Biodiversity of New Caledonia
Encyclopedia
The Biodiversity of New Caledonia is considered to be one of the most important in the world. New Caledonia
, a large south Pacific island group about 1,200 km east of Australia
, supports high levels of endemism
, with many unique plant
s, insect
s, reptile
s and bird
s. This biodiversity
is threatened by introduced species
, logging
, fire, agriculture and urban development, and mining
(nickel and other valuable minerals). The island has lost several species since the arrival of man, but none are thought to have become extinct since 1500.
, geology
, soil
s and altitude
. The island has been categorised as having two main ecoregion
s, the majority of the island being New Caledonia rain forests while the New Caledonia dry forests runs along the west coast, although here the original forest has mostly been cleared with only fragments remaining.
, New Caledonia is not of volcanic origin, but is instead a fragment of the ancient continent of Gondwana
. In the Carboniferous and Permian, New Zealand and New Caledonia were on the periphery of Gondwana (which included Africa, South America, Antarctica, India, New Zealand and Australia). Paleomagnetic data allow us to locate the position of New caledonia, near the south pole. In the Triassic and early Jurassic, the Gondwana moved northward away from the pole, leading to a warming of the eastern margin. The marine fauna of the period, separate from the southwest Pacific was distinguished as "province Maori". In the middle and upper Jurassic, the Gondwana began his fragmentation and the arrival of a benthic invertebrate fauna thétysiens is visible in the fossil deposits. The Cretaceous is marked by the appearance of a marine invertebrate fauna of southern origin. It was then when the angiosperm flora such as Notofagus and Proteaceae have colonized New Zealand and New Caledonia, from South America, along the Antarctic margin of Gondwana. At the beginning of the Tertiary, New Zealand and New Caledonia move north, to more warm climate.
It separated from Australia
and New Zealand
during the breakup of the super-continent, from Australia at the end of the Cretaceous
(65 MYA) and from New Zealand in the mid-Miocene
. This has led to a long period of evolution
in near complete isolation. New Caledonia’s natural heritage significantly comprises species whose ancestors were ancient and primeval flora and fauna present on New Caledonia when it broke away from Gondwana millions of years ago, not only species but entire genera
and even families
are unique to the island, and survive nowhere else.
Since the age of the dinosaurs, as the island moved north due to the effects of continental drift
, some geologist
s assert that it was submerged at various intervals. Botanists, however, assert that there must have been some areas that remained above sea-level, serving as refugia for the descendants of the original flora that inhabited the island when it broke away from Gondwana. The isolation of New Caledonia was not absolute, however and some species migration from Australia and other islands into, and out of, the island was facilitated by the rise and fall of sea level
s due to the ebb and flow of ice age
s, when islands and land bridges formed between New Caledonia and its neighbours, the Solomon Islands
, Vanuatu
, and Australia. Thus new species came to New Caledonia while species of Gondwanan origin were able to penetrate further eastward into the Pacific Island region.
Prior to the arrival of man some large species had evolved on the island that have become extinct. Fossil
s found in cave deposits show the island once had a species of barn owl
(Tyto letocarti), two extinct hawk
s, a megapode and a large extinct flightless bird known as Sylviornis neocaledoniae. The island also held the large terrestrial turtle
Meiolania
, unlike any alive today, armed with a clubbed tail and spikes coming out from its head. A terrestrial mekosuchine crocodile
, Mekosuchus inexpectatus
, also went extinct after the arrival of man. Both Meiolania and Mekosuchus may have arrived after crossing the ocean (via island hopping
and/or waif dispersal) from Australia.
Unlike many Pacific islands, which are of volcanic Recently, New Caledonia is an ancient fragment of the super
Gondwana
. New Caledonia and New Zealand were separated by continental drift
from Australia 85 million years ago. The islands still retain flora and fauna
that originated in Gondwana.
It presents as a peculiarity, which has genera originated in the Antarctic flora
, and shares many plant families with the Valdivian forest of South America
, New Zealand
, Tasmania
and Australia
, in habitats of cloud forest
and temperate rainforest
. It was in the Cretaceous that angiosperm flora colonized New Zealand and New Caledonia, from South America, along the Antarctic margin of Gondwana, with species as Nothofagus and Proteaceae.
This zone has plant vicariant species that met the same ecological role, eg in the west coast of North America, New Zealand
or Eurasia Tertiary
where there was also accompanied by a laurel pine communities in the most extreme climate areas. The role of Nothofagus and Podocarpaceae was occupied by the Taxus
and various oaks.
These characterizes that New Caledonia, being much lower than New Zealand and Australia in extent, has the highest rate of endemic plant species in the Pacific and one of the richest rainforests on the planet in an area so isolated. Habitats are lowland or tropical high forest mixed forest, or cloud forest
: dense mountain forests of New Caledonia.
The vegetation in the western part of the Big Island is more xerophilous, with low wet areas occupied by various communities of mangroves and rainforest, very degraded. It is very rich in epiphytes and mountain forests are mainly located in mountainous areas in the lee slopes, where communities are evergreen species of laurel forest
.
They are typically evergreen and multi-species forests. Evergreen because the mild climate allows for continuous biological activity, and multi-species by the remarkable diversity of tree species in the canopy. Indeed, in the absence of a strong environmental selective pressure, the number of species that share the tree canopy is high. It is precisely this multispecies what they deserve the name of rainforest, in contrast to the "woods", Mediterranean forests, temperate deciduous forests etc, which is monospecific or its canopy is dominated by one or a few species. In this sense, the laurel forest
is a formation of transition between temperate forests and rainforests. Many tree species do not coincide in the loss of leaf, at flowering or at the time of fruit ripening, finding all the phases at any time of year. The woody plants including conifers of the families Podocarpaceae
, Araucariaceae
and the subfamily Callitroideae of Cupressaceae
and angiosperms such as families Erythroxylaceae
, Epacridaceae, Proteaceae
, Griseliniaceae, Cunoniaceae
, Atherospermataceae
, and Winteraceae
, and genus as southern beech (Nothofagus
) and fuchsia Fuchsia (Fuchsia
). Many other families of flowering plants and ferns, including the tree fern Dicksonia
, Cyathea novae-caledoniae, or the more tall in the world, Cyathea intermedia. Remarkably Amborella
is of great interest to plant systematists because of last molecular phylogenetic Analyses. Lauraceae genus as Beilschmiedia
some exclusive (Adenodaphne
). There are many epiphytes and large mossy formations that hang at times, giving a surreal and ghostly jungle. The moisture is abundant, becoming in some areas a limiting factor for less adapted vegetation, to create a hygrophilous moistured environment with great visual appeal, in the form of mists and sprays, ponds and streams that permeate the entire visual field.
Four genera: Araucaria, Libocedrus
, Prumnopitys
and Retrophyllum
have a current distribution subantarctic Pacific, with endemic species in New Caledonia. for example The genus Acmopyle
(Podocarpaceae) currently present in New Caledonia and Fiji is a fossil in Patagonia
.
