Fiji: Volcanoes & Chelicerates!

Island Biogeography: a fascinating subject, and what better place to study it than in the archipelago of the Republic of Fiji?
Cohort BL Padgett and I took the Subduction Recon Team out of the frosty subantarctic to the sea-breezed equatorial isles of the South Pacific this last week. Fiji is a collection of volcanic islands, calcareous paleo-reef mounds and subducted & uplifted oceanic crust.

It truly is another world.

Pumice, a not-at-all dense igneousvolcanic rock, FLOATS between volcanic and reef-born islands that are so young and rumbly that their flora are still dominated by early successional shade intolerant species. Being an archipelago of isles that vary in origin, size and topography, it perfectly elucidates the principles & mysteries of island biogeography...plus, it's tropical paradise.
Most islands have no standing fresh water and the resources and living space are of such paucity that dispersal and establishment of biota on these isles is a rare event, but there is one phylum of Animalia that has perfected such acts of dispersal heroism: Arthropods. Namely, the Insecta, Chelicerates and Myriapods. Flocks of Lepidoptera, man-eating spiders, and centipedes that tunnel through the sand and bite Luke's feet. Here are a few pics of some specimens we encountered.
The Fiji isles are also an example of another phenomenon associated with biogeography on small islands: the trend towards gigantism. Both these spider species were the size of my palm. We found a web spun by the species with the white abdomen that measured literally 20 ft across! Perhaps the best example of this trend towards gigantism is the Fiji Walking Stick, one of the largest insects in the world (over a foot long!!!). Sadly, we didn't encounter this fella. Oh well, it's just an excuse to go back and find it.
Oh, Padgett and I also made a raft (see bottom pic).

This concludes the Oceania posts. Oceania is truly a mystery, and it holds the key to much that we do not yet understand about our natural world. Here's to Wombats, Moas and Giant Walking Sticks, and all things historically natural!

EM

"To live would be an awfully big adventure"

Ummm... G L A C I E R S

Glaciers. Glaciers. O my God, Glaciers.

OK. Imagine hiking up a steep, rocky trail, so steep the trail is switchbacking to and fro as it writhes up the treacherous landscape, so steep that you wonder if this trail wasn't built for mountain goats 'n' snow leopards instead of mere mortal men, so steep that you look up and it looks like the trail is doing a back flip. OK. When - IF - you get to the top, imagine looking around you and realizing: THIS IS A MORRAINE. It all makes sense, it all comes together: why these weird scoured rocks? Why this abundance of serpentine everywhere? why does it looks like what you just hiked up was a long skinny pile of rocks bulldozed together by a 1,000 ft high BIG CAT?!? the answers can be attributed to one word, one global force beyond human comprehension - the overachieving construction workers of the natural world, the carving spork of the gods, the tantrum-throwing 3-year olds of geology.........G L A C I E R S (so huge a bignes!)

Phew. Just thinking about these puppies pumps me up. My colleagues Laura and Richard Candler (SNHS Curator-elect and brother of, respectfully) and Luke Padgett (Patrician Emeritus and co-Captain of the 2007 SNHS Subduction & Volcanism Reconnaisance Team: Oceania Division) shared with me the privilege of bathing in the immense glory of these bad boys under the shadow of Mt. Cook, the largest mountain in NZ and the pride of the 6-million-year-old Southern Alp Orogeny. The Tasman Glacier, pictured below, is 29km long, and the ice you see in these pictures is over 400m deep. 400m deep. 400m deeeeeeeeeep. The largest glacier remaining from the last glacier age in new zealand (ending about 18,000 years ag), this river of ice moves at a rate of 200 meters a year (!!!!!!!) and bulldozes the landscape, piling helpless rocks into kilometer-long morraines and scouring the mountain ranges, leaving miles-wide glacier valleys in its wake. It was indeed glaciers just like Ole Tasman here that carved the world-famous vistas of Fiordland (see bottom pic).

What I am trying to say is, I wouldn't want to run into a glacier in a dark alley at night. 'Nuff said.

E.M. Keen

The Royal Albatrosses

The Royal Albatross nests consistently in only a handful of places in the Southern hemisphere. The only colony with easy access and reliable albatross sightings is at the very tip of the Otago Peninsula. The following photographs depict the most ridiculous bird in the skies: the 747 of volant avians. These birds can only fly efficiently when it is EXTREMELY windy outside, and they have the largest wingspan of any bird living today.
To contrast this Boeing Bird, check out the birds in the other photo, some of the largest birds in evolutionary history. This scene depicts a Haast's eagle, the world's largest eagle EVER (about 12 ft wingspan) attacking 2 moas, the iconic extinct flightless bird that was endemic to new zealand. There were about 14 species of these guys, ranging from 4 ft high to over 12 ft high. These ratite birds went extinct when the Maori came over from Polynesia around 1000AD and began hunting these abundant grazers (population of between 5 and 12 million) in mass numbers. They went extinct 200 years after the Maori arrived. Before the Maori arrived, these Haast's eagle were the only predators of these Ostrich-Cows. Birds of all shapes and sizes!
Ornithologically,
E.M. Keen, Patrician-elect

Mayfly madness

From Sharpsburg, Georgia:

This mayfly hasn't budged from its spot on our porch wall for an entire day. From the order Ephemeroptera, mayflies spend a year as wingless aquatic larvae, then enjoy only hours as winged adults in the spring.

