Lloyd S Davis

University of Otago · Centre for Science Communication

Citizen science projects, which entail scientific work undertaken by members of the public, have increased substantially over the last three decades. However, the credibility of such science has been questioned, especially with respect to its prospects for producing peer-reviewed publications, the principal means by which science is communicated an...

Erect-crested penguins are the least studied of all penguins. They breed on two isolated subantarctic island groups, the Antipodes and Bounty Islands. Sporadic nest counts indicate a dramatic decline in numbers of erect-crested penguins over the last 50 years. Here we present data from a study undertaken in 1998 on the breeding biology, behavior an...

We presented 867 participants with one of two videos about climate change that differed only in terms of whether they had an infotainment or expository narration. They were available in either English or Spanish. The participants consisted of two distinct clusters: one in which all were over 30 with a university degree, and another dominated by you...

Social media are prominent channels to foster the social debate about climate change. This research explores the strategies that institutions supporting scientific consensus on climate change undertake in order to communicate through social media. We conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with community managers and communication directors of orga...

To explore what types of photographs are more helpful means to interpret natural attractions within national parks, this study focused on the relationship between the photographs with different visual characteristics and their perceived visual appeal. A photograph-based Q method was adopted. Results confirmed the visual quality of a photograph was...

Photographs are widely used to visualise science. However, the influence of visual quality of photographs on the effectiveness of science communication is often disregarded and seldom tested. This study examines how the visual quality of photographs affects science communication on interpretive signage within Xixi National Wetland Park, China. Resu...

The advent of filmmaking provided a means for affective communication, whereby what was real and what was filmed became conflated, helping to create tourism imaginaries that, in turn, drove tourism. However, increased tourism created negative impacts, especially for charismatic subjects like whales that elicit strong emotional responses of connecte...

Society is undergoing a transformation in the way people consume media: increasingly we are using online on-demand videos, with the fastest growing segment of online videos about science being user-generated content that uses an infotainment style of delivery, in contrast to the traditional expository narrations of professionally generated content....

Student engagement is an important predictor of choosing science-related careers and establishing a scientifically literate society: and, worryingly, it is on the decline internationally. Conceptions of science are strongly affected by school experience, so one strategy is to bring successful science communication strategies to the classroom. Throu...

Crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.) have evolved a unique form of breeding in which the first of two eggs laid is much smaller than the second and has a higher likelihood of being lost during egg laying and incubation. In this study, we quantified aggressive behaviour in nesting Snares penguins and undertook an egg survival analysis to examine which f...

The breeding routines and foraging behaviour of many pelagic seabird species is influenced by environmental factors. Seasonality greatly affects the temporal prey availability for many marine species while the spatial distribution of prey often correlates to oceanographic features. We examined the influence of such environmental factors on the nest...

The breeding routines and foraging behaviour of many pelagic seabird species is influenced by environmental factors. Seasonality greatly affects the temporal prey availability for many marine species while the spatial distribution of prey often correlates to oceanographic features. We examined the influence of such environmental factors on the nest...

This chapter examines online science video to identify the presence and function of entertainment, noting its long history in television content. Major entertainment and infotainment devices–stories, humour, images and celebrities–are discussed as communication devices that television content producers use to make science more accessible to mass au...

Among other things, a globalizing world has challenged the old dichotomy between science and diplomacy and helped to facilitate the advent of Science Diplomacy. This term encompasses a particular form of public diplomacy and refers to the use of scientific collaborations among nations to tackle common challenges. Science Diplomacy operates on the a...

Human activities drive environmental changes at scales that could potentially cause ecosystem collapses in the marine environment. We combined information on marine biodiversity with spatial assessments of the impacts of climate change to identify the key areas to prioritize for the conservation of global marine biodiversity. This process identifie...

This PDF file includes: fig. S1. Significance and magnitudes of observed environmental changes. fig. S2. Major contributors to fishing pressure. fig. S3. Identifying hot spots of marine biodiversity. table S1. Long-term, remote-sensing records of oceanographic features.

Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articulating to diverse stakeholders both the complexity of issues and the urgency of action. Analyses of how climate change is represented and constructed in broadcast media are useful to capture a reflection of contemporary values. We use an analysis of news...

This case study provides a foundation for improving the efficacy and efficiency of communicating wine science by investigating winemakers’ and growers’ behaviors and attitudes around accessing professional information resources. Interviews and surveys of Washington state winemakers and growers yield qualitative data concerning how they interact wit...

Visual culture is becoming an increasingly prominent part of our cultural identity in the 21st century. Consequently, images have become an important tool with which to communicate science. We identify two impediments to science communicators using visual elements effectively: (1) visual material is typically treated as an add-on instead of be...

