USP scientist invited to join an international biodiversity expedition.
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 | Botanists and Ni-Vanuatu trainees processing plant specimen during the Santo 2006 biodiversity survey on the north-west coast of the cumberland Peninsula of Santo Island
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In late 2005 botanical researchers at the Museum National d’Historie Naturelle (MNHN) Herbarium in Paris requested that the Curator of the South Pacific Regional Herbarium (SPRH), Mr Marika Tuiwawa, join a biodiversity survey of Santo Island in Vanuatu to be conducted in 2006. The aim of the overall project was to put together an inventory, document and describe the terrestrial and marine biodiversity of the Island of Santo, Vanuatu. This was funded by the French Government through the Institue de Recherche pour le Development (IRD), MNHN, Pro-Natura International (PNI) and the Vanuatu Government. A total of 12 international botanists from France, USA, Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Fiji were involved in the terrestrial botanical and vegetation ecology group. Mr Tuiwawa joined a group consisting of two other botanists based at a camp near the coastal village of Penaoru on the north-west coast of the cumberland peninsula of Santo Island for two months from October to December 2006. The group was tasked with examining variation in the diversity of plants (from mosses to angiosperms) along an altitudinal gradient from 100-1200 m above sea level. This transect represented a transition from the narrow coastal strip which has experienced substantial human impact through shifting agriculture up to altitudes, with only occasional and patchy disturbance (ca. 300-500 m asl) to higher elevations (500-1200 m asl) of mostly pristine forest. The fieldwork resulted in the collection and partial identification of more than 2000 plant specimens, comprising ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms. All specimen collected by the group were sent to the IRD Herbarium in New Caledonia for identification validation. Ths second visit by Mr Tuiwawa to the IRD Herbarium took place from the 22 February to 10 March 2007 and was funded by the Institute of Applied Sciences (IAS) at USP. Together with Dr Jerome Muntzinger (Curator IRD Herbarium Noumea) and Dr Gordon McPherson (Botanist from the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, USA), Mr Tuiwawa processed the 2,083 specimens that were collected from Vanuatu. The Noumea work identified 296 taxa including 16 unidentified taxa, 20 unidentified genera, and 56 unidentified species. It is believed that so far three new species have been recorded. Further herbarium work will be carried out on these unidentified specimens at the Paris and Missouri herbaria later in the year. Additional plant groups including orchids, Myrtaceae, Fabaceae, Cunonniaceae, Poaceae, ferns and the cryptogams were left to be processed by specialists in Paris. Duplicates of all the collection have been sorted and will be stored in the Paris, Vanuatu, SPRH and the IRD herbaria. Already 200 specimens are in the SPRH and are currently being processed for accession into the collection. Further specimen are expected at SPRH after processing by other botanists. As a result of this project, collaborative work with some of the institutions and scientists involved in the Santo project is currently underway on other botanical projects.
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