P-a-L R: New Zealand Forests: Beech, Moss & Fern

The immense micro-worlds of bryophytes, pterophytes, and the Gondwana-relic Nothofagus. Can't get enough!

The Southern Alps

Only 5 million years old, more or less, the "Southern Alps" is the mountain chain that runs longways nearly the entire length of the South Island of New Zealand. In the south, it spreads into an entire glacier-carved region lovingly called FIORDLAND. The Southern Alps run along the Alpine Fault between 2 tectonic plates, and nearly the entirety of the mountain chain is contained within several national parks. The most notably beautiful regions in the range can be found at Arthur's Pass in the north (pic 1), Mt. Cook/Aoraki in the central S.I. (pic 2), and Mt. Aspiring National Park (pic 3), just above the fiordland. For the geologic youth of the range, a evolutionarily ASTONISHING number of specially adapted alpine species roam the tussock grass above treeline on these mountains, including over 20 species of Alpine Cicada, alpine geckos, and the Kea (pic 4), the world's only alpine parrot. Also, there is the Upland moa (extinct, discovered in 1990s), a species of GIANT flightless bird, kind of like an Ostrich with "Cankles," which was hunted to extinction by the immigration of humans to the New Zealand islands from Polynesia.
A M A Z I N G

Yours,
E.M. Keen, lame-duck Prefect

P-a-L R: Down with Marsupials!

Down UNDER, that is. Ha! Australia is a world where the mammalian placentals (besides the higher primates that tend to congregate in the urban areas) are the minority, and the marsupial diversity isn't limited to the gruesome beady-eyed O-possum of North America - we're talking everything from sugar gliders and wombats to the macropods - the kangaroos and wallabies. I was fortunate enough to see 4 species of wallaby and the 3 largest species of kangaroo (the Easter and Western Grey and the infamous but ugly Red Kangaroo) in the wild and I even got to race a few of them down some running trails on Kangaroo Island.
But that was nothing compared to my 3 encounters with the short-beaked echidna, one of 3 species in the subclass Monotrema that are still extant in the world today. The above picture is of my first encounter, during possum patrol one night in Dandegong Ranges National Park in Victoria.
This is the Prefect's final entry on the subject of Australia, and subsequent posts will henceforth focus on the prehistorically mammal-less island nation of Aotearoa, "the Land of the Long White Cloud," or in the woods of its European discover Abel Tasman, Novae Seelandiae.

P-a-L R: Aussie Invertebrates

Funnel-webs...giant cockroaches...the most ant diversity in the world (purple ants with yellow mandibles, not joking, I saw them, but they moved too fast to photograph, sadly)...the snails...the spiders! By God! Enjoy the pics,

Prefect

P-a-L R: Endemic Australian Reptilia

Australia hosts more species of reptiles than any other country on earth. 89% - EIGHTY NINE PERCENT - of these species are endemic. 795 species of extant native reptiles. That means 708 endemic reptiles. This means one tenth of the world's reptiles live ONLY in Australia.
Australia is also host to some of the most outrageous and venomous snakes in the world, including the world's most venomous, the FIERCE snake (see picture of the late great Steve Irwin). In the top ten of this list is also the Tiger Snake, one of which was found trying to sneak into my Kangaroo Island trailer (see picture).
In contrast to the Australian mainland, Kangaroo Island only has 2 snake species, but it is host to an endemic species of the Goanna lizards (see picture).
Snakes really are everywhere in Australia; I can't tell you how many slithered over my feet in the bush or even on the streets of the Sydney suburbs.
Sadly for me, New Zealand is completely lacking in these legless wonders.
Until next time,
Da Prefect

P-a-L-R: The Geology of Australia

Although Oz is infamous for its Outback, its barren oxide-rich dust plains and beautiful sandy surfing beaches, it is chock-full of some of the most stunning, outrageous, and unique geologic formations this side of the equator. During my travels in the Great Dividing Range and along the dynamic coastline of eastern Australia, I was fortunate to catch glimpses of some of these rocky phenomena. Here is a photographic account of several such outcrops, holes, how'd-tha-happens, and whazzits of the Australian litho-scene. For a thrilling account of their orogenies and windblown trials throughout geologic time, I am afraid you will have to wait for my conclusive presentation upon my return next semester. Or look it up yourself...but I guarantee the presentation will be cooler.
Yours, tall and truly,
Prefect Keen

Pictured: The Three Sisters (Blue Mountains National Park), The Remarkable Rocks (Kangaroo Island, South Australia - a crazy random granite uplift), the 12 Apostles (Great Ocean Road, Victoria), Razorback (Great Ocean Road), King George Bay (Kangaroo Island)

Woodcocks and Spotted Salamanders

Twenty seven people gathered on the old road bed near the Sewanee airport last night (28 Feb) to have thier ears and souls tickled by the sweet "peeent" of the love-struck American Woodcock. One male woodcock also treated us to a couple of aerial flight displays. The moon glowed down on it all through cirrus clouds, shining in a halo.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Biol 131 lab found a spotted salamander at the pond at the end of Brakefield Road and one egg mass. The amphibian mating frenzy is very late this year...