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means...

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means...

Cumulative human impacts across the world’s oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means...

Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important in deciding its future, with regard to the levels of access, protection and funding for research. There is a popular belief that the preservation of islands equates to the slightly idiosyncratic conservation of unique remote habitats, where the value of any island is i...

Universities engage in outreach activities about science for a variety of reasons, including enhancing their reputation, recruitment and the personal satisfaction of those involved. Be that as it may, such activities are typically portrayed as a form of science communication whereby the public is informed about science. Outreach activities may be c...

Free-ranging marine predators rarely search for prey along straight lines because dynamic ocean processes usually require complex search strategies. If linear movement patterns occur they are usually associated with travelling events or migratory behaviour. However, recent fine scale tracking of flying seabirds has revealed straight-line movements...

The efficiency of spatial conservation measures for threatened species depends mostly on the proportion of time that animals spend within the protected areas. We illustrate this with our case study of the population of recolonizing female New Zealand (NZ) sea lions Phocarctos hookeri (n = 13) at Otago Peninsula, South Island, NZ. Human interactions...

The efficiency of spatial conservation measures for threatened species depends mostly on the proportion of time that animals spend within the protected areas. We illustrate this with our case study of the population of recolonizing female New Zealand (NZ) sea lions Phocarctos hookeri (n = 13) at Otago Peninsula, South Island, NZ. Human interactions...

Historically, little contact with humans makes the Snares Penguin, Eudyptes robustus, an ideal species to study the natural response of penguins to human proximity. We measured behavioural and heart rate (HR) responses of Snares Penguins to a range of stimuli commonly occurring at their breeding sites and to experimental human disturbance. While be...

Female New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844)) at the Auckland Islands (remnant populations) are the deepest and longest diving otariids. These remnant populations are found at the margin of the historical range of the species. We hypothesized that diving behaviours of animals in the core of their historical range is less extreme ow...

Science lecturers are assigning students to create blogs, wikis, video, and podcasts based on course content. Are such assignments a gimmick or a portent of things to come, where the laboratory notebook surrenders to the laptop and video camera? A number of the dozen 'pioneers' whom we have interviewed have stated that they are driven by a concern...

ABSTRACT: The New Zealand sea lion Phocarctos hookeri historically bred on the New Zealand mainland (South and North Islands). Subsistence hunting and later commercial sealing reduced its distribution to 3 breeding areas at the spatial edges of its historical distribution range, in the Auckland Islands (AI) and on Campbell Island. Here, we present...

Foraging zones used by incubating royal albatrosses (Diomedea epomophora) from the Otago Peninsula and their coincidence with fisheries activities were studied with global positioning system (GPS) loggers. Birds favoured areas around the shelf break of the eastern New Zealand continental mass, with hot spots of activity that coincided with fishing...

Over the last decade, New Zealand has led the world in the legal sale and uncontrolled use of the recreational drug benzylpiperazine (BZP), the active ingredient of ‘party pills’. One survey found that 40% of 18–29-year-olds admitted to using BZP-based party pills while, in another study, 44% of first-year university students had used the drug. Dur...

The behaviour of female New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) at sea and on land at the rookery of Fuchsia Gully, Otago Peninsula, New Zealand (45 °52′S, 170 °44′E), was examined during the early stages of lactation in the 1993 – 1994 breeding season. The attendance patterns of 19 females were investigated using daily observation at the ro...

In this paper I give the first authenticated account of copulation occurring above ground in Richardson's ground squirrels. Copulation occurs in a dorso-ventral position with both animals lying on their sides, and is characterized by a high degree of agonism between the pair.

A population of adult female Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) was experimentally manipulated so that on one half of the study area each of the 9 females had 2 or 3 closely related females (mother, daughter, or littermate sister) as neighbours (the "kin cluster group," KC), while the 10 females on the other half of the area...

New Zealand (NZ) sea lions (Phocarctoshookeri) are slowly recolonising the Otago coast, South Island, New Zealand. The increase in their numbers may lead to resource competition with other marine predators and fisheries. We determined the diet of female NZ sea lions at Otago during autumn. In total, 571 scats and 110 regurgitations were collected o...

Can science undergraduates learn effectively by activities that have them express science content in 'new media', the popular communication forms that increasingly impact on their lives? We describe here rationale, approaches to date, and a series of hypotheses to be tested in a project designed to develop the content knowledge and graduate attribu...

and SummaryA three-year field-study of Richardson's ground squirrels was conducted to assess whether alarm calling functions to warn close relatives (“kin selection” hypothesis) or manipulate conspecifics (a “selfish” hypothesis). S. richardsonii had distinct calls for terrestrial and aerial predators, and the responses of squirrels varied appropri...