The tree
niaouli (Melaleuca quinquenervia), which also grows in Australia and New Zealand. Other species are: Pine of New Caledonia, Pine colonario, Podocarpaceae, Mangrove, Swietenia macrophylla, Cocos nucifera, Erythroxylum
novocaledonicum and so on. It has 21 species of Metrosideros
, Metrosideros brevistylis, M. cacuminum ... There are 13 endemic species of araucaria
: Araucaria rulei, Araucaria columnaris... and some more that are also on the island of Norfolk
, which belongs to Australia
and east of New Guinea
. Many, if not all current populations are relict
. The vegetation in New Caledonia is distinguished by the world's highest rate of endemism: 5 families, 107 genera and 3380 endemic species. Acacia spirorbis, Richea
, Dracophyllum
, Drosera novae-caledoniae, Grevillea gillivrayi, Cycas circinalis
, Neocallitropsis pancheri (Cupressaceae) ; Austrotaxus spicatus (Taxacceae), Parasitaxus ustus (Podocarpaceae)... From the 44 species of Gymnosperm
in the archipelago, 43 are endemic. It has the unique parasite Gymnosperm known in the world (Falcatifolium taxoides
). The palm trees have 37 endemic species recorded belonging to 16 genus, 15 of them endemic in particular the endangered Pritchardiopsis jennencyi which one only adult tree is known.
The islands form two ecoregions: the umbrófila plants forest or rainforest of New Caledonia in the Loyalty Islands, Isle of Pines and the eastern part of Grande Terre, and the dry tropical forests of New Caledonia, at the West of Grande Terre. The latter was where Europeans settled, leaving the eastern part of the Kanakas. The biome is highly threatened due to the weakness caused by its long evolution with little herbivores or carnivores, deforestation by fire, traditional indigenous inhabitants logging, open pastures, plantations and large farms developed by European immigrants and more recently the opening of resorts and tourism facilities. Some pest problems are caused by introduced species such as insects, mammalians and so on. Although the impact of the use of fire is decreased in humid areas, it is resulting in decreasing in number of different species, and replacement of the original plant species by other made like grass Melinis minutiflora
.
In the habitat of tropical montane laurel forest of New caledonia, which are cloud-covered for much of the year, the moist evergreen forests have a closed canopy of moderately sized trees, up to 20 m at lowland forest and about 3 to 8 m. tall in montane tropical rainforest. The species face threats as destruction by human deforestation
. It could cause the extinction of complete genus and orders across the restricted region area, resulting from present distribution. For example, the reproductive structures of primigenia group of Amborella are true flowers, that have a unique in the world embryo sac, and provide an anatomical bridge between the structures seen for cone-bearing and flower-bearing plants. The order with the unique species is found only in rain forests of New Caledonia.
Most of Gymnosperms species are in New Caledonia in rainforest, in montane cloud forest
or in extreme environmental conditions, but excluding the drylands. The Gymnosperms are more common on poor acid soils and unbalanced soils by excess of magnesium and others phytotoxic elements, derived from ultramafic rocks, 39 species are found yet and 27 species are considered extinct. The Gymnosperms are more common also on exposed ridges or next to rivers or creeks in floodplains. Their concentration is important on individual stations (exposed ridges, floodplains) which figure lifesaving refugia there, where environmental conditions make it very selective interspecific competition, less severe.
Angiosperms also include many groups of archaic characteristics that appear as vestiges of an old Gondwanan floral background.
Several genus belonging to primitive families, are endemic or sub-endemics. Of these, Amborella, monospecific endemic genus of the endemic family Amborellaceae; Hedycarya and Kibaropsis (Monimiaceae
) Nemuaron (Atherospermalaceae) Balanops (Balanopaceae). The Winteraceae
, of the order Magnoliales
, considered the oldest group of angiosperms, is represented by the type Zygogynum
with 18 species of a order with fifty genus split of the Moluccas islands to northern Australia.
Among the families with conducting vessels absent or imperfect, New Caledonia has next to Atherospermataceae
, the Amborellaceae
, the Annonaceae
and Winteraceae
, representatives of families of Chloranthaceae
, as the genus Ascarina
with two species, Piperaceae
family, with twenty species of genus Piper and Peperomia, and Trimeniaceae
family with Trimenia neocaledonica.
The importance of the families of Gondwanan origin, both in the number of species as the abundance of some of them in different plant communities contrasts with the low representation in the indigenous vegetation of more modern groups such as the Compositae, Gramineae, Labiatae and Melastomataceae
.
The groups of Gondwanan origin, that are the most remarkable flora of New Caledonia, including the families of Cunoniaceae
, Proteaceae
and Myrtaceae
.
The family of Cunoniaceae
comprising a total of 25 genus and some 350 species has six genus in New Caledonia. Two of them, Pancheria
and Codia are endemic, while genus Cunonia
has 23 endemic species in New Caledonia and one species in South Africa.
The other three genus have a distribution Papuan-Australian (Acsmithia
), Australian (Geissois
), and sub-Antarctic (Weinmannia
).
The family Proteaceae
with the two main centers of dispersion in Australia and Southern Africa is represented in the archipelago by 43 species.
They are divided into six endemic genus: Beaupre
, Beaupreopsis, Eucarpha, Garnier
, Kermadecia
, and Sleumerodendron.
Two sub-endemics genus: Virotia
and Macadamia
. An Australian genus: Grevillea
. An Australian-Papuan genus: Stenocarpus
.
The family Myrtaceae, although basically Gondwanan in origen, currently has a distribution which includes all the tropical world and also a group has reached the Northern Hemisphere. With 229 species, is the largest family in New Caledonia. It has two genus largely distributed in the rest of the world: Eugenia
and Syzygium
, but also the endemic genus: Arillastrum
, Carpolepis, Cloezia, Pleurocalyptus and Purpurostemon. Purpurostemon, of the subfamily Leptospermoideae is most distribuited in Australia, and from the sub-family Myrtoideae of wide distribution in tropics, Cupheanthus and Myrtastrum.
The genus sub endemics: Archirhodomyrtus
, Piliocalyx, Uromyrtus
. The Australian genus: Baecker
, Callistemon, Melaleuca
. And the Australian-Papuan genus: Austromyrtus
, Rhodomyrtus
, Xanthostemon
.
The remaining seven genera have distributions mainly in the Pacific, Indomalesia and IndoAustralian.
The great biodiversity of native tree species, has prevented that invasive introduced tree species could be a problem, as has happened in other Pacific islands. The government made efforts to create parks and reserves. They are in danger of extinction due to over exploitation as medicinal plants or timber extraction and also for loss of habitat.
New Caledonia's faunal diversity is similar to that of many islands, particularly New Zealand. The island has no native mammal
s except for bats, and no native amphibians, instead having a vertebrate fauna dominated by reptile
s and bird
s. Today the island has 21 endemic species of birds, including one endemic family, the Rhynochetidae, represented by one living species, the Kagu
. The island is also home to the unusual tool-using New Caledonian Crow
. See Endemic birds of New Caledonia
for a full list. It is the separation of the islands of Gondwana block before the mammals expansion that could allow the radiation of flightless birds (Moa, Kiwi, Sylviornis, cagous) and Mesozoic reptilian forms such as the Tuatara of New Zealand.
The island's reptile fauna shares most of its affinities with Australia. Species endemic to the island comprise 62 of 69 total. Two species of snake
are found in the Territory. Only one is found on Grand Terre; the other is native to the nearby Loyalty Islands
which are part of New Caledonia. It is the home to the world’s largest
gecko
, and a large number of skink
s and other geckos. No crocodiles or terrestrial turtles remain on the island.
The world's highest biodiversity of Volutomitridae
is in waters off New Caledonia.
The tropical invertebrates make up the bulk of the endemic fauna, they are a lot of species well represented in New Caledonia: freshwater sponges, annelid worms, and molluscs terrestrial and freshwater, arachnids, scorpions and mygales of this many vicariant to the mygales of Queensland. There are fourteen endemic species of decapod crustaceans in rivers and lakes.
Mites, Pauropodes, Isopoda, Collembola, insects, among them: Diptera, Lepidoptera, Psocoptera, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Dermaptera, and several families of Coleoptera and Homoptera.
