Image Marine scientist in the laboratory

TLF ID M008766

This is a colour photograph of marine scientist Dr Miles Lamare. Dr Lamare is in his office at the Portobello Marine Laboratory at the University of Otago, New Zealand. On the desk behind Dr Lamare is the scientific equipment he uses to download data from electronic tags, which he attaches to sea stars.





Educational details

Educational value
  • Dr Miles Lamare is a marine science lecturer and researcher of the University of Otago in New Zealand. Dr Lamare is especially interested in marine invertebrates such as sea urchins and sea stars. His research is mostly focused on marine environments off the southern New Zealand coast.
  • Dr Miles Lamare and fellow researchers created a new technique for attaching electronic tags to sea stars. Very few invertebrates have ever been tagged, and tagging sea stars is very challenging as they are able to shed their arms. The researchers successfully tagged sea stars by piercing an arm with metal, onto which the electronic tag was attached.
  • Attaching electronic tags to marine animals gives information about their location or behaviour, including feeding habits and movement. The tags record data that is retrieved after the tag is removed. Removed tags are placed in a type of communication box, which is attached to the computer (seen in the background in the image).
  • Dr Lamare is interested in the behaviour of sea stars as they play a vital role in marine ecosystems. Sea stars are predators of many types of animals including mussels, clams and oysters. Sea stars are preyed upon by sharks and rays. They are an important part of the marine food chain - keeping down numbers of the organisms they eat and providing food for others.
Year level

5; 6; 7; 8

Learning area
  • Science

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: University of Waikato
  • Organization: University of Waikato
  • Description: content provider
  • Address: NEW ZEALAND
  • URL: http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Generic
Learning Resource Type
  • Image
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd 2011 (except where otherwise indicated). You may copy, communicate and adapt this metadata for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.