Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology is a Crown Entity of New Zealand, established by the Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology Act 1990.

Its stated mission is to Invest for results from research, science and technology to deliver greater prosperity, security and opportunities to all New Zealanders. It invests nearly $500 million per annum, divided between Universities, Crown research Institutes, Research Associations and Private Firms.

The Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) is reviewing the entire research funding process during 2009.

One of FRST’s Outcome Based Investments (OBIs) is IO2 “Defining New Zealand’s Land Biota”, an investment of NZ$19 million over four years, supporting the work of 45 scientists and technicians around N.Z.

Below is listed the published outputs of that investment, by the scientists of New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC), held by Landcare Research New Zealand Limited. These scientists (including one publishing technician), as of October 2008, are as follows:

• Buckley, T.R.
• Crosby, T.K.
• Henderson, R.C.
• Hoare, R.J.B.
• Larivière, M.-C.
• Leschen, R.A.B.
• Ward, D.F.
• Zhang, Z.-Q.
• Zhao, Z.

Only those publications which are directly relevant to the published IO2 statement 'the research, which has investment of $19 million over four years from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, will catalogue and describe as many species as possible of key groups of unrecorded New Zealand flora, fauna and fungi', are listed. In other words, only descriptive taxonomic publications and catalogues are listed.

Estimates of the diversity of, for example, Coleoptera in New Zealand range from 4, 300 to 10, 500 species, indicating a huge amount of documentation needing to be done. No new taxa of New Zealand Coleoptera have been described since 2007 by NZAC scientists, indicating that the current rate of progress, in this major group at least, is negligible. No new contributions to the Fauna of New Zealand series, on any group, by any author, have been published since 2007. Is New Zealand getting good value for money from IO2 funding to NZAC?

Relevant published outputs 2008-2009
2009

• Fletcher, M.J.; Larivière, M.-C. 2009: Anzygina, a new genus for some Australasian microleafhopper species formerly placed in the genus Zygina Fieber (Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Erythroneurini). Australian journal of entomology, 48: 164-176. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.2009.00700.x
• Zhang, Z.-Q.; Bennett, S.J. 2009: Filling the gap in distribution of the genus Sonotetranychus (Acari: Tetranychidae) with a description of a new species from New Zealand. Systematic & applied acarology, 14: 161-170. Abstract
• Zhao, Z.Q. 2009: A review of the genus Tripylina Brzeski, 1963 (Nematoda: Triplonchida), with descriptions of five new species from New Zealand. Zootaxa, 2238: 1-24. Abstract & excerpt

2008

• Larivière, M.-C.; Fletcher, M.J. 2008: A new genus, Zeoliarus, for the endemic New Zealand species Oliarus atkinsoni Myers and O. oppositus (Walker) (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae: Cixiinae: Pentastirini). Zootaxa, 1891: 66-68. PDF
• Xue, X.-F.; Zhang, Z.-Q. 2008: New Zealand Eriophyoidea (Acari: Prostigmata): an update with descriptions of one new genus and six new species. Zootaxa, 1962: 1-32. Abstract & excerpt