Southland Science Fair Winners

Lucy Cooper and Olivia Gibson are our our award winners for the Southland Science Fair 2024. While Olivia investigated the pH levels at sites in and around Invercargill and Bluff, Lucy investigated the differences in Yellow belly flounder parasitic and bacterial load from a marine (coastal) site vs an estuarine site. Interestingly she found the marine individuals to be higher in parasitic loads when compared to estuarine individuals and the opposite to be true when assessing bacterial loading. Higher levels of E. coli in the estuaries were driving the high bacteria loads in this site and overall her findings were that poor water quality negatively effects flounder health.