Jessica Prebble
2025: Dr Jessica Prebble of the Bioeconomy Science Institute will explore how plants promote the persistence of climate-resilient peat bogs
Peatlands are wetland ecosystems that act as a refuge for diverse plants and animals, including treasured taonga species native to Aotearoa New Zealand. Climate change represents a significant challenge to peatbog persistence, threatening not only the species that live there but also the release of the greenhouse gases currently stored within them.
Waikato peatlands are dominated by Empodisma robustum, a species of wire rush which lives under conditions much warmer and drier than typical peat ecosystems. In their New Zealand Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship, Dr Jessica Prebble will use functional and genetic analyses to determine how this species of wire rush, in cooperation with other peatland plants, can survive in the relatively warm and dry climate in the Waikato region, and how it might contribute to the climate-resilience of peatland.
Dr Jessica Prebble at Cape Saunders on the Otago Peninsula looking for native plants. Credit: Kerry Ford.