A New Caledonian Glasshouse in Paris

This chapter discusses the renovation of the public glasshouses (Les Grandes Serres) at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN) and particularly the creation of a glasshouse presenting the rich and unique flora of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the Pacific Ocean. The displays demonstrate past and current scientific studies carried out by MNHN researchers in all fields of natural history. Current concerns over the degradation of the biodiversity of the region have led to the decision taken by the Department of Botanical and Zoological Gardens to display this ecosystem. Five of the most threatened or important ecosystems of the archipelago have been recreated in the glasshouses and have full disabled access. The reopening of Les Grandes Serres was a landmark for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity at MNHN.

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New sciaphilic plakinids (Porifera, Homoscleromorpha) from the Central-Western Pacific

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4466.1.4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4466 (1) ◽

pp. 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

ANAÍRA LAGE ◽

GUILHERME MURICY ◽

CÉSAR RUIZ ◽

THIERRY PÉREZ

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Pacific Ocean ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

New Caledonia ◽

Western Pacific ◽

Marquesas Islands ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Pacific Ocean ◽

Submarine Caves

The sponge class Homoscleromorpha is a key model for the evolutionary biology of the Metazoa but its diversity remains poorly known. Here we describe six new species of the homoscleromorph family Plakinidae found in shaded habitats (submarine caves, tunnels and overhangs) of New Caledonia and Marquesas Islands, Central-Western Pacific. The new species belong to four genera: Corticium (Corticium vaceleti sp. nov.), Plakina (Plakina finispinata sp. nov.), Plakinastrella (Plakinastrella osculifera sp. nov., Plakinastrella nicoleae sp. nov. and Plakinastrella pseudolopha sp. nov.), and Plakortis (Plakortis ruetzleri sp. nov.). Plakinastrella pseudolopha sp. nov. has a novel spicule type called here ‘pseudolophose spicules’. The diversity of Homoscleromorpha is raised to 50 species in the Pacific Ocean and 120 spp. worldwide.

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Empire in Oceania

Islands and the British Empire in the Age of Sail ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198847229.003.0009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 157-171

Author(s):

Alison Bashford

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

Natural History ◽

Social Worlds ◽

Meeting Point ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Pacific Ocean ◽

Age Of Enlightenment

The expansion of empire into the Pacific Ocean took place in the age of enlightenment as well as the age of sail. It coincided with new metropolitan methodologies for the acquisition and ordering of natural history, and speculation on the natural world’s relation to changing human and social worlds. Islands, in this context, were always more than just refuelling and repair points. In Oceania, these islands were small, self-contained, and often isolated enough to make them ideal spaces, or so it would seem, for seaborne natural historians. In Europe, Enlightenment philosophers had invented mythic islands. Now these were overlaid with, and interrupted by, rapidly accumulating knowledge of actual island-dwellers and their environments. This chapter explores the meeting point of Enlightenment mythic and literary islands with real encounters in the Sea of Islands, from James Cook’s voyages in the 1770s to T.H. Huxley and John MacGillivray’s in the 1840s.

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Tales of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal

10.1093/owc/9780192827630.001.0001 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

The Brontës

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

The Pacific ◽

Large Island ◽

The Pacific Ocean ◽

The Rich ◽

First Time

We pretended we had each a large island inhabited by people 6 miles high.' In their collaborative early writings the Brontës created and peopled the most extraordinary fantasy worlds, whose geography and history they elaborated in numerous stories, poems, and plays. Together they invented characters based on heroes and writers such as Wellington, Napoleon, Scott, and Byron, whose feuds, alliances, and love affairs weave an intricate web of social and political intrigue in imaginary colonial lands in Africa and the Pacific Ocean. The writings of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal are youthful experiments in imitation and parody, wild romance and realistic recording; they demonstrate the playful literary world that provided a 'myth kitty' for their early - and later - work. In this generous selection the writings of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell are presented together for the first time. The Introduction explores the rich imaginative lives of the Brontës, and the tension between their maturing authorship and creative freedom. The edition also includes Charlotte Brontë's Roe Head Journal, and Emily and Anne's Diary Papers, important autobiographical sources.

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A new Octacnemidae (Ascidiacea) from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.2864.1.5 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2864 (1) ◽

pp. 65

Author(s):

FRANÇOISE MONNIOT

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

Fracture Zone ◽

Deep Sea ◽

New Caledonia ◽

Single Specimen ◽

Black Stone ◽

The Pacific ◽

Mid Atlantic Ridge ◽

The Pacific Ocean

A new deep sea Octacnemidae (Ascidiacea, Phlebobranchia) was collected by IFREMER during the Hydrosnake cruise on the N.O. Nadir in July 1988 with the submersible Nautile. The site is located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, in the Kane fracture zone at 2100m depth. The substratum consists of masses of fallen basalt blocks lying on black pebbles. A single specimen was attached to an easily breakable black stone with manganese particles. This ascidian represents the second specimen of the genus Myopegma Monniot & Monniot, 2003 previously known from the Pacific Ocean off New Calédonia.

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Permanence paleogeographique et faunique de la cote ouest de la Nouvelle Caledonie

BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin ◽

10.2113/gssgfbull.s6-iv.7-9.773 ◽

1954 ◽

Vol S6-IV (7-9) ◽

pp. 773-777

Author(s):

Rene Pomeyrol

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

West Coast ◽

New Caledonia ◽

The West ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Pacific Ocean

Abstract The paleogeography and faunas of the west coast of New Caledonia have been remarkably constant. This constancy is considered evidence of the permanence of the Pacific Ocean as a whole.

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