SYMPOSIUM: Future Science Communication in Japan

Worldwide, crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.) are in decline and it is suspected that reduced prey availability plays an important role. However, the population of Snares Penguins (E. robustus) does not follow this trend, with its population being stable if not slightly increasing. To assess whether the success of the Snares Penguins is a result of a...

La mayor experiencia obtenida con la edad puede permitir a las aves marinas longevas forrajear con mayor eficacia y en última instancia, invertir más en la reproducción. En muchas aves marinas el tamaño de los huevos aumenta con la edad de la hembra, pero disminuye con la fecha de la puesta. La disminución del tamaño con la fecha de la puesta puede...

Using nest and banding data collected from 1991 to 2002, we investigated mate and territory retention rates of Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), and the effects of reproductive success. Annual mate retention rate was 63%, and territory retention for males and females were 52% and 46% respectively. The majority of pair dissolutions were d...

Building on discussions at two workshops held at the recent 10th International Conference on the Public Communication of Science and Technology during June 2008 in Malmö, Sweden, this article proposes specific steps toward achieving a common understanding of the essential elements for academic programs in science communication. About 40 academics,...

Chick survival of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor was studied on predator-free Motuara Island, Cook Strait, New Zealand (41d̀05'S, 174d̀15'E), in 1995 and 1996. We used the Kaplan-Meier estimator and robust Cox regression to estimate chick survival rate (pL se) at 0.325 pL 0.044, leading to an estimated survival from laying to fledging of 0.13 or a...

Effects of a change of diet on growth rates and fledging sizes of Yellow-eyed Penguins Megadyptes antipodes were examined at two breeding areas on South Island, New Zealand, during two breeding seasons. An adverse change in diet was observed in the second season. Evidence for this included depressed growth rates of weight, differential growth of we...

In Grey-faced Petrels Pterodroma macroptera gouldi parental care during the 55-day incubation period is mainly achieved by three long shifts (two by the male) when one partner is ashore while the other forages at sea. This situation would seem to carry high risks of parental desertion and failure of the hatching chick to receive a meal before its y...

1.Science is the primary way by which we can know the truth about the world in which we live. Yet, as much as we need science, the public has become overwhelmed by it and, paradoxically, excluded from it too.2.Even scientists cannot cope with the volume of science being produced and, further, the method we use to communicate among ourselves is hope...

The numbers of the endangered Yellow-eyed penguins on New Zealand’s third largest island, Stewart Island, have been declining considerably over last four years, primarily as a result of low reproductive success. Interestingly, Yellow-eyed penguins on adjacent Codfish Island seem to flourish. Here, high nest densities and high reproductive success i...

The distribution of prey for penguins is often a result of physical oceonographic processes. This is particularily so for penguin species breeding in isolated oceanic areas like sub-Antarctic islands. Snares penguins are primarily planktivorous foragers that find their food in a pelagic environment where prey distribution is a product of currents a...

Yellow-eyed penguins Megadyptes antipodes seemingly forage at discrete marine locations over the continental shelf, where they are believed to feed predominantly at the seafloor. Such behaviour would distinguish them from most other penguin species that generally employ pelagic foraging strategies. From 2003 to 2005 we studied the foraging behaviou...

Several studies have shown that the transition from egg laying to incubation behavior in birds is associated with changes in plasma levels of prolactin and steroid hormones. However, any effect of the tactile and visual input provided by eggs at initiating these hormonal changes has not been fully investigated in wild birds. A few days before yello...

The effects of social stimuli on avian reproductive behaviors such as breeding schedules and courtship behaviors are well known due to numerous field studies. However, studies that have simultaneously examined the effects of social stimuli on reproductive behavior and the mediating endocrine mechanisms have been largely restricted to captive popula...

Penguins show varying degrees of brood reduction behavior, from obligate brood reducers to brood maximizers, and we hypothesize that this is associated with differences in prolactin secretion. To address this hypothesis, we determined the breeding season prolactin profile of the yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) for comparison with those o...

In many bird species, eggs laid late in the laying period hatch after a shorter incubation period than early-laid eggs. However, the mechanisms that explain these seasonal declines in incubation periods among clutches remain poorly understood. In this study we investigated the plasticity of brood patch development during incubation in yellow-eyed p...

1. Environmental variation influences food abundance and availability, which is reflected in the reproductive success of top predators. We examined maternal expenditure, offspring mass and condition for Weddell seals in 2 years when individuals exhibited marked differences in these traits. 2. For females weighing > or = 355 kg there was a positive...

