Useful Information
Course Material
Scientific Journals
eBooks/Online Reference
Essay Help
Referencing

John Lavas
Subject Librarian:
Biological Sciences

Science Information Services 
General Library
The University of Auckland Library
Ph 09 3737599 ext. 85772
j.lavas@auckland.ac.nz

Locations

• General Library opening hours
• Short Loan Collection information, opening hours, use etc.
• Information Commons Help Desk
• Kate Edger Information Commons | Ururangi

Resources

• Using electronic journals via Find Full Text
• Primary, Review and Popular Journals, what are the differences?
• InfoQuest: the Online Guide to Finding Journal Articles
• Understanding your Reading List
• Readings & Exams - on-line versions of past exam papers, great for study and revision!
• FREE Library Workshops - the Catalogue, Internet Searching, Databases and much more....

Course Material - Short Loan Collection 

There are a number of items available for BIOSCI 330 in the Short Loans Collection which is located on level 1 of the Kate Edger Information Commons.

To see the full list of items, go to the  Course Materials  search page on the catalogue, scroll down the alphabetical list of courses to find the entry for BIOSC330 and click on the Search tab.

The items are in alphabetical order by title and may include books and individual articles. 

Scientific Journals

• Hardcopies of the following journals are available in the General Library, Level M.  Scientific journals are shelved alphabetically by journal title.
• Recent issues of many of these journals are also available electronically, indicated by the e symbol. 
• Using electronic journals via Find Full Text
  • Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences e
  • Ecology (ex Plant World) e
  • Ecological Monographs e
  • Estuaries (ex Chesapeake Science)
  • Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science e
  • Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology e   
  • Hydrobiologia    
  • Limnology and Oceanography e
  • Marine and Freshwater Research (ex Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research) 
  • Marine Biology e   
  • Marine Ecology Progress Series e
  • New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research e
  • Oecologia e

EBooks/Quick Reference Online

To access these eBooks refer to the Accessing Electronic Resources instructions.

Tips for finding even more eBooks :

• Click here for online reference books.
• Click here to look at all University of Auckland Library eBooks

Essay Assignment Help

Topic: "Identify and discuss the linkage between an area of research activity and a management issue affecting freshwater and/or estuarine ecosystems in New Zealand"

Due: Refer to Course Guide.  Remember to attach the SBS cover sheet.

You are not limited to the list of topics below, but some possibilities are:  

• Increased sedimentation and its effects on estuaries 
• Effects of eutrophication 
• Effects of changes in land use on stream communities 
• Criteria and methods for identifying sites for conservation 
• Effects of introduced organisms (e.g., freshwater weeds, Spartina, Asian mussel, trout) 
• Techniques for detecting impacts on flora and fauna Impacts of aquaculture on estuaries

Consider some of the research areas that are or have been funded by the Public Good Science Fund,  the Sustainable Management Fund, or have been the topics of MSc or PhD theses at the University of Auckland (Guide to Finding Theses).
* Note that marine theses researched at the Leigh lab are available in chronological files on the Subject Guides Marine Sciences page.

Also see references cited in the lectures in the course guide.

Information on management issues may be obtained from the following websites: 

• Department of Conservation  
• National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research NIWA  
• Landcare 
• Regional and City Councils, e.g., Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. 
• The Auckland Regional Council library is worth checking, but please do not ask Council staff to send you information.

Your essay should include: 

• A discussion of the nature and ecological significance of the management issue(s) that the research addresses 
• An overview of the background, aims, objectives and results (if relevant) of the research 
• A brief discussion of how this research might build on or contradict our previous understanding of the ecology or functioning of aquatic ecosystems 
• A critical assessment of the overall benefit and outcome of the research to the management of the ecosystem

The research discussed can either be work that is currently being done in New Zealand, or work that has been done overseas and could be applied to a New Zealand management issue (e.g., predicting the likely effects of invasive species that have not yet reached New Zealand but have caused problems elsewhere).

Concentrate on the science behind the management issue (not the policy-related stuff), and examine at least one study in reasonable depth (don't just do a general literature review of your topic). Give your essay a proper title based on its content (as opposed to repeating the topic title: "Identify and discuss the linkage…"). Use the websites listed above to suggest topics, not as your sole source of information - your major sources should be the scientific literature published in journals and books. Definition and examples of scientific literature.

Searching Library Databases for Scientific Literature 

Work through the steps in InfoQuest, the Online Guide to Finding Journal Articles using Library Databases. This is a general guide aimed at all undergrad students.  For this assignment you will need to specifically find NZ resources and material and the following information will also be helpful

Finding NZ Material  

Some New Zealand material is indexed by some of the larger international databases that the library subscribes to, e.g. Biological Abstracts and Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts.  If you are looking for NZ material you may also like to use the following New Zealand databases which will index some of the more local New Zealand material (government departments reports, other smaller documents etc.) that the larger database don't index:

• NZ Science | Help Sheet
  A comprehensive index of New Zealand Science, provided by The Crown Research Institutes (CRIs previously the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, DSIR) and the Royal Society of New Zealand.  Indexes publications from NIWA, Landcare and HortResearch.
• NewzTextPlus
  Newztext is a databases that indexes all of New Zealand's key Daily Newspapers, NewzText also contains the fulltext of all newspaper articles.  Newspaper articles are not always suitable for scientific essays.  However, reading newspaper articles will give you and overview and the background of a topic.  Newspapers also give the general public opinion on a topic (especially if it's controversial e.g. aerial spraying for Painted Apple Moth)
• Index New Zealand
  Index New Zealand indexes nearly 300 journals and newspapers. It is the key New Zealand database for social sciences, arts, humanities and general interest material, and indexes some South Pacific journals.  To log in click on Connect and then select Index New Zealand from the Other databases menu, then click on the grey Connect button to begin searching. Index New Zealand uses the same search software as Voyager the Library Catalogue, so if you're familiar with searching Voyager using Index New Zealand will be easy.