Giant Coconut Grasshopper (Pseudophyllanax Montrouzier imperialis), only of Lepidopter there are 521 species, with 197 endemic species (38%), giant butterfly Montrouzier (Papilio montrouzieri Boisduval).
There are twenty two endemic species of terrestrial birds, three endemic genera and one family. Caledonian Raven (Corvus moneduloides),know by the studies done on their intelligence. The laurel forest pigeon (Columba vitiensis hyponochroa), giant wood pigeon notou (Ducula goliath), two genera endemic Drepanoptila (the green pigeon), and Eunymphicus (the chest nut parakeet and Ouvea parakeet).
The best known animal species is the Rhynochetos jubatus or cagou endangered by the introduction of dogs, rats and other predators. It is a bird
of the size of a chicken
almost unable to fly
, with a long crest
and a funny cackling own of leafy forest mountain.
The other terrestrial birds endemics are (Accipiter
haplochrous), (Philemon
diemenensis), (Erythrura psittacea), (Zosterops
xanthochroa), (Phylidonyris
undulata), (Pachycephala
caledonica), (Aplonis
striatus), (Gymnomyza
aubryana), (Eopsaltria
flaviventris), (Coracina
analis), (Myzomela
caledonica), (Megalurulus
mariei).
It is considered, in relation to the size of the territory of New Caledonia, the island of Grande Terre is the place of planet Earth with a greater variety of reptiles, giant gecko, (Rhacodactylus leachianusis), giant skink (Phoboscincus bocourti), emphasizing the giant monitor lizards. Sea snakes laticaudinae have venom ten times as strong as rattlesnake venom.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the only mammal
s in the island was the six endemic species of bats, Rousettus bat, a large fruit bat
, is consumed by local people. Numerous species were wiped out before the arrival of Europeans, including a large flightless bird Sylviornis neocaledoniae . a species of owl, two species of hawks, a megapode (Pile-builder Megapode
), a species of giant tortoise Meiolania
, a giant bat, two species of terrestrial crocodiles, descendants of terrestrial Gondwana, Mekosuchinae
crocodiles, (Mekosuchus inexpectatus), arthropods, etc..
, and Oryza neocaledonica, a wild rice that is in danger of disappearing. This coast is traditionally home to a number of New Caledonia's endangered animals including the New Caledonia Wattled Bat (Chalinolobus neocaledonicus
) and the Ornate Flying Fox
. Dry forests are always vulnerable to forest fires and human intervention and the original vegetation of this coast has been cleared for farming, especially cattle ranching, with only two percent of natural dry forest remaining in isolated patches, none of them in protected areas. Urban areas on the west coast include New Caledonia's cosmopolitan capital Nouméa
, while there are farms and farming communities all along the coast.
s, its species were poorly equipped to deal with the destructive effects of the introduced rat
, cat
, dog
and pig
, which have taken a toll on native species like the ground-living Kagu. Hunting is still a problem in remote areas, but substantially greater concern arises from dramatic habitat-loss caused by deforestation due to logging, mining (one of the island's principal industries), uncontrolled fires (responsible for substantial destruction of large areas), agriculture (largely responsible for reducing the dry-sclerophyll habitat to a small fraction of its original area), and urban development.
Although no species are known to have become extinct since 1500, two species, the New Caledonian Rail
and the New Caledonian Lorikeet
have not been seen for over a hundred years and are considered to be critically endangered
if not actually extinct. A similar fate was thought to have befallen the New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar
, but a recent survey reported finding them in remote parts of the island. The New Caledonian Crested Gecko
was thought to have been extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994.
New Caledonia is considered a conservation
priority by many international organizations, which have lobbied and sought to work with the country's government to preserve the islands' unique ecosystems. Although their efforts have recently led to a few limited successes, to date they have failed to achieve definitive protection for New Caledonia's remaining natural areas. For instance, given the global importance of these living-fossil ecosystems, attempts have been made to recognize their significance by granting them UNESCO
World Heritage Site
-status protection. To date, no such attempted initiative has succeeded, due to opposition by regional governments, which are heavily influenced by mining and development interests (see below). Present-day mining operations continue, and are in fact being initiated, in localities of extreme ecological importance. Worldwide public pressure has forced mining companies to recently begin voluntary, minimal post-mining rehabilitation. However, even when taking such rehabilitation efforts into account, mining activity still results in devastation of the extremely high biodiversity that had existed at the exploited site prior to the mining operation. Imposition of World Heritage Site
-status would severely impact the pursuit of unrestricted mining activity in areas of ecological importance. However, this, in turn, could affect the economic well-being of the entire country, making a balanced, thoughtful approach essential to national interests.
Conservation efforts at the local, grass-roots level have been, at best, tentative, and have invariably failed when in direct conflict with mining (and other development) projects, due to the above-referenced importance of such projects to the country's comparative prosperity and stability. Recent, local political efforts to increase governmental priority for protection of the country's globally recognized natural environment, met with strong official opposition, and violence against the proponents. Notably, Bruno Van Peteghem
, recipient of the 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize
, used the local court system to force government leaders to obey laws protecting the country's coral reefs. Despite his short-term victories in the courts, however, his home was firebombed, and his family and himself were repeatedly threatened. Ultimately, the head of government at the time, Jacques Lafleur
, succeeded in silencing Bruno Van Peteghem
's opposition, forcing him into de facto exile by arranging the termination of his employment with the national airline.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, a large south Pacific island group about 1,200 km east of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, supports high levels of endemism
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
, with many unique plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s, insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s and bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. This biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
is threatened by introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
, fire, agriculture and urban development, and mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
(nickel and other valuable minerals). The island has lost several species since the arrival of man, but none are thought to have become extinct since 1500.
Location and description
New Caledonia sits on the southernmost edge of the tropical zone. Its main island, Grande Terre, hosts a variety of habitats arising from several factors, including precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
, geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
s and altitude
Altitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
. The island has been categorised as having two main ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
s, the majority of the island being New Caledonia rain forests while the New Caledonia dry forests runs along the west coast, although here the original forest has mostly been cleared with only fragments remaining.
Evolution and history
Unlike many of the islands of the South PacificOceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, New Caledonia is not of volcanic origin, but is instead a fragment of the ancient continent of Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
. In the Carboniferous and Permian, New Zealand and New Caledonia were on the periphery of Gondwana (which included Africa, South America, Antarctica, India, New Zealand and Australia). Paleomagnetic data allow us to locate the position of New caledonia, near the south pole. In the Triassic and early Jurassic, the Gondwana moved northward away from the pole, leading to a warming of the eastern margin. The marine fauna of the period, separate from the southwest Pacific was distinguished as "province Maori". In the middle and upper Jurassic, the Gondwana began his fragmentation and the arrival of a benthic invertebrate fauna thétysiens is visible in the fossil deposits. The Cretaceous is marked by the appearance of a marine invertebrate fauna of southern origin. It was then when the angiosperm flora such as Notofagus and Proteaceae have colonized New Zealand and New Caledonia, from South America, along the Antarctic margin of Gondwana. At the beginning of the Tertiary, New Zealand and New Caledonia move north, to more warm climate.
It separated from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
during the breakup of the super-continent, from Australia at the end of the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
(65 MYA) and from New Zealand in the mid-Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
. This has led to a long period of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
in near complete isolation. New Caledonia’s natural heritage significantly comprises species whose ancestors were ancient and primeval flora and fauna present on New Caledonia when it broke away from Gondwana millions of years ago, not only species but entire genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and even families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
are unique to the island, and survive nowhere else.
Since the age of the dinosaurs, as the island moved north due to the effects of continental drift
Continental drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...
