Future Events

Talks are held in the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the old Captain Cook Hotel. This is where we used to meet pre-covid. Please use the main entrance of the Benham Building to enter and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Room 215, located on the second floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open. Zoom links for the talks are sent to members, join the BSO here.

Trips leave from the Department of Botany car park.

Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 2nd of July 2025, 05:20 PM (4 days from now)

Contact: Gretchen Brownstein | brownsteing@landcareresearch.co.nz

Speaker Malcolm Rutherford. The 1769 Seed Archive brings together botany, horticulture, history, conservation and education, redefining what a New Zealand garden can be. This collection of over 100 plant species native to Tairāwhiti, the East Coast of the North Island, is part of the Waikereru Ecosanctuary, founded by Dame Anne and Jeremy Salmond. Curator Malcolm Rutherford refers to it as the garden of 1000 stories, and will share some of those stories about the creation of the garden, the conservation efforts the garden is assisting with, and the education program Wild Lab/Tiaki Taiao. https://www.waikereru.org/1769-garden/

Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 9th of July 2025, 05:20 PM (1 week from now)

Contact: Jo Sinclair

Speaker: Nicole Heaton. Cyanobacterial blooms pose a significant threat to freshwater ecosystems globally, fuelled by eutrophication and warming temperatures. More recent studies have shown that the associated heterotrophic bacteria community may have an influential role in cyanobacterial bloom dynamics. Are these interactions affecting blooms in the Ōtākou region?

Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 13th of August 2025, 05:20 PM (1 month from now)

Contact: Gretchen Brownstein | brownsteing@landcareresearch.co.nz

Speaker: Mike Small. The Annapurna Circuit is one of the great hikes of the world. More than 150 kms of trails pass from an altitude of 80m with subtropical rainforest to as high as 5500m high-alpine/ subarctic areas near the world's highest mountain pass at Thorung La. Culturally diverse, it is also a biodiversity hotspot as a result of the intersection of several floristic regions and extremes of precipitation and altitude. Floral diversity also results from numerous geological uplifts that formed the Himalaya and the monsoon after India collided with Asia 50 million years ago. This talk follows the trail and the flowers during the monsoon flowering season of 2024.