The Record, December 10 2014

Page 1

Record

December 10 2014

Your Local Dealership

The

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2014

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Top award for talented teen  by Belinda Cullen-Reid

West Melton teenager Tim Logan has taken out the Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize worth $50,000 for his studies into native plants in Canterbury.

Serving up success

West Melton’s Sophie White is proving her tennis prowess …

P3

Camp out at Selwyn libraries

Selwyn libraries are challenging local children to take part and win in their Summer Reading Programme …

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Calls for improved bus signs

Rural Women New Zealand is calling on school buses to display illuminated speed limit signs …

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The 17-year-old Darfield High School student has spent the last couple of years walking the Waimakariri River floodplain researching the effects of stock grazing on low native vegetation such as New Zealand species of mosses and lichen. This award comes on the heels of other accolades for Tim including Best in Fair at the 2014 Canterbury Westland Secondary School Science and Technology Fair and the New Zealand Young Plant Conservationist Award. Tim’s mother Sally Logan said attending the science awards in Wellington had been a very exciting time for the family. “It was such a proud moment. The whole family came up. Tim was very happy to be able to stand next to the Prime Minister and shake his hand,” Mrs Logan said. She said Tim was now attending a National Science Fair for secondary school children. He had also been asked to write a report for the New Zealand Science Teachers’ magazine. Darfield High School Principal James Morris said using his intellect, initiative and enthusiasm for biology Tim has had opportunities open up for him. “Since the prize was announced, we have had a number of universities and organisations wanting to get in contact with Tim to suggest future possibilities,” Mr Morris said. Tim’s investigation into the effects of stock grazing on native grassland species was a first in Canterbury. He found that native plants can not only

 Tim Logan of Darfield High School with Prime Minister John Key at the recent Prime Minister’s Science Awards held in Wellington

co-exist with stock, but under certain conditions can flourish. “The small native plants rely on both stress and disturbance,” Tim said. “Stress is brought about by drought conditions, such as those found at the Waimakariri flood plain. Disturbance happens through things like floods

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and fires, and in this case grazing. The disturbance brought about by grazing, which thinned out the bigger exotic plants, allowed the smaller native plants, such as these, to thrive as they weren’t competing.” Tim said he will put the prize money towards his future university studies. 


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