, some geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s assert that it was submerged at various intervals. Botanists, however, assert that there must have been some areas that remained above sea-level, serving as refugia for the descendants of the original flora that inhabited the island when it broke away from Gondwana. The isolation of New Caledonia was not absolute, however and some species migration from Australia and other islands into, and out of, the island was facilitated by the rise and fall of sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
s due to the ebb and flow of ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s, when islands and land bridges formed between New Caledonia and its neighbours, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, and Australia. Thus new species came to New Caledonia while species of Gondwanan origin were able to penetrate further eastward into the Pacific Island region.
Prior to the arrival of man some large species had evolved on the island that have become extinct. Fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s found in cave deposits show the island once had a species of barn owl
Barn Owl
The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
(Tyto letocarti), two extinct hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s, a megapode and a large extinct flightless bird known as Sylviornis neocaledoniae. The island also held the large terrestrial turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
Meiolania
Meiolania
Meiolania is an extinct genus of cryptodire turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene, with the last relict populations at New Caledonia which survived until 2,000 years ago....
, unlike any alive today, armed with a clubbed tail and spikes coming out from its head. A terrestrial mekosuchine crocodile
Mekosuchinae
Mekosuchinae was a subfamily of crocodiles from Australia and the South Pacific that have now become extinct. They first appear in the fossil record in the Eocene in Australia, and survived until the Pleistocene in Australia and until the arrival of humans in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New...
, Mekosuchus inexpectatus
Mekosuchus
Mekosuchus is a genus of extinct Australasian crocodiles within the subfamily Mekosuchinae. They are believed to have been made extinct by the arrival of man on the South Pacific islands where they lived...
, also went extinct after the arrival of man. Both Meiolania and Mekosuchus may have arrived after crossing the ocean (via island hopping
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...
and/or waif dispersal) from Australia.
Flora
New Caledonia plant communities are veritable living fossils, offering the opportunity to examine species with roots in the age of dinosaurs. Besides their antiquity, the flora of this island nation is exceedingly diverse, and includes a level of endemism, per square kilometre, seen almost nowhere else on earth. Three quarters of native plant species on New Caledonia are endemic, but a quarter of those are "at risk" of decline or extinction.Unlike many Pacific islands, which are of volcanic Recently, New Caledonia is an ancient fragment of the super
Super
Super may refer to:* Super, a supernumerary actor on the stage, which is the equivalent of an "extra" in motion pictures and television.* Super, a building superintendent; a manager, maintenance or repair person, custodian or janitor, especially in the United States.* Super, a grade of gasoline*...
Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
. New Caledonia and New Zealand were separated by continental drift
Continental drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912...
from Australia 85 million years ago. The islands still retain flora and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
that originated in Gondwana.
It presents as a peculiarity, which has genera originated in the Antarctic flora
Antarctic flora
The Antarctic flora is a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana, and is now found on several separate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia...
, and shares many plant families with the Valdivian forest of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in habitats of cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
and temperate rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
. It was in the Cretaceous that angiosperm flora colonized New Zealand and New Caledonia, from South America, along the Antarctic margin of Gondwana, with species as Nothofagus and Proteaceae.
This zone has plant vicariant species that met the same ecological role, eg in the west coast of North America, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
or Eurasia Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
where there was also accompanied by a laurel pine communities in the most extreme climate areas. The role of Nothofagus and Podocarpaceae was occupied by the Taxus
Taxus
Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
and various oaks.
These characterizes that New Caledonia, being much lower than New Zealand and Australia in extent, has the highest rate of endemic plant species in the Pacific and one of the richest rainforests on the planet in an area so isolated. Habitats are lowland or tropical high forest mixed forest, or cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
: dense mountain forests of New Caledonia.
The vegetation in the western part of the Big Island is more xerophilous, with low wet areas occupied by various communities of mangroves and rainforest, very degraded. It is very rich in epiphytes and mountain forests are mainly located in mountainous areas in the lee slopes, where communities are evergreen species of laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
.
They are typically evergreen and multi-species forests. Evergreen because the mild climate allows for continuous biological activity, and multi-species by the remarkable diversity of tree species in the canopy. Indeed, in the absence of a strong environmental selective pressure, the number of species that share the tree canopy is high. It is precisely this multispecies what they deserve the name of rainforest, in contrast to the "woods", Mediterranean forests, temperate deciduous forests etc, which is monospecific or its canopy is dominated by one or a few species. In this sense, the laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
is a formation of transition between temperate forests and rainforests. Many tree species do not coincide in the loss of leaf, at flowering or at the time of fruit ripening, finding all the phases at any time of year. The woody plants including conifers of the families Podocarpaceae
Podocarpaceae
Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs. It contains 19 genera if Phyllocladus is included and if Manoao and Sundacarpus are recognized....
, Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae
Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, is a very ancient family of coniferous trees. It achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide...
and the subfamily Callitroideae of Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae
The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera , which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130-140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or dioecious trees and shrubs from 1-116 m tall...
and angiosperms such as families Erythroxylaceae
Erythroxylaceae
The Erythroxylaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of 4 genera and approximately 240 species. The best-known species is the coca plant , the source of the drug cocaine....
, Epacridaceae, Proteaceae
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
, Griseliniaceae, Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae
The Cunoniaceae is a family of 26 genera and about 350 species of woody plants in the Antarctic flora, with many laurifolia species with glossy leaves endemic to laurel forest habitat. The family is native to Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, southern South America, the Mascarene...
, Atherospermataceae
Atherospermataceae
The Atherospermataceae, commonly known as the southern sassafrases, are a family of broadleaf evergreen trees and shrubs. The family includes 14 species in seven genera. The atherosperms are native to the southern hemisphere, with two species native to southern Chile and 12 species native to...
, and Winteraceae
Winteraceae
The Winteraceae are a family of flowering plants. The family includes 120 species of trees and shrubs in 9 genera.The Winteraceae are a mostly southern-hemisphere family associated with the Antarctic flora, found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New...
, and genus as southern beech (Nothofagus
Nothofagus
Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 35 species of trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia...
) and fuchsia Fuchsia (Fuchsia
Fuchsia
Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...
). Many other families of flowering plants and ferns, including the tree fern Dicksonia
Dicksonia
Dicksonia is a genus of tree ferns in the order Cyatheales. It is regarded as related to Cyathea, but is considered more primitive, dating back at least to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record includes stems, pinnules, and spores....
, Cyathea novae-caledoniae, or the more tall in the world, Cyathea intermedia. Remarkably Amborella
Amborella
Amborella is a genus of rare understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the island of New Caledonia. The genus consists of only a single species, Amborella trichopoda, and is the only member of the family Amborellaceae. Wood of Amborella lacks the vessels characteristic of most flowering plants...
is of great interest to plant systematists because of last molecular phylogenetic Analyses. Lauraceae genus as Beilschmiedia
Beilschmiedia
Beilschmiedia is a genus of trees and shrubs in family Lauraceae. Most of its species grow in tropical climates, but a few of them are native to temperate regions, and they are widespread in tropical Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Central America, the Caribbean,...
some exclusive (Adenodaphne
Adenodaphne
Adenodaphne is a genus of flowering plants, evergreen trees or shrubs belonging to the family Lauraceae, of five species from New Caledonia. They are large trees characteristics of Rainforest in montane laurel forest habitats in New Caledonia and restricted to this region. They belong to an ancient...
). There are many epiphytes and large mossy formations that hang at times, giving a surreal and ghostly jungle. The moisture is abundant, becoming in some areas a limiting factor for less adapted vegetation, to create a hygrophilous moistured environment with great visual appeal, in the form of mists and sprays, ponds and streams that permeate the entire visual field.