P-a-L R: Australia Birding: Species List

Australia is a birder's dream, with a range of volant and satite Dino-kin, diversity-saturated due to both island and contintental habitats and climates. Seriously, even the pigeons are cool. And the parrots, my God, the parrots! Approximately 85 species were seen in my limited time with binoculars, 75 of those are unique to Austalasia and Oceania.

O.Anseriformes
f.Anatidae
Anas gibberifrons Grey teal
Anas platyrhynchos Mallard duck
Anas quarquedula Garganey
Cereopsis novaehollandiae Cape Barren Goose
Chenonetta jubata Australian wood duck
Cygnus atratus Black swan

O.Apodiformes
f.Apodidae
Apus pacificus Fork-tailed swift

O.Charadriformes
f.Charadriidae
Thinornis rubricollis Hooded Plover
Vanellus novaehollandiae Spur-winged plover
f.Haematopodidae
Haematopus fuliginosis Sooty Oystercatcher
Haematopus longirostris Pied Oystercatcher
f.Laridae
Larus novaehollandiae Silver gull
Larus pacifica Pacific gull
Sterna bergil Crested tern
Sterna caspia Caspian tern
f.Scolopacidae
Burhinus grallarius Bush-stone Curlew
Calidris acuminata Sharp-tailed sandpiper

O.Ciconiiformes
f.Ardeidae
Ardea pacifica White-necked heron
Ardeola ibis Cattle egret
Egretta alba Large egret
Egretta novaehollandiae White-faced heron
f.Threskiornithidae
Threskiornis molucca White ibis
Plegadis falcinellus Glossy Ibis

O.Columbiformes
f.Columbidae
Columba livia Rock dove
Ocyphaps lophotes Crested pigeon
Streptopelia chinensis Spotted turtledove

O.Coraciiformes
f.Alceninidae
Dacelo gigas Laughig kookaburra

O.Falconiformes
f.Accipitridae
Aquila audax Wedge-tailed eagle
Elanus axillaris Black-shoulderd kite
Haliaetus leucogaster White -breasted sea eagle

O.Galliformes
f.Megapodiidae
Alectura lathami Brush Turkey
Gallinulla ventralis Black-tailed native hen
f.Phasianidae
Pavo cristatus Indian peafowl

O.Gruiformes
f.Gallidae
Gallinula tenebrosa Dusky moorhen

O.Passeriformes
f.Corvidae
Corvus coronoides Australian raven
f.Cracticidae
Cracticus nigrogularis Pied butcherbird
Gymnorhina tibicen Australian magpie
Strepera graculina Pied currawong
f.Hirundinidae
Hirundo neoxena Welcome swallow
f.Maluridae
Malurus cyaneus Superb fairy wren
f.Meliphagidae
Acanthagengs rufogularis Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris Eastern spinebill
Anthochaera carunculata Red wattlebird
Manorina melanocephala Noisy miner
Phylidonyris pyrrhoptera Crescent honeyeater
f.Menuridae
Menura novaehollandiae Superb Lyrebird
f.Motacillidae
Rhipidura leucophrys Willie wagtail
f.Muscicapidae
Rhipidium fuliginosa (alisiari) Grey fantail
f.Pachyephalidae
Pachycephela refiventris Rufous whistler
f.Passeridae
Passser domesticus House sparrow
f.Sturnidae
Sturnus vulgaris Common Starling
f.Sylviidae
Acrocephalus stentoreus Clamorous reed warbler
Cincloramphus cruralis Brown songlark
Colluricincla fuliginosus Striated fieldwren
Pycnoptilus floccosus Pilotbird
f.Turdidae
Petroica multicolor Scarlet robin
f.Tyrannidae
Microeca fascinans Jacky winter
f.Zosteropidae
Zosterops lateralis Silvereye

O.Pelecaniformes
f.Pelecanidae
Pelecanus conspicillatus Australian pelican
f.Phalacrocoracidae
Phalacrocorax carbo Great cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscescens Black cormorant
Phalacrocorax melanoleucus Little Pied Cormorant
Phalacrocorax varius Pied cormorant

O.Psittaciformes
f.Psittacidae
Cacatua galerita Sulfur-crested cockatoo
Cacatua roseicapilla Galah
Calyptorhynchos magnificus Red-tailed black cockatoo
Calyptorhynchus funereus Yellow-tailed lack cockatoo
Calyptorhynchus lathami Glossy Black Cockatoo
Neophema petrophila Rock parrot
Pratycercus elegans Crimson rosella
Psephotus haematonatus Red-rumped parrot
Trichoglassus haematodus Rainbow lorikeet

O.Sphenisciformes
f.Spheniscidae
Eudyptula minor Little Penguin

O.Struthioniformes
f.Dromaiidae
Dromaius novaehollandiae Emu