Environmental variation influences food abundance and availability, which is reflected in the reproductive success of top predators. We examined maternal expenditure, offspring mass and condition for Weddell seals in 2 years when individuals exhibited marked differences in these traits. For females weighing 355 kg there was a positive relationship...

Chemical immobilization of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) has previously been, for the most part, problematic and this has been mainly attributed to the type of immobilizing agent used. In addition to individual sensitivity, physiological status may play an important role. We investigated the use of the intravenous administration of a 1:1...

Using nest and banding data collected from 1991 to 2002, we investigated mate and territory retention rates of Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), and the effects of reproductive success. Annual mate retention rate was 63%, and territory retention for males and females were 52% and 46% respectively. The majority of pair dissolutions were d...

For seabird foraging studies, data loggers that use signals transmitted from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites represent a major methodological breakthrough. GPS loggers small and robust enough to be deployed on diving animals such as penguins are a recent development. The application of GPS devices on diving animals has its limitations du...

For seabird foraging studies, data loggers that use signals transmitted from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites represent a major methodological breakthrough. GPS loggers small and robust enough to be deployed on diving animals such as penguins are a recent development. The application of GPS devices on diving animals has its limitations du...

Brood reduction in birds is frequently induced by hatching asynchrony. Crested penguins (genus Eudyptes) are obligate brood reducers, but in contrast to most other birds, first-laid eggs are considerably smaller in size than second-laid eggs; furthermore, first-laid eggs hatch after their siblings. The mechanisms underlying this reversal in size an...

While Isla Chañaral (29°02’S) in Chile has long been recognized as one of the most important breeding islands for the Humboldt Penguin, the reported numbers of birds there never exceeded 3,500 breeding individuals in the last two decades. However, in 2002, a one-day survey found considerably more penguins present on Isla Chañaral, which exceed the...

In crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.), second-laid eggs typically hatch before first eggs. Amongst a variety of factors that have been considered as mechanisms underlying this reversal, has been the idea that crested penguins can adjust the degree of hatching asynchrony by manipulating egg positions (i.e. placing the smaller first egg in the supposed...

Little penguins breeding on Motuara Island, New Zealand, went on longer foraging trips during the incubation period compared with those breeding at Oamaru, Otago, resulting in higher rates of egg desertion at Motuara (Numata et al. 2000). In this paper, we report on the differences at these two sites in growth and survival of penguin chicks. During...

In many bird species, eggs laid late in the breeding season hatch after a shorter incubation period than eggs that were laid early. The proximate mechanisms that cause these seasonal declines in incubation length remain poorly understood. We tested in Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), Hipfner's hypothesis that late-laid eggs have thinner...

In many bird species, eggs laid late in the breeding season hatch after a shorter incubation period than eggs that were laid early. The proximate mechanisms that cause these seasonal declines in incubation length remain poorly understood. We tested in Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), Hipfner's hypothesis that late-laid eggs have thinner...

The Westland petrel (Procellaria westlandica) is endemic to New Zealand, and nests within a restricted area of the West Coast of the South Is. Surveys of burrow occupancy rate in 2 colonies in 2001 using burrow-scopes showed an average of 21% of burrows contained a chick or egg. The rate was c. 50% of that recorded for other burrowing seabirds and...

A number of models have been proposed to provide adaptive explanations of sex-ratio variation in mammals. Two models have been applied commonly to primates and ungulates with varying success--the Trivers-Willard (TW) hypothesis, and the local resource competition (LRC) hypothesis. For polygynous, sexually dimorphic mammals, where males are larger a...

We use a multistate mark–recapture model incorporating information on body mass, sex, time of capture, and natal colony to estimate the probabilities of survival, capture, and mass-state transition of New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) pups from 3 sites (colonies) on Otago Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand. Apparent survival for a mea...

The handicap principle suggests that ornamental traits that function as honest signals in mate selection must be costly to be effective. We evaluated in the sexually monochromatic yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) whether the carotenoid-derived plumage and eye coloration predicts parental quality and whether males and females within pairs...

Hutton's Shearwater, Puffinus huttoni, is a small endangered seabird that breeds at only two sites in the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains, New Zealand. The alpine habitat has restricted access and research on the species' breeding ecology. The extreme breeding habitat may also impose reproductive costs on Hutton's Shearwaters because of the energy neede...

The Hutton's shearwater Puffinus huttoni is an endangered species of burrowing petrel, that is threatened at its two remaining breeding colonies by the activity of introduced stoats Mustela erminea. Predation of eggs, chicks and adult shearwaters was studied over 10 consecutive breeding seasons (1989/1990–1998/1999) and resident stoats were radio-t...