Biodiversity in New Caledonia- the hidden gem

So Where is it? New Caledonia is one of the smallest hotspots in the world (the size of New Jersey<<< USA!). This group of islands is located in the South Pacific at the southern extremity of the Melanesian region, 1,200 kilometers east of Australia. The region's 18,972 km consist of the main island of Grande Terre and the smaller Loyalty Islands to the east, Belep and Surprise Islands to the north and Isle of Pines to the south. The Chesterfield Islands further to the west, and the uninhabited volcanic islands of Matthew and Hunter to the east.

An outline to the biodiversity in New Caledonia Hotspot Original Extent (km 2 ) 18,972 Hotspot Vegetation Remaining (km 2 ) 5,122 Endemic Plant Species 2,432 Endemic Threatened Birds 7 Endemic Threatened Mammals 3 Endemic Threatened Amphibians 0 Extinct Species 1 Human Population Density (people/km 2 ) 11 Area Protected (km 2 ) 4,192

Biomass New Caledonia's ecosystems include several natural vegetation types. Evergreen rain forests, once covered about 70% of the area, now just a few scattered pockets in the central mountains. In drier areas on the west coast, there are a few small patches left of sclerophyllous (eucalypts for example) forest. Maquis (hardy plants that grow in areas of drought- or wear vegetation has been burnt) shrub land dominates the southern third of the island. High-altitude maquis occupies most of its original extent of around 100 km, while low- altitude maquis is now the most extensive natural formation in the country. This once occupied only about 5% of the country, but has now expanded, largely as a result of fire, to 23% of New Caledonia. Other vegetation includes mangroves, along the west coast. Grassland and niaouli (invasive plants) today occupy more than 6,000 km or 32% of the area. These are, in fact, highly disturbed anthropogenic formations that are maintained by repeated fire and grazing by cattle and introduced deer.

Flora There are about 3,270 plant species recorded on the islands, 74% of which are endemic (roughly 2,430 species). As a percentage, the endemic species of New Caledonia, they make of 0.162% of all species in the world! An amazingly high number of plant families are endemic to New Caledonia these are: Amborellaceae, Paracryphiaceae, Strasburgeriaceae, Oncothecaceae, and Phellinaceae. Among countries, only Australia, South Africa, and Madagascar have more endemic plant families; these nations are also vastly larger than New Caledonia. Given this remarkable floristic endemism, New Caledonia is often considered a distinct floristic subkingdom. Around 2,012 plant species are found in the evergreen rainforest, of which 82.2 percent are endemic, making it the richest of New Caledonia's vegetation types. Furthermore, New Caledonia is home to the endemic, monotypic family Amborellaceae, which comprises a single species, Amborella trichopoda, recently shown to represent the basal-most branch in the evolutionary tree of the flowering plants. There is at present 1.5 million discovered plant species in the world- its said that there may be as much as 2-10million altogether!

Birds Out of more than 100 birds found in New Caledonia, more than 20 are endemic. There are three endemic genera, two of which are monotypic, including the kagu, the only living member of the endemic family, Rhynochetidae. Forest destruction and feral dogs gravely threaten the kagu, and only a few hundred individuals survive. Two species from Caledonia that have not been recorded reliably for many years, include the New Caledonian lorikeet, last recorded in 1913, and the New Caledonia rail, not reliably reported since the early 20th century.

Reptiles Nearly all of these species are lizards in two families of geckos and one family of skinks. The best known among these are the giant geckos of the endemic genus Rhacodactylus. Largest gecko in the world at 28cm long! Rhacodactylus leachianus. There is an extremely high level of reptile endemism in this hotspot. More than 60 of about 70 terrestrial reptiles are endemic. Phoboscincus bocourti, a 50-cm-long lizard, was previously known from a single specimen captured around 1870 and was long presumed extinct. In 2003, on a tiny islet, Phoboscincus bocourti was rediscovered

Mammals All of New Caledonia's nine land mammal species are bats; five Microchiropters and four Megachiropters or flying foxes. Six of these bat species are endemic, including a newly described species of long-eared bat Nyctophilus nebulosus discovered in Bats have been poorly studied and the potential for discovering new species is high. (so pack your bags and find one! After all you could name it after yourself!) Sadly, Megachiropters are highly threatened due to hunting. These species play a major role in dispersing the seeds of many rain forest tree species; when not hunted, they can develop large populations. Dugongs can be found in the waters around New Caledonia- one of the few areas in the world. In blue is where you will find all Dugongs appearing naturally.

Cetacea (basically whales, dolphins and Porpoises) Without doubt the waters surrounding New Caledonia are the most rich in the world when it comes to the variety of Cetacea that inhabit those waters. All together there are 8 different Cetacea, some which do inhabit all oceans while a few are much more rare and only inhabit certain oceans, for instance the Hector’s Beaked whale which only inhabits the southern ocean and only goes as north as New Caledonia. Hector’s beaked Whales waters. Dwarf sperm whale Humpback whale Risso’s Dolphin Risso’s Dolphins waters

Freshwater Fishes Aquatic diversity on the islands is high given the size of the hotspot, with about 85 species of freshwater fish, although less than 10 are endemic. Galaxias neocaledonicus Protogobius The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world after the Great barrier reef.

Invertebrates Among invertebrates, the hotspot supports a rich endemic diversity of land snails, although only 200 species have been described out of an estimated 400 to 600 species. The largest of these snails, Placostylus fibratus, can grow to more than 15 centimetres long and weigh up to 100 grams. The hotspot has an estimated 37 species of macro-crustaceans, of which 40 percent are endemic. Grande Terre island is one of the most biodiverse islands for this taxonomic group, with species found only in ultrabasic substrata and others only in some short, oxygenated rivers of the north. Some species are highly threatened by nickel mining on the island. About 4,000 insect species have been catalogued to date, showing high endemism within the islands. The total insect fauna in the hotspot is projected to be between 8,000 and 20,000 species, including more than 70 native species of butterfly, more than 300 species of moth, and 16 tiger beetles. Nearly 200 spiders have been recognized thus far, including the only family of spiders endemic to a single island, the Bradystichidae.

Conservation New Caledonia is considered an urgent priority Endemic Bird Area (EBA) by Birdlife International. New Caledonia has a protected area network covering 4,192 km 2, or 22 percent of its land. Furthermore, 83 percent of the territory's threatened plant species do not occur in any protected area. The extremely rare sclerophyllous forest and the low to mid-altitude maquis vegetation types are almost totally unprotected. Only half of the existing parks have any restrictions on mining within their boundaries, and the remaining ones are open to mining activities. Funding conservation work in the hotspot is difficult, because agencies like the World Bank and the European Union will not designate money for work in New Caledonia, which is technically part of France. France, recently, has made the conservation needs of the island a priority.