He is a Professor at the University of Waikato's Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research, in the Department of Biological Sciences, of the School of Science and Technology.

Craig is also Associate Professor and Director at the Center for Marine Genomics, Graduate College of Marine Studies at the University of Delaware.  He obtained his PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego in 1989.

In 2008, Craig received a Marsden Fund grant to research life at the extreme, to resolve the genetic basis of microbial endemism in the super-heated soils of Tramway Ridge on Mt Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica which is the most geographically isolated geothermal site on Earth.

In 1998, Craig achieved notoriety with discovery of Earth's most heat-tolerant animal.  The Pompeii worm Alvinella pompejana can survive in 80°C (176°F) water.  It is a fuzzy gray creature about the length of a human hand, with tentacle-like, scarlet gills on its head, that lives in the extreme environment of hydrothermal vents.  Some bacteria live at higher temperatures, but the Pompeii worm is the most heat-tolerant higher-order life form, surpassing the Sahara Desert ant which previously held the record of 55°C (131°F).

Bruce Clarkson ........

Professor Bruce Clarkson is Chairperson of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research at the University of Waikato.

He has published some 65 papers and several books on various aspects of the systematics and ecology of New Zealand native plants and vegetation.  He has also produced more than 300 reports on natural areas of the middle North Island based on intensive field work and traverses through the forest and wetlands.

Throughout his research career, Bruce has maintained a strong interest in applying aspects of his research on the ground, to assist in the long-term protection and restoration of native plants and ecosystems.

In 2005, together with Dr Wren Green, Bruce undertook an independent review for the Chief Executives of sponsor government agencies, of progress (2000-2005) of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy.

In the last 10 years he has become very active in community based ecological restoration projects, receiving the Loder Cup, New Zealand’s premier conservation award, in 2006, in recognition of his "... outstanding contribution across the full range of criteria specified for the award – New Zealanders who work to investigate, promote, retain and cherish New Zealand’s indigenous flora ...".

From 2007 to 2009, Bruce led a Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST) funded programme at the University of Waikato, for research into methods of restoring remnants of indigenous forests.

He currently leads another FRST funded research programme on determining the best methods for restoring indigenous biodiversity in cities, which follows the University's four year urban restoration project for Hamilton.  Bruce was the project leader of the 60 ha Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park surrounding Horseshoe Lake in Hamilton, in collaboration with the Hamilton City Council.

Doug Armstrong ........

..... provides a wealth of experience in ecology to TerraNature, with 16 years of scientific research of New Zealand's unique biodiversity, particularly with the avifauna.  He is Professor of Wildlife Ecology in the Wildlife Ecology Group, which is a research group within the Institute of Natural Resources at Massey University.  He became a member of the faculty in 1993.

Since 1993, his research has been primarily focused on population dynamics of reintroduced forest birds, mostly involving toutouwai (New Zealand robin), hihi (stitchbird), and tieke (saddleback) on offshore islands or mainland forest fragments.

Doug chairs the Oceania Section of the Reintroduction Specialist Group (RSG), which is one of several groups within the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

He advises the RSG on various issues of bird reintroduction, and facilitates contact between reintroduction practitioners in Australasia and overseas, and networking in Australia and New Zealand.

In his teaching at Massey, Doug is Director of the Postgraduate Programme in Conservation Biology.  He is the coordinator and principal contributor for postgraduate papers in "Conservation Biology" and "Wildlife Management", coordinates the undergraduate paper in "Applied Ecology and Resource Management", and contributes to undergraduate courses in "Ecology and Conservation", "Fauna of New Zealand" and "Community Ecology".

Matt McGlone ........

..... is the Science Leader of Biodiversity and Conservation in the Biological Systems group at Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua, New Zealand's foremost environmental research organisation.

Matt is a global change scientist.  With a PhD in Botany, specialising in Palaeoecology from the University of Canterbury, he has gained a national reputation for understanding landscapes and their history in relation to human history, and climate and biodiversity change.

Matt is a specialist in the study of flora history by analysis of fossil pollen grains found in ancient sediments.  He leads the Global Change project within the Ecosystem Resilience OBI at Landcare Research, and is a member of the Foundation Strategic Advisory Board.

Matt is a co-author with Graeme Stevens and Beverly McCulloch of Prehistoric New Zealand, a fascinating story the country's natural history, and the author of Unsettled-Outlook: New Zealand and the Greenhouse Effect published in 1989.

He has also published more than 110 peer-reviewed papers, numerous reports and popular articles.  Matt has been the lead investigator for three Marsden Fund grants, and has prepared and reviewed Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Graeme Woodhouse ........

..... is president and chairs TerraNature and Terra Nature Fund, managing both organizations in a full-time capacity. He took primary responsibility for establishing the two entities in 2000.  Born and raised in Auckland and Hamilton, Graeme became a Registered Surveyor with the Survey Board of New Zealand in 1968.

After planning and engineering various land development projects at the Vail ski resort in Colorado, he was the planner from 1975 until 1977 for Beaver Creek, the second resort developed by Vail Associates Inc.

As founding partner of Woodhouse & Garry CHS (1979-92), a town planning and architectural practice in Vail and Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, his work included urban design plans for six alpine destination resort villages.

From 1985 to 1989, Graeme lead a comprehensive team of consultants in the preparation of a master plan for a new town for 120,000 people covering an area of 16,000 acres for the Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners.

In more recent horticulturally oriented work, as president of Fort Mason Community Garden Inc, a San Francisco nonprofit community organisation during 1997 and 1998, he was responsible for transforming nursery operations, initiating native plant propagation and planting, organising composting operations, and incorporating windbreak planting and water conservation measures.

Graeme received the Highest Achievement Award for Community Organizing in 1999, for his volunteer work as a neighborhood coordinator with Friends of the Urban Forest, a nonprofit organisation responsible for planting and maintaining most of San Francisco's street trees.