Beauchêne Island: a historical account

Smith, R. I. Lewis

doi:10.1017/s003224740000509x

Polar Record

1984

DOI: 10.1017/s003224740000509x

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Beauchêne Island: a historical account

R. I. Lewis Smith

Abstract: Southernmost of the Falkland Islands, Beauchene Island (52° 54' S, 59° 09' W, area 3 km 2 ) is a wildlife reserve with large colonies of Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins. Discovered and named in 1701 by the French explorer Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne, it was noted by many early navigators and visited frequently by fur sealers in the 19th century. This article draws attention to early reports and outlines what is known of its history. Contents 163Exploitation .

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The natural history of Beauchêne Island

Smith

Prince

1985

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Beauchene Island is the most isolated of the Falkland Islands archipelago and until the authors' visit there in 1980 little was known or published about the island and its biota apart from its avifauna. The first collections and identifications of various plant and invertebrate groups were made and a brief account of their ecology and interrelationships is given; many of the arthropods are first records for the Falkland Islands and some are new to science. More detailed information is presented for tussock grass (or tussac), Poajlabellala, which reaches a height of 3.5 m and covers two-thirds of the island with a unique monospecific grassland. The underlying deep peat, in places reaching 13 m depth, was investigated and radiocarbon dates obtained at various levels through the profile, indicating that the grassland has existed virtually unchanged for 12 500 years. The status of the avifauna was assessed. The black browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colonies were counted reasonably accurately and calculated to contain up to 170000 and 300000 pairs, respectively. A population of about 250 striated caracaras was counted, together with 67 nests, possibly the largest concentration of these rare raptors anywhere. The recently discovered population of fairy prions was estimated at several thousand birds. Se' a lions were not abundant and fur seals, once said to occur in large numbers on the island, were abseht. The biological simplicity of the exceptionally uniform tussac ecosystem offers ideal conditions for testing ecological hypotheses, especially those related to trophodynamics and predator-prey interrelationships, and its potential for research is emphasized. The importance of applying strict conservation measures to protect this unique island is stressed in view of the possible future economic development of the Falkland Islands.

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The natural history of Beauchêne Island

Smith

Prince

1985

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Moss-inhabiting diatoms from two contrasting Maritime Antarctic islands

Kopalová¹,

Ochyra²,

Nedbalová³

et al. 2014

Plecevo

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Background and aims-The Maritime Antarctic vegetation is a poorly developed tundra dominated by lichens and mosses, mostly present in moist environments, providing a favourable habitat for microorganisms. Although, diatoms represent one of the most common algal groups in the Antarctic region, moss-inhabiting diatoms are rarely studied. The moss vegetation on islands in the Maritime Antarctic region forms a favorable habitat for non-marine diatoms. These moss-inhabiting diatom communities are of particular interest as little is known about their species composition, ecological preferences and habitats. The present paper discusses the diversity of moss inhabiting diatoms from Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island) and Ulu Peninsula (James Ross Island), Maritime Antarctic region. Methods-The composition of the moss inhabiting diatom flora of 84 samples collected from Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island and Lagoons Mesa area, James Ross Island has been studied using light microscopy. Key results-A total of 130 taxa, belonging to 39 genera has been recorded. Detrended Correspondence Analysis using the entire sample set clearly separates the James Ross Island (JRI) communities from the Livingston Island (LI) communities showing mostly the dominance of taxa preferring terrestrial (JRI) instead of more moist and aquatic conditions (LI). A Principal Component Analysis of only the Livingston Island samples formed three groups clearly separated by their diatom species composition. Although some taxa seem to occur in high abundances in several assemblages, a number of taxa showed a distinct preference for a particular assemblage. Biotic stress caused by marine birds and mammals, expressed in higher nutrient and salinity levels, seems to play a key role in determining the species composition. Conclusions-Our results showed clearly the presence of a well developed moss-inhabiting diatom flora on both studied localities. The composition of the studied communities is determined by the type of habitat, moisture and biotic influences (salinity and nutrients).

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Beauchêne Island: a historical account

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

The natural history of Beauchêne Island

The natural history of Beauchêne Island

Moss-inhabiting diatoms from two contrasting Maritime Antarctic islands

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