than their siblings and friends, and their teachers were of greater help to them following the earthquakes compared to other students in their class. The second study extended the enquiry and involved six focus groups, each containing three to six students aged 16-18 years (male = 13; female = 18). Findings from the first study informed these focus group discussions, the aims of which were to gain deeper insights into disaster-exposed teenagers’ experiences, needs, and supports. The discussions were transcribed and analysed via thematic analysis. This analysis revealed seven major areas of importance, including participants’ advice for future planning and six others: individual, family, school, community, national and international. The latter six areas were incorporated into an ecological model combined with a timeline spanning from 2010 till 2013. The model demonstrated a number of notable points - for instance, immediately after the earthquakes many of the participants’ most important needs was to be in the presence of family, to know that family members were safe, and to receive comfort from them; however, three years later, participants’ concern had shifted to the rebuild of their city and their need for not only the pace to quicken, but also for youthfocused areas to be built (e.g., for recreational and leisure activities). The main recommendations from the research include: addressing acute post-disaster psychological responses early on and arranging preventative interventions; incorporating parental mental health support into youth-focused interventions; individually tailoring supports that address differences in gender, living conditions, and damage; encouraging youth to talk but not forcing them; having schools resume structured routines as soon as possible; providing psychoeducation to teachers, parents and guardians regarding typical disaster reactions and coping strategies for youth; and providing teenagers with accurate information. It is also recommended that communities provide or facilitate entertainment for youth post-disaster; that they organise youth-focused volunteer groups; involve youth in rebuild consultations; commence the rebuild of a disaster-struck city as soon as possible, and maintain gains in progress; distribute important information in multiple languages; and try to ensure that media coverage maintains a balance between both positive and negative content. Possible areas for future research include a deeper investigation into the experiences of disaster-exposed international students, the impact of the duration and permanency of relocation, and longitudinal studies into the recovery and adaptation of youth.