Four genera: Araucaria, Libocedrus
Libocedrus
Libocedrus is a genus of five species of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to New Zealand and New Caledonia. The genus is closely related to the South American genera Pilgerodendron and Austrocedrus, and the New Guinean genus Papuacedrus, both of which are included within...
, Prumnopitys
Prumnopitys
Prumnopitys is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The eight recognised species of Prumnopitys are densely-branched, dioecious evergreen trees up to 40 metres in height. The leaves are similar to those of the yew, strap-shaped, 1-4 cm long and 2-3 mm broad, with a...
and Retrophyllum
Retrophyllum
Retrophyllum is a genus of coniferous gymnosperms in the family Podocarpaceae. It has a disjunct distribution in the Southern Hemisphere. Four or five species are recognized...
have a current distribution subantarctic Pacific, with endemic species in New Caledonia. for example The genus Acmopyle
Acmopyle
Acmopyle is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The genus includes two species of evergreen small to tall well-branched trees and large trees. Acmopyle is limited to two species, A. pancheri, endemic to New Caledonia, and A...
(Podocarpaceae) currently present in New Caledonia and Fiji is a fossil in Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
.
The tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
niaouli (Melaleuca quinquenervia), which also grows in Australia and New Zealand. Other species are: Pine of New Caledonia, Pine colonario, Podocarpaceae, Mangrove, Swietenia macrophylla, Cocos nucifera, Erythroxylum
Erythroxylum
Erythroxylum is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Erythroxylaceae. Many species contain the drug cocaine; Erythroxylum coca, a native of South America, is the main commercial source of cocaine and of the mild stimulant coca tea...
novocaledonicum and so on. It has 21 species of Metrosideros
Metrosideros
Metrosideros is a genus of approximately 50 trees, shrubs, and vines native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, from the Philippines to New Zealand and including the Bonin Islands, Polynesia, and Melanesia, with an anomalous outlier in South Africa. Most of the tree forms are small, but some are...
, Metrosideros brevistylis, M. cacuminum ... There are 13 endemic species of araucaria
Araucaria
Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 19 extant species in the genus, with a highly disjunct distribution in New Caledonia , Norfolk Island, eastern Australia, New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil.-Description:Araucaria are mainly...
: Araucaria rulei, Araucaria columnaris... and some more that are also on the island of Norfolk
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, which belongs to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and east of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Many, if not all current populations are relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
. The vegetation in New Caledonia is distinguished by the world's highest rate of endemism: 5 families, 107 genera and 3380 endemic species. Acacia spirorbis, Richea
Richea
Richea is a genus of 11 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. Nine of the species are endemic to Tasmania and the other two are endemic to the south-east of the Australian mainland.Species include:*Richea acerosa F.Muell....
, Dracophyllum
Dracophyllum
Dracophyllum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Ericaceae, formerly Epacridaceae. There are some one hundred or so species in the genus, mostly shrubs but also cushion plants and trees, found in New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. The name, Dracophyllum or Dragon-leaf refers to...
, Drosera novae-caledoniae, Grevillea gillivrayi, Cycas circinalis
Cycas circinalis
Cycas circinalis, also known as the Queen Sago, is a type of cycad that was thought to be linked with the degenerative disease Lytico-Bodig disease on the island of Guam; however, the species native to Guam has since been recognised as a separate species, Cycas micronesica, by K.D...
, Neocallitropsis pancheri (Cupressaceae) ; Austrotaxus spicatus (Taxacceae), Parasitaxus ustus (Podocarpaceae)... From the 44 species of Gymnosperm
Gymnosperm
The gymnosperms are a group of seed-bearing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos , meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds...
in the archipelago, 43 are endemic. It has the unique parasite Gymnosperm known in the world (Falcatifolium taxoides
Falcatifolium taxoides
Falcatifolium taxoides is a species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family. It is found only in New Caledonia.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
). The palm trees have 37 endemic species recorded belonging to 16 genus, 15 of them endemic in particular the endangered Pritchardiopsis jennencyi which one only adult tree is known.
The islands form two ecoregions: the umbrófila plants forest or rainforest of New Caledonia in the Loyalty Islands, Isle of Pines and the eastern part of Grande Terre, and the dry tropical forests of New Caledonia, at the West of Grande Terre. The latter was where Europeans settled, leaving the eastern part of the Kanakas. The biome is highly threatened due to the weakness caused by its long evolution with little herbivores or carnivores, deforestation by fire, traditional indigenous inhabitants logging, open pastures, plantations and large farms developed by European immigrants and more recently the opening of resorts and tourism facilities. Some pest problems are caused by introduced species such as insects, mammalians and so on. Although the impact of the use of fire is decreased in humid areas, it is resulting in decreasing in number of different species, and replacement of the original plant species by other made like grass Melinis minutiflora
Melinis minutiflora
Melinis minutiflora, commonly known as molasses grass, is a species of grass. It has been weedy in Australia, where it has been introduced....
.
In the habitat of tropical montane laurel forest of New caledonia, which are cloud-covered for much of the year, the moist evergreen forests have a closed canopy of moderately sized trees, up to 20 m at lowland forest and about 3 to 8 m. tall in montane tropical rainforest. The species face threats as destruction by human deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
. It could cause the extinction of complete genus and orders across the restricted region area, resulting from present distribution. For example, the reproductive structures of primigenia group of Amborella are true flowers, that have a unique in the world embryo sac, and provide an anatomical bridge between the structures seen for cone-bearing and flower-bearing plants. The order with the unique species is found only in rain forests of New Caledonia.
Most of Gymnosperms species are in New Caledonia in rainforest, in montane cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
or in extreme environmental conditions, but excluding the drylands. The Gymnosperms are more common on poor acid soils and unbalanced soils by excess of magnesium and others phytotoxic elements, derived from ultramafic rocks, 39 species are found yet and 27 species are considered extinct. The Gymnosperms are more common also on exposed ridges or next to rivers or creeks in floodplains. Their concentration is important on individual stations (exposed ridges, floodplains) which figure lifesaving refugia there, where environmental conditions make it very selective interspecific competition, less severe.
Angiosperms also include many groups of archaic characteristics that appear as vestiges of an old Gondwanan floral background.
Several genus belonging to primitive families, are endemic or sub-endemics. Of these, Amborella, monospecific endemic genus of the endemic family Amborellaceae; Hedycarya and Kibaropsis (Monimiaceae
Monimiaceae
Monimiaceae is a family of flowering plants, which includes 150-220 species of shrubs and small trees in 18-25 genera. They are native to the southern hemisphere tropics and subtropics. The largest genus is Tambourissa, with 50 species in Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, and the Comoros...
) Nemuaron (Atherospermalaceae) Balanops (Balanopaceae). The Winteraceae
Winteraceae
The Winteraceae are a family of flowering plants. The family includes 120 species of trees and shrubs in 9 genera.The Winteraceae are a mostly southern-hemisphere family associated with the Antarctic flora, found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New...
, of the order Magnoliales
Magnoliales
Magnoliales is an order of flowering plants.-Classification:The Magnoliales includes six families:* Annonaceae...
, considered the oldest group of angiosperms, is represented by the type Zygogynum
Zygogynum
Zygogynum is a genus of plant in family Winteraceae. All species are native to New Caledonia, and are pollinated primarily by beetles and moths.The genus contains the following species :...
with 18 species of a order with fifty genus split of the Moluccas islands to northern Australia.
Among the families with conducting vessels absent or imperfect, New Caledonia has next to Atherospermataceae
Atherospermataceae
The Atherospermataceae, commonly known as the southern sassafrases, are a family of broadleaf evergreen trees and shrubs. The family includes 14 species in seven genera. The atherosperms are native to the southern hemisphere, with two species native to southern Chile and 12 species native to...
