Some like it odd: Long‐term research reveals unusual behaviour in the flightless Kagu of New Caledonia

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-154
Author(s):  
Jörn Theuerkauf ◽  
Sophie Rouys ◽  
Henri Bloc ◽  
Gavin R. Hunt ◽  
Ralph Kuehn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Unusual Behaviour

Do researchers impact their study populations? Assessing the effect of field procedures in a long term population monitoring of sea kraits

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 365-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Fauvel ◽  
François Brischoux ◽  
Marine Jeanne Briand ◽  
Xavier Bonnet
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Stress Hormones ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Population Monitoring ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Head Morphology

Long term population monitoring is essential to ecological studies; however, field procedures may disturb individuals. Assessing this topic is important in worldwide declining taxa such as reptiles. Previous studies focussed on animal welfare issues and examined short-term effects (e.g. increase of stress hormones due to handling). Long-term effects with possible consequences at the population level remain poorly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of widely used field procedures (e.g. handling, marking, forced regurgitation) both on short-term (hormonal stress response) and on long-term (changes in body condition, survival) scales in two intensively monitored populations of sea kraits (Laticauda spp.) in New Caledonia. Focusing on the most intensively monitored sites, from 2002 to 2012, we gathered approximately 11 200 captures/recaptures on 4500 individuals. Each snake was individually marked (scale clipping + branding) and subjected to various measurements (e.g. body size, head morphology, palpation). In addition, a subsample of more than 500 snakes was forced to regurgitate their prey for dietary analyses. Handling caused a significant stress hormonal response, however we found no detrimental long-term effect on body condition. Forced regurgitation did not cause any significant effect on both body condition one year later and survival. These results suggest that the strong short-term stress provoked by field procedures did not translate into negative effects on the population. Although similar analyses are required to test the validity of our conclusions in other species, our results suggest distinguishing welfare and population issues to evaluate the potential impact of population surveys.

Archaeology of a Piece of Gondwanaland

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Sand
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Cultural Complex ◽  
Geological Diversity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Colonial Settlement

New Caledonia is the southern-most archipelago of Melanesia. Its unique geological diversity, as part of the old Gondwana plate, has led to specific pedological and floral environments that have, since first human settlement, influenced the ways Pacific Islanders have occupied and used the landscape. This essay presents some of the key periods of the nearly 3,000 years of pre-colonial human settlement. After having presented a short history of archaeological research in New Caledonia, the essay focuses first on the Lapita foundation, which raises questions of long-term contacts and cultural change. The second part details the unique specificities developed during the “Traditional Kanak Cultural Complex,” during the millennium predating first European contact, as well as highlighting the massive changes brought by the introduction of new diseases, in the decades before the colonial settlement era. This leads to questions about archaeological history and the role of archaeology in the present decolonizing context.

Population dynamics of canopy trees in New Caledonian rain forests: are monodominant Nothofagus (Nothofagaceae) forests successional to mixed rain forests?

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 485-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Read ◽  
Tanguy Jaffré
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Secondary Forests ◽  
Rain Forests ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Shade Tolerant Species ◽  
Successional Stages ◽  
Continuous Regeneration ◽  
Canopy Species

Abstract:In New Caledonia, rain forests with an upper canopy dominated by single species of Nothofagus occur next to mixed-canopy forests, without discernible environmental cause. A potential explanation is that they are different successional stages. To test this hypothesis and predict long-term change in canopy dominance, population size structures of 61 canopy species were analysed in six Nothofagus-dominated forests and three adjacent mixed rain forests. Weibull analysis suggests that these Nothofagus forests are secondary forests, with recruitment insufficient to maintain monodominance, except at a high-altitude site. At low- to mid-altitudes the Nothofagus canopy is predicted to develop into a mixed canopy, unless moderate to severe disturbance occurs within its reproductive lifespan. However, adjacent mixed rain forests are also secondary, with 85% of analysed species showing no evidence of continuous regeneration. Fifteen species from both forest types showed reverse-J curves suggesting continuous regeneration, but only Calophyllum caledonicum did so consistently. Since few canopy species showed evidence of high shade tolerance and persistence, a small number of shade-tolerant species is predicted to dominate both forests in the long term, in the hypothetical absence of disturbance. Hence, temporal factors associated with disturbances play a key role in determining dominance in these forests.

scholarly journals Multiple Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus deaths caused by dog attacks at a high-altitude study site on Pic Ningua, New Caledonia

