New book taps into work scientists are doing to protect our wetlands

Karen Denyer, Waipā District Council Mayor Jim Mylchreest and Monica Peters at the book launch of Life in the Shallows. Photo/Kate Durie

Life in the Shallows by Karen Denyer and Monica Peters is a fundraiser for the National Wetland Trust - all proceeds from book sales go to the National Wetland Trust to further its wetland advocacy work.

Rich and diverse but often unloved, Aotearoa's wetlands are the most vulnerable
of our ecosystems. Only a tiny fraction of their original extent remains, and we continue to lose this vital habitat.

The race is on to discover more about them while we still can. This highly illustrated book introduces and explores the wetlands of Aotearoa through the work and experiences of our leading researchers.

The book profiles and heroes our wetland scientists - living, recent past and ancestral experts and the wonders of the wetlands they discovered. The book has no particular reading order and the authors have listed it by scientists' first names in alphabetical order.

There are interviews and contributions from over 20 of New Zealand's leading wetland scientists, with the aim to inspire the next generation of researchers to discuss their discoveries about how wetlands habitats work and what lives in them.

There is a wide range of subjects from how wetlands form, how to build a new wetland, how new species are discovered and named, and how scientists carry out field research and find solutions to problems caused by climate change, pollution, pests and people.

Life in the Shallows provides inspiration and information for those wanting to conserve and restore wetlands from communities and iwi groups, councils, farmers and students.

It shows the reader where wetlands are in order to visit them all around New Zealand, with descriptions of the rich bird, insects and plant life that can be found there. It also highlights some of the innovative ways we can protect and restore them.

There are stunning wetland photos that are donated by amazing and generous New Zealand professionals and amateur photographers.

Life in the Shallows also explores the deep cultural and spiritual significance they have for Māori, and the collaboration of Mātauranga Māori and western science in continuing to improve our understanding of these special places.

Karen says, "This book is fun to read and we worked hard to not make it a dry topic."

Author Karen has worked as an ecological consultant for over 20 years, much of it in wetland ecology. She has also been involved for many years in environmental education and has written a number of publications. She has been executive officer at National Wetland Trust since 2008.

"When Tracey Borgfeldt, associate publisher at Massey University Press, approached me in 2020, asking if I was up to writing a book about the wetlands, I knew I wanted to do that, but it sounded like a really big job and I don't think I could do on my own.

"That's when I instantly thought of Monica, who is an excellent communicator and we had collaborated well in the past, so this has been another great project for us to work on together," says Karen.

Monica has a PhD from Waikato University in the ecology of community environmental groups and is currently co-chair of the Citizen Science Association of Aotearoa New Zealand. Her background includes hands-on conservation, research, science communication, international development and fine arts.

"The scientists who we interviewed for this book are people who we have known for a long time, but we hadn't had the opportunity to sit down and talk in-depth about the research that they do - and find out the hilarious - or disturbing things that happen while they are out in the field. It was a neat insight into their lives," says Monica.

She added that they "wanted to show scientists as ordinary people and not people who are hidden away in laboratories, with strange quirks and big glasses and coats. We wanted to destroy that stereotype."

Waipā District Council Mayor Jim Mylchreest says "a book like this is essential for Waipā".

"For years the council has been working towards protecting the wetlands that we have left."

He believes it's important to encourage public support for wetlands to get rid of the age-old belief that wetlands are nasty places that needed to be drained and are unappreciated.

"Wetlands are a part of our history. With the threats we have with climate change, they are becoming more important in slowing down the flow of water," says Jim.