, the Amborellaceae
Amborellaceae
Amborella is a genus of rare understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the island of New Caledonia. The genus consists of only a single species, Amborella trichopoda, and is the only member of the family Amborellaceae. Wood of Amborella lacks the vessels characteristic of most flowering plants...
, the Annonaceae
Annonaceae
Annonaceae, also called the custard apple familyis a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs or rarely lianas.With about 2300 to 2500 species and more than 130 genera,...
and Winteraceae
Winteraceae
The Winteraceae are a family of flowering plants. The family includes 120 species of trees and shrubs in 9 genera.The Winteraceae are a mostly southern-hemisphere family associated with the Antarctic flora, found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New...
, representatives of families of Chloranthaceae
Chloranthaceae
Chloranthaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants. The family consists of four genera, totalling several dozen species, of herbaceous or woody plants occurring in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Madagascar, Central & South America, and the West Indies...
, as the genus Ascarina
Ascarina
Ascarina is a plant genus of fewer than 20 species of small trees in the family Chloranthaceae. Ascarina are usually tropical cloud forest species that require high humidity and regular rainfall to thrive. The name comes from the Ascaris worm; the anthers of the Ascarina flower are thought to...
with two species, Piperaceae
Piperaceae
The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, is a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,610 currently accepted species in five genera. The vast majority of peppers can be found within the two main genera: Piper and Peperomia .Members of the Piperaceae may be small...
family, with twenty species of genus Piper and Peperomia, and Trimeniaceae
Trimeniaceae
Trimeniaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, at least for the past several decades....
family with Trimenia neocaledonica.
The importance of the families of Gondwanan origin, both in the number of species as the abundance of some of them in different plant communities contrasts with the low representation in the indigenous vegetation of more modern groups such as the Compositae, Gramineae, Labiatae and Melastomataceae
Melastomataceae
right|thumb|200px|Characteristic venation of many melastomesThe family Melastomataceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics comprising some 200 genera and 4500 species...
.
The groups of Gondwanan origin, that are the most remarkable flora of New Caledonia, including the families of Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae
The Cunoniaceae is a family of 26 genera and about 350 species of woody plants in the Antarctic flora, with many laurifolia species with glossy leaves endemic to laurel forest habitat. The family is native to Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, southern South America, the Mascarene...
, Proteaceae
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
and Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae
The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
.
The family of Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae
The Cunoniaceae is a family of 26 genera and about 350 species of woody plants in the Antarctic flora, with many laurifolia species with glossy leaves endemic to laurel forest habitat. The family is native to Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, southern South America, the Mascarene...
comprising a total of 25 genus and some 350 species has six genus in New Caledonia. Two of them, Pancheria
Pancheria
Pancheria is a genus of plant in family Cunoniaceae.Species include:* Pancheria humboldtiana, Guillaumin* Pancheria multijuga, Guillaumin* Pancheria robusta, Guillaumin...
and Codia are endemic, while genus Cunonia
Cunonia
Cunonia is a genus of flowering plants, which includes several species of evergreen trees and shrubs. Some authors merge Weinmannia into Cunonia....
has 23 endemic species in New Caledonia and one species in South Africa.
The other three genus have a distribution Papuan-Australian (Acsmithia
Acsmithia
Acsmithia is a genus of plant in family Cunoniaceae.Species include:* Acsmithia vitiense...
), Australian (Geissois
Geissois
Geissois is a genus of plant in family Cunoniaceae.Species include:* Geissois benthamiana Red Carabeen, Australia* Geissois imthurnii* Geissois stipularis* Geissois superba* Geissois ternata A.Gray...
), and sub-Antarctic (Weinmannia
Weinmannia
Weinmannia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cunoniaceae. The genus includes approximately 150 species of canopy trees and shrubs, ranging across the montane tropics and temperate New Zealand and Chile....
).
The family Proteaceae
Proteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
with the two main centers of dispersion in Australia and Southern Africa is represented in the archipelago by 43 species.
They are divided into six endemic genus: Beaupre
Beaupre
Beaupre is a primarily Catholic family that lives mostly in northern New England and Michigan.The history of the Beaupre family can be accurately traced to about AD 1045 to 1050...
, Beaupreopsis, Eucarpha, Garnier
Garnier
Garnier is a mass market cosmetics brand of L'Oréal that produces hair care and skin care products. Much like other brands from L'Oréal, it is sold in several markets around the world.- Advertising Slogans :...
, Kermadecia
Kermadecia
Kermadecia is a genus of flowering plants in family Proteaceae. The genus comprises four species, all endemic to New Caledonia as follows:*Kermadecia elliptica Brongn. & Gris*Kermadecia pronyensis Guillaumin...
, and Sleumerodendron.
Two sub-endemics genus: Virotia
Virotia
Virotia is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia.The species, all previously included in the genus Macadamia, are as follows:...
and Macadamia
Macadamia
Macadamia is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, with a disjunct distribution native to eastern Australia , New Caledonia and Sulawesi in Indonesia ....
. An Australian genus: Grevillea
Grevillea
Grevillea is a diverse genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the protea family Proteaceae, native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Sulawesi. It was named in honour of Charles Francis Greville. The species range from prostrate shrubs less than 0.5 m tall to trees...
. An Australian-Papuan genus: Stenocarpus
Stenocarpus
Stenocarpus is a genus of around 25 species of woody trees or shrubs of the family Proteaceae, occurring in rainforests of Eastern and monsoonal areas of Northern and North-Western Australia with 2 extending into New Guinea and the Aru Islands, with the greatest diversity occurring in New...
.
The family Myrtaceae, although basically Gondwanan in origen, currently has a distribution which includes all the tropical world and also a group has reached the Northern Hemisphere. With 229 species, is the largest family in New Caledonia. It has two genus largely distributed in the rest of the world: Eugenia
Eugenia
Eugenia is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,000 species occur in the New World tropics, especially in the northern Andes, the Caribbean, and the...
and Syzygium
Syzygium
Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1100 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific...
, but also the endemic genus: Arillastrum
Arillastrum
Arillastrum is a monotypic genus of the botanical family Myrtaceae, containing the sole species Arillastrum gummiferum, which is endemic to New Caledonia....
, Carpolepis, Cloezia, Pleurocalyptus and Purpurostemon. Purpurostemon, of the subfamily Leptospermoideae is most distribuited in Australia, and from the sub-family Myrtoideae of wide distribution in tropics, Cupheanthus and Myrtastrum.
The genus sub endemics: Archirhodomyrtus
Archirhodomyrtus
Archirhodomyrtus is a genus of the botanical family Myrtaceae.-Species:*Archirhodomyrtus baladensis*Archirhodomyrtus beckleri*Archirhodomyrtus paitensis*Archirhodomyrtus turbinata*Archirhodomyrtus vieillardi...
, Piliocalyx, Uromyrtus
Uromyrtus
Uromyrtus is a genus of approximately 15-20 species in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. The greatest diversity of species are found in New Caledonia and the remainder are found in Australia, New Guinea and Malesia. Two new species were recently described from Australia, U. lamingtonensis and U....
. The Australian genus: Baecker
Baecker
Bäcker, Baecker is one of the German-language surnames, along with Becker and Bäcker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker ....
, Callistemon, Melaleuca
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...
. And the Australian-Papuan genus: Austromyrtus
Austromyrtus
Austromyrtus is a genus of shrubs in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. The three species are found along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and/or New South Wales. The fruits of A. dulcis have a hint of cinnamon flavouring...