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin R. Hunt ◽  
Rod Hay ◽  
Clare J. Veltman
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
The Public ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Intensively Managed ◽  
Repeat Visits

SummaryDog predation has been cited as an important factor in the decline of the threatened Kagu of New Caledonia but direct evidence of predation was restricted to single kills. Here we report the first documented case of multiple Kagu deaths caused by dogs, which occurred at our 200 ha, high-altitude (800-1,300 m) study site on Pic Ningua. The deaths were discovered because we were radio-tracking Kagus there as part of our behavioural study on the birds. In 1993 we found 20 Kagus either dead (15) or wounded (5; one survived) from dog attacks in four distinct episodes over a 14-week period from late April to early August. Two other birds whose older remains were found also probably died from dog attacks. Of the 22 birds 18 wore radio transmitters; the four non-radio-tracked birds were found by chance. Dogs errant from a nearby tribal village were strongly implicated in carrying out most, if not all, of the attacks. They climbed around 1,000 m in altitude to reach the study site and attacked birds there on repeat visits to the site. The apparent recent disappearance of Kagus in forest neighbouring the study site suggests the dogs caused the deaths of most of the birds on the peak. Dog predation is probably an ongoing problem for the Kagu and the attacks at Pic Ningua are probably not an isolated incident. Protecting birds outside Riviere Bleue Park from dogs will require: (1) establishment of additional intensively managed reserves; (2) continuing education of the public and administrators about the need for Kagu protection and associated dog control; (3) involvement of tribal communities in Kagu conservation; and (4) enforcement of dog control laws. The events at Pic Ningua demonstrate the necessity for additional and non-connected reserves to safeguard against catastrophes and increase the probability of long-term Kagu persistence in the wild.

Long-term persistence and vicariance within the Australian Monsoonal Tropics: the case of the giant cave and tree geckos (Pseudothecadactylus)

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Oliver ◽  
Rebecca J. Laver ◽  
Katie L. Smith ◽  
Aaron M. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Arid Conditions ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cape York ◽  
Rag 1

The Australian Monsoonal Tropics (AMT) are one of the largest unbroken areas of savannah woodland in the world. The history of the biota of this region is poorly understood; however, data from fossil deposits indicate that the climate was more mesic in the past, and that biodiversity has been shaped by attenuation and turnover as arid conditions expanded and intensified through the Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene. The giant cave and tree geckos (Pseudothecadactylus) are distributed across three disjunct regions of relatively high rainfall in the AMT (the north-west Kimberley, the ‘Top End’, and Cape York). We present an analysis of the diversity and biogeography of this genus based on mitochondrial (ND2) and nuclear (RAG-1) loci. These data indicate that the three widely allopatric lineages of Pseudothecadactylus diverged around the mid-Miocene, a novel pattern of relatively long-term persistence that has not previously been documented within the AMT. Two Pseudothecadactylus species endemic to sandstone scarps in the west Kimberley Region and ‘Top End’ also include divergent mitochondrial lineages, indicative of deep intraspecific coalescence times within these regions. Pseudothecadactylus is a highly relictual lineage with an extant distribution that has been shaped by a history of attenuation, isolation and persistence in the face of increasingly arid conditions. The low ecological and morphological diversity of Pseudothecadactylus also contrasts with its diverse sister lineage of geckos in New Caledonia, further underlining the relictual nature of standing diversity in the former.

scholarly journals From land and sea, long‐term data reveal persistent humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding habitat in New Caledonia

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1697-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solène Derville ◽  
Leigh G. Torres ◽  
Rémi Dodémont ◽  
Véronique Perard ◽  
Claire Garrigue
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Humpback Whale ◽  
Megaptera Novaeangliae ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Term Data

scholarly journals Long-term Field Study of Sea Kraits in New Caledonia: Fundamental Issues and Conservation

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Bonnet
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Term Field

Long-term tropical morphogenesis of New Caledonia (Southwest Pacific): Importance of positive epeirogeny and climate change

Geomorphology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 81 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 361-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violaine Chevillotte ◽  
Dominique Chardon ◽  
Anicet Beauvais ◽  
Pierre Maurizot ◽  
Fabrice Colin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Southwest Pacific

Long-term ecological change in a conservation hotspot: the fossil avifauna of Mé Auré Cave, New Caledonia

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 3207-3224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison G. Boyer ◽  
Helen F. James ◽  
Storrs L. Olson ◽  
Jack A. Grant-Mackie
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Ecological Change
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