Goodnature

Key takeaways

Goodnature belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Goodnature to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Goodnature from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Goodnature is a New Zealand company founded in 2005 by two men, Robbie van Dam and Craig Bond. Goodnature specializes in the production of traps designed for the control of animal pests.

History Goodnature was founded by friends Robbie van Dam and Craig Bond who met while studying industrial design at Victoria University. Van Dam had a job at the Department of Conservation (DOC) in the Biodiversity Unit building gadgets for pest control when he noticed the methods for killing pest species such as rats, stoats and possums were either inefficient or inhumane. DOC funded the development of some of their early concepts to create the traps manufactured by Goodnature today.

Department of Conservation partnership Goodnature released the first beta self-resetting trap for rats and stoats during New Zealand Conservation Week in September 2009. The initial technology could self-reset 12 times using compressed CO2. Field testing led to the development of a trap for brushtail possums, and another for rats and stoats. The company also built a lure development facility to test animal attractants as lures. The traps were put into long-term, large-scale evaluation by DOC from 2010 to 2016. Goodnature's traps are endorsed by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) for their efficiency in killing pests, and by DOC's Science and Technical team which recommends their use for conservation projects to protect New Zealand native plant and bird species.

Goodnature Products

Goodnature produces and sells two pest control devices; one for brushtail possums, and another trap for rats and stoats; it also produces toxin-free lures to target these pests.

Technology The self-resetting traps are powered by compressed gas and use a target-specific lure to attract animals. The traps work by striking the skull of the animal with a steel-cored, glass-reinforced, polymer piston (described as a captive bolt), killing it almost instantly. This piston is driven by compressed CO2 when the animal triggers the trap. Once the animal has been struck, the piston returns, dropping the animal to the ground and resetting the trap. The traps have achieved the Class A standard for humaneness as set out in the MPI's National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee's guidelines. This is the only possum trap ever to have met this standard. The A24 also meets the United Kingdom's Spring Traps Approval Order.

Awards In 2016, Goodnature's A24 rat and stoat trap and automatic lure pump won Best Effect at the Design Institute of New Zealand for improving DOC's capability in New Zealand forests. It also received the supreme Purple Pin which is given to work that raises the bar of New Zealand design. Both Goodnature's A24 and A12 traps have won the Non-Consumer, Sustainable Product Design and Best Effect awards at the design institute's Best Awards since 2011.

Usage

Conservation usage Goodnature's traps have been used in New Zealand in projects by DOC, city and regional councils, community groups, and households. DOC has used Goodnature traps on Native Island, Southland, at Harts Hill in Fiordland National Park, at Boundary Stream, Hawkes Bay, Te Urewera Mainland Island, and at Abel Tasman National Park In June 2017, 1200 stoat traps were installed on 11,400 hectares of the Haast Kiwi Sanctuary to protect tokoeka kiwi, as part of the department's Battle For Our Birds programme. In the same programme, DOC also increased the number of stoat traps in Arthur's Pass National Park and Lake Sumner Forest Park in an effort to save one of New Zealand's rarest parakeets (orange-fronted parakeet) from extinction. In January 2017, the kiwi sanctuary at Rimutaka Forest Park was doubled in size to 7000 hectares to aid the regeneration of New Zealand's North Island brown kiwi. A total of 1200 Goodnature traps were laid down to reduce the number of stoats at the park that prey on kiwi. The traps were a key tool behind a rodent control program at Maria Langa Cay, Puerto Rico in 2014 chosen to avoid the use of rodenticide on the island, which is a nesting site for the endangered hawksbill sea turtle and home to the brown pelican. The traps are also used in conservation projects throughout Hawaii including in Kalaupapa National Historical Park in Oahu, in the Waianae and Ko'olau mountain ranges of Oahu, and on the island of Lanai. The company has also developed targeted devices for the introduced mongoose in Hawaii, the introduced American mink in Finland and Sweden, and the introduced grey squirrel in the United Kingdom. The company's traps are now used in more than 25 countries including: the United States, Canada, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Australia.

References

External links http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/battle-for-our-birds/ Battle For Our Birds

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Goodnature

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Goodnature claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Goodnature before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Goodnature ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Goodnature

In research: Goodnature appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Goodnature in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Goodnature is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Wellington, New Zealand design, Pest control, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Goodnature outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Goodnature in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Goodnature means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Goodnature out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Goodnature in simple terms?

Goodnature is a New Zealand company founded in 2005 by two men, Robbie van Dam and Craig Bond. Goodnature specializes in the production of traps designed for the control of animal pests.

Why does Goodnature matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Goodnature?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Goodnature.