, Rhodomyrtus
Rhodomyrtus
Rhodomyrtus is a genus of 24 species of shrubs and trees in the family Myrtaceae. The genus is native to Asia, Malesia, Melanesia, and Australia. Its greatest levels of diversity are on New Guinea and in northeastern Australia. DNA sequence data and morphological data indicate that the genus is...
, Xanthostemon
Xanthostemon
Xanthostemon is a genus of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It contains 45 species and has a wide distribution including the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, Indonesia and New Caledonia.Species include:* Xanthostemon chrysanthus Golden Penda...
.
The remaining seven genera have distributions mainly in the Pacific, Indomalesia and IndoAustralian.
The great biodiversity of native tree species, has prevented that invasive introduced tree species could be a problem, as has happened in other Pacific islands. The government made efforts to create parks and reserves. They are in danger of extinction due to over exploitation as medicinal plants or timber extraction and also for loss of habitat.
Fauna
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s except for bats, and no native amphibians, instead having a vertebrate fauna dominated by reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s and bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s. Today the island has 21 endemic species of birds, including one endemic family, the Rhynochetidae, represented by one living species, the Kagu
Kagu
The Kagu or Cagou is a crested, long-legged, and bluish-grey bird endemic to the dense mountain forests of New Caledonia. It is the only surviving member of the genus Rhynochetos and the family Rhynochetidae, although a second species has been described from the fossil record...
. The island is also home to the unusual tool-using New Caledonian Crow
New Caledonian Crow
The New Caledonian Crow is a tool-using species of crow endemic to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. These crows are some of the only non-primate animals known to invent new tools by modifying existing ones, and then passing these innovations on to other individuals in the cultural group...
. See Endemic birds of New Caledonia
Endemic birds of New Caledonia
This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the World's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds.-Patterns of endemism:New Caledonia has a single endemic family, the Kagu....
for a full list. It is the separation of the islands of Gondwana block before the mammals expansion that could allow the radiation of flightless birds (Moa, Kiwi, Sylviornis, cagous) and Mesozoic reptilian forms such as the Tuatara of New Zealand.
The island's reptile fauna shares most of its affinities with Australia. Species endemic to the island comprise 62 of 69 total. Two species of snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
are found in the Territory. Only one is found on Grand Terre; the other is native to the nearby Loyalty Islands
Loyalty Islands
The Loyalty Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific. They are part of the French territory of New Caledonia, whose mainland is away. They form the Loyalty Islands Province , one of the three provinces of New Caledonia...
which are part of New Caledonia. It is the home to the world’s largest
Rhacodactylus leachianus
The New Caledonian Giant Gecko or Leach's Giant Gecko , is a large species of gecko first described by Georges Cuvier in 1829. It is often commonly referred to as a Leachie gecko . It is the largest of the Rhacodactylus geckos...
gecko
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
, and a large number of skink
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
s and other geckos. No crocodiles or terrestrial turtles remain on the island.
The world's highest biodiversity of Volutomitridae
Volutomitridae
Volutomitridae is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Muricoidea.-Genera:The family Volutomitridae contains six genera and about fifty described recent species:* Conomitra Conrad, 1865* Magdalemitra Kilburn, 1974...
is in waters off New Caledonia.
The tropical invertebrates make up the bulk of the endemic fauna, they are a lot of species well represented in New Caledonia: freshwater sponges, annelid worms, and molluscs terrestrial and freshwater, arachnids, scorpions and mygales of this many vicariant to the mygales of Queensland. There are fourteen endemic species of decapod crustaceans in rivers and lakes.
Mites, Pauropodes, Isopoda, Collembola, insects, among them: Diptera, Lepidoptera, Psocoptera, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Dermaptera, and several families of Coleoptera and Homoptera.
Giant Coconut Grasshopper (Pseudophyllanax Montrouzier imperialis), only of Lepidopter there are 521 species, with 197 endemic species (38%), giant butterfly Montrouzier (Papilio montrouzieri Boisduval).
There are twenty two endemic species of terrestrial birds, three endemic genera and one family. Caledonian Raven (Corvus moneduloides),know by the studies done on their intelligence. The laurel forest pigeon (Columba vitiensis hyponochroa), giant wood pigeon notou (Ducula goliath), two genera endemic Drepanoptila (the green pigeon), and Eunymphicus (the chest nut parakeet and Ouvea parakeet).
The best known animal species is the Rhynochetos jubatus or cagou endangered by the introduction of dogs, rats and other predators. It is a bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
of the size of a chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
almost unable to fly
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
, with a long crest
Crest
-In science:*Crest , the distinctive head plumage exhibited by birds such as cockatoos*Comb , or Cockscomb*Crest , the section of a wave that rises above an undisturbed position...
and a funny cackling own of leafy forest mountain.
The other terrestrial birds endemics are (Accipiter
Accipiter
The genus Accipiter is a group of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae, many of which are named as goshawks and sparrowhawks. They can be anatomically distinguished from their relatives by the lack of a procoracoid foramen. Two small and aberrant species usually placed here do possess a large...
haplochrous), (Philemon
Philemon
Philemon may refer to:Arts and literature:* Philemon , the recipient of Saint Paul's Epistle to Philemon* Baucis and Philemon, the couple from the Metamorphoses of Greek mythology...
diemenensis), (Erythrura psittacea), (Zosterops
Zosterops
Zosterops is a genus of birds containing the typical white-eyes. They are traditionally placed in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae, which may actually be a part of the Timaliidae, however...
xanthochroa), (Phylidonyris
Phylidonyris
The genus Phylidonyris is a member of the Honeyeater family.It contains the following species:*White-fronted Honeyeater, Phylidonyris albifrons*New Holland Honeyeater, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae...
undulata), (Pachycephala
Pachycephala
Pachycephala is a genus of birds native to Oceania and Southeast Asia. They are commonly known as typical whistlers. Older guidebooks may refer to them as thickheads, a literal translation of the generic name, which is derived from the Ancient Greek terms pachys "thick" + kephale "head".-Species in...
caledonica), (Aplonis
Aplonis
Aplonis is a genus of starlings. These are essentially island species of Indonesia, Oceania and Australasia, although some species’ ranges extend to the Malay Peninsula, southern Vietnam and northeastern Queensland. The typical adult Aplonis starling is fairly uniformly plumaged in black, brown or...
striatus), (Gymnomyza
Gymnomyza
Gymnomyza is a genus of birds, in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae, which are restricted to a few islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean.There are three species.* Crow Honeyeater * Mao...
aubryana), (Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria is a genus of small forest passerines known in Australia as the Yellow Robins. They belong to the Australasian Robin family Petroicidae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek for "dawn singer/song" because of their dawn chorus. They are inquisitive and bold birds, and have been...
flaviventris), (Coracina
Coracina
Coracina is a large genus of bird in the Campephagidae family. A revision of this genus may be involved since the group is found to be polyphyletic in relation to other genera within the Campephagidae.It contains the following 49 species:...
analis), (Myzomela
Myzomela
Myzomela is a genus of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is the largest genus of honeyeaters, with 31 species, and the most geographically widespread...
caledonica), (Megalurulus
Megalurulus
Megalurulus, the thicketbirds, are a genus of songbirds. Previously placed in the "Old World Warbler" family Sylviidae, they does not seem to be a close relative of the typical warblers...
mariei).
