A two-days field trip was organized by
Jean-Yves Meyer from the Délégation à la Recherche (French Polynesian
Department of Research) in collaboration with the local nature protection group
« Te Rau Ati Ati aTau a Hiti Noa Tu » to Mont Orohena, the highest
summit of the Tahiti reaching ca. 2250 m, which is also the highest peak of all
the South Pacific islands.
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| Pete, Rava and Darko in a steep humid ravine (Photo: Jean Yves) |
A team of eight people (including Ravahere
Taputuarai, Henri Jay, Teva Maireau, Théo Guilloux and Maxime Chan from
« Te Rau Ati Ati ») was dropped by the helicopter on the 24th of July 2015 to spend two days
and one night, in order to complete the inventory of all Pteridophytes (ferns
and allies) and Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) for the Moveclim Project, but
also to collect moths and spiders with two visiting research scientists: Darko
Cotoras, a Chilean post-doc sponsored by the California Academy of Science, and
Pete Oboyski, the curator of the insect collection at the University of
California at Berkeley. The helicopter trip was covered by a journalist from
the daily magazine « Tahiti Infos » which is freely distributed as
paper copies and also accessible online
(http://www.tahiti-infos.com/Des-scientifiques-sur-le-toit-du-fenua_a132998.html) and on the press page of this blog.
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| Teva and Darko collecting on the summital ridge (Photo: Jean Yves Meyer) |
The collected ferns and moss specimens will
complement the data obtained along the elevation gradient of Mt Aorai (between
600-2000 m) during the past 3 years. Field surveys were made on the main
exposed ridges covered by dense shrublands and in some deep, wet and forested gulches
on very steep slopes requiring sometimes a rope. Although no micro-climatic
sensor was installed on Mt Orohena due to the very difficult access,
temperature (measured with a mercury thermometer) decreased down to 3°C at night!
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| Team at camp (Photo: Jean Yves) |
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| Summital peak, ridges and gulches (Darko Cotoras) |
This expedition was the last one to be
conducted in Tahiti for the Moveclim project, which will remain a great
scientific and human adventure for the French Polynesian coordinators.
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| Jean Yves in the forest (Photo: Darko Cotoras) |
Content: JYM
Photographs: JYM & DC
Photographs: JYM & DC
