Ellen Rykers

New Zealand

Science Journalist at Freelance

science writer | nature frother, bird nerd & friend to dogs | views my own | she/her

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Articles

Our Changing World: Keeping up with the kākahi

1 week ago | rnz.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Follow Our Changing World on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts An underwater 'predator-proof fence' is successfully protecting one of Auckland's rarest and most important freshwater species from the impacts of pest fish. Kākahi, native freshwater mussels, play an important role in freshwater ecosystems by keeping the water clean.
Our Changing World: Keeping up with the kākahi

1 week ago | radionz.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Follow Our Changing World on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts An underwater 'predator-proof fence' is successfully protecting one of Auckland's rarest and most important freshwater species from the impacts of pest fish. Kākahi, native freshwater mussels, play an important role in freshwater ecosystems by keeping the water clean.
Our Changing World: A tricky trap for redback spiders

Nov 13, 2024 | rnz.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Follow Our Changing World on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts The 'Pūngāwerewere Workroom' at Plant & Food Research is not a happy place for anyone with arachnophobia - a fear of spiders. But it is a happy home for the 800 Australian redback spiders who live here, each in their own individual spider 'apartment', with hand-delivered meals of fruit flies or crickets every week. These spiders are unwitting helpers in a plan to set a trap for their own kind.
These boomers are not OK

Sep 26, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

A project wants more people to get ‘bittern’ by the matuku hūrepo bug. This is an excerpt from our environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Wendy Ambury calls him Te-rangi, the matuku hūrepo Australasian bittern who lives near her. She will go down to the reeds where he booms. “He suns himself and he just stands there looking at me. And I just stand there looking at him,” she says. She misses him when she’s away. Ambury’s relationship with Te-rangi is unusual.
What one climate scientist wants everyone to know

Sep 12, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

‘The fight for a habitable planet is on right now, and we need everyone to show up.’ Ellen Rykers gets a reality check from climate scientist Joëlle Gergis. This is an excerpt from our environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. In the summer of 2019, an acrid fug of smoke cloaked the city of Canberra, where I was living at the time. The heat was oppressive – pushing 40 °C – and a bushfire haze turned the sun into an angry red orb.
‘Put down the hammer and pick up the rammer’

Sep 5, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

One builder’s quest to find a culture of sustainability in construction. This is an excerpt from our environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. “Have you ever built a sandcastle?” asks Paul Geraets, founder of rammed earth building company Terra Firma. “Everybody has. Rammed earth is the same principle.”Rammed earth is an ancient construction method, using locally sourced soil tamped into layers akin to manmade sedimentary rock.
What the heck is regenerative agriculture? The latest climate buzzword, explained

Aug 12, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Regenerative agriculture is the next big thing in food. But what on earth makes farming ‘regenerative’? And is it legit – or just greenwashing? Ellen Rykers explains. I’m keen to eat food that’s better for the planet, and I keep seeing this phrase ‘regenerative agriculture’. What’s up with that? You’re right: regenerative agriculture (or regen ag, for short) is growing fast into the next big food trend. It’s got grassroots popularity with farmers.
Small grubs solving big problems

Aug 8, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

These ‘good grubs’ can deliver a climate-solutions double-whammy. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. “They are known as the piranha of the insect world. They’re incredibly voracious. They eat anything,” says Jessie Stanley, co-founder of Good Grub. She’s talking about the larvae of the black soldier fly, a non-invasive species found around the world, including in New Zealand.
Can intensive veggie farming heal the soil? Two years of investigation, visualised

Aug 5, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Horticulture has largely been left out of regenerative agriculture research in New Zealand. Most of it has focused on beef, lamb and dairy. An on-farm experiment in Gisborne aims to find out if intensive veggie cultivation could heal the soil. The raised beds of clover stretch in neat rows beneath a crisp winter sky, cloaking half the paddock in lush stripes. The other paddock-half lies fallow, soil laid bare to the elements. This is a science experiment.
Kōkako and co-governance in Kaimai Mamaku

Jul 25, 2024 | thespinoff.co.nz | Ellen Rykers

Conservation projects in Kaimai Mamaku are connecting people to the land – and to each other. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. The kōkako is Raponi Te Rangikātukua Wilson’s favourite. He got to hold one during a translocation project, and hearing them sing in the ngahere brings him joy. One day he’d love his kids to wake up to the rich melodies of kōkako ringing out across the bush.