It is considered, in relation to the size of the territory of New Caledonia, the island of Grande Terre is the place of planet Earth with a greater variety of reptiles, giant gecko, (Rhacodactylus leachianusis), giant skink (Phoboscincus bocourti), emphasizing the giant monitor lizards. Sea snakes laticaudinae have venom ten times as strong as rattlesnake venom.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the only mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s in the island was the six endemic species of bats, Rousettus bat, a large fruit bat
Fruit Bat
Fruit Bat can refer to:* Megabats, a species of bat which eats fruit* Les "Fruitbat" Carter, guitarist of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine* Fruit Bats , an American band...
, is consumed by local people. Numerous species were wiped out before the arrival of Europeans, including a large flightless bird Sylviornis neocaledoniae . a species of owl, two species of hawks, a megapode (Pile-builder Megapode
Pile-builder Megapode
The Pile-builder Megapode is an extinct species of megapode. The fossil remains were found by Jean-Christophe Balouet and Storrs L. Olson in caves on New Caledonia and Tonga.-Description:...
), a species of giant tortoise Meiolania
Meiolania
Meiolania is an extinct genus of cryptodire turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene, with the last relict populations at New Caledonia which survived until 2,000 years ago....
, a giant bat, two species of terrestrial crocodiles, descendants of terrestrial Gondwana, Mekosuchinae
Mekosuchinae
Mekosuchinae was a subfamily of crocodiles from Australia and the South Pacific that have now become extinct. They first appear in the fossil record in the Eocene in Australia, and survived until the Pleistocene in Australia and until the arrival of humans in the Pacific islands of Fiji, New...
crocodiles, (Mekosuchus inexpectatus), arthropods, etc..
New Caledonia dry forests
The west coast of New Caledonia has a drier climate and different habitat from the rain forests that cover most of the island. Although not as rich as the rainforest the plant life of the coast does consist of nearly 400 species including a number of endemic species such as the unique Captaincookia margaretaeCaptaincookia margaretae
Captaincookia margaretae is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia. It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* Jaffré, T. et al. 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....
, and Oryza neocaledonica, a wild rice that is in danger of disappearing. This coast is traditionally home to a number of New Caledonia's endangered animals including the New Caledonia Wattled Bat (Chalinolobus neocaledonicus
Chalinolobus neocaledonicus
New Caledonia Wattled Bat is a species of vesper bat in the genus Chalinolobus. It is found only in New Caledonia.- Source :* Chiroptera Specialist Group 1996. . Downloaded on 19 July 2007....
) and the Ornate Flying Fox
Ornate Flying Fox
The Ornate Flying Fox, Pteropus ornatus, is a species of megabat in the Pteropodidae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.-Source:...
. Dry forests are always vulnerable to forest fires and human intervention and the original vegetation of this coast has been cleared for farming, especially cattle ranching, with only two percent of natural dry forest remaining in isolated patches, none of them in protected areas. Urban areas on the west coast include New Caledonia's cosmopolitan capital Nouméa
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, while there are farms and farming communities all along the coast.
Threats and preservation
New Caledonia's biodiversity is threatened by a number of factors. Like many island biotaBiota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
s, its species were poorly equipped to deal with the destructive effects of the introduced rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
, cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
, dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
and pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
, which have taken a toll on native species like the ground-living Kagu. Hunting is still a problem in remote areas, but substantially greater concern arises from dramatic habitat-loss caused by deforestation due to logging, mining (one of the island's principal industries), uncontrolled fires (responsible for substantial destruction of large areas), agriculture (largely responsible for reducing the dry-sclerophyll habitat to a small fraction of its original area), and urban development.
Although no species are known to have become extinct since 1500, two species, the New Caledonian Rail
New Caledonian Rail
The New Caledonian Rail is a large and drab flightless rail that is found on the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific. It is a dull brown above, with grey underparts, and has a yellowish, downward-curving bill...
and the New Caledonian Lorikeet
New Caledonian Lorikeet
The New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema is a potentially extinct lorikeet endemic to the Melanesian island of New Caledonia.-Description:...
have not been seen for over a hundred years and are considered to be critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
if not actually extinct. A similar fate was thought to have befallen the New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar
New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar
The New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi, also known as the Enigmatic Owlet-nightjar, is a large owlet-nightjar with vermiculated grey-brown and black plumage. It has a long, slightly rounded tail, short, rounded wings, and long, stout legs. Its voice is unknown but similar birds make...
, but a recent survey reported finding them in remote parts of the island. The New Caledonian Crested Gecko
New Caledonian Crested Gecko
The Crested Gecko, New Caledonian Crested Gecko, Guichenot's Giant Gecko or Eyelash Gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, is a species of gecko native to southern New Caledonia. This species was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994...
was thought to have been extinct until it was rediscovered in 1994.
New Caledonia is considered a conservation
Conservation biology
Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...
priority by many international organizations, which have lobbied and sought to work with the country's government to preserve the islands' unique ecosystems. Although their efforts have recently led to a few limited successes, to date they have failed to achieve definitive protection for New Caledonia's remaining natural areas. For instance, given the global importance of these living-fossil ecosystems, attempts have been made to recognize their significance by granting them UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
-status protection. To date, no such attempted initiative has succeeded, due to opposition by regional governments, which are heavily influenced by mining and development interests (see below). Present-day mining operations continue, and are in fact being initiated, in localities of extreme ecological importance. Worldwide public pressure has forced mining companies to recently begin voluntary, minimal post-mining rehabilitation. However, even when taking such rehabilitation efforts into account, mining activity still results in devastation of the extremely high biodiversity that had existed at the exploited site prior to the mining operation. Imposition of World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
-status would severely impact the pursuit of unrestricted mining activity in areas of ecological importance. However, this, in turn, could affect the economic well-being of the entire country, making a balanced, thoughtful approach essential to national interests.
Conservation efforts at the local, grass-roots level have been, at best, tentative, and have invariably failed when in direct conflict with mining (and other development) projects, due to the above-referenced importance of such projects to the country's comparative prosperity and stability. Recent, local political efforts to increase governmental priority for protection of the country's globally recognized natural environment, met with strong official opposition, and violence against the proponents. Notably, Bruno Van Peteghem
Bruno Van Peteghem
Bruno Van Peteghem was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2001, for his campaign to place the island's coral reef on UNESCO's World Heritage List in order to protect the reef against destruction from nickel mining industries.-References:...
, recipient of the 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize
Goldman Environmental Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of...
, used the local court system to force government leaders to obey laws protecting the country's coral reefs. Despite his short-term victories in the courts, however, his home was firebombed, and his family and himself were repeatedly threatened. Ultimately, the head of government at the time, Jacques Lafleur
Jacques Lafleur
Jacques Lafleur was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia.Lafleur was a onetime leader of one of the two anti-independence parties in New Caledonia, the RPCR . He was a signatory to the Matignon Accords in 1988 and the Nouméa Accord in 1998...
, succeeded in silencing Bruno Van Peteghem
Bruno Van Peteghem
Bruno Van Peteghem was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2001, for his campaign to place the island's coral reef on UNESCO's World Heritage List in order to protect the reef against destruction from nickel mining industries.-References:...
's opposition, forcing him into de facto exile by arranging the termination of his employment with the national airline.
External links
- Website of the Botanical Conservatory of New Caledonia
- Website for l'Association Endemia (in French): A thorough presentation of New Caledonian diversity
- Tentative steps towards rehabilitation of areas destroyed by mining
- New Caledonian ecosystems and their threats described
- Efforts to protect ecosystems from fire
- Australian efforts to publicise damage by mining
- Threat to reef ecosystems described
- Birdlife International: New Caledonia
- WWF: New Caledonia Program Moist Forests
- WWF: New Caledonia Program Dry Forests
- Conservation International : Biodiversity Hotspots
- Missouri Botanical Garden : New Caledonia's Flora