Evidence for a single panmictic and genetically diverse population of the coconut crab Birgus latro (Decapoda: Anomura: Coenobitidae) on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1165
Author(s):  
C. Anagnostou ◽  
C. D. Schubart
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Road Mortality ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Conservation Units ◽  
Population Genetic Analysis ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Indian Ocean

For the coconut crab Birgus latro, Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean may be one of the last retreats where populations of this declining species are not threatened by overharvesting, as on many other mostly tropical Indo-Pacific islands within the species’ wide range. Nevertheless, the population on Christmas Island has experienced severe losses during the past decade owing to habitat destruction and road mortality. To assess the population’s evolutionary potential and identify the number of conservation units, we conducted a combined morphometric and population genetic analysis using microsatellite markers. The findings suggest that the population is genetically diverse and panmictic. Neither genetic nor morphometric analyses revealed any population substructuring. There was no genetic evidence for sex-biased dispersal. Single-sample estimators for the effective population size (Ne) ranged from 492 to infinity, with very wide confidence intervals; they should therefore be viewed with caution. It would be advisable to reanalyse Ne, preferably by temporal methods. Despite mixed results, there is stronger evidence against rather than for the occurrence of a recent genetic bottleneck. So far, the population of B. latro on Christmas Island may be considered as a single conservation management unit, this way simplifying future conservation efforts taken for this magnificent species.

Phylogeography of the Christmas Island blue crab,Discoplax celeste(Decapoda: Gecarcinidae) on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy M. Turner ◽  
J. Paul Hallas ◽  
Michael J. Smith ◽  
Stephen Morris
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
Land Crab ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The land crab,Discoplax celeste(Gecarcinidae) is endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Due to a freshwater-dependant life history, in which the megalopae migrate from the ocean up freshwater streams to their adult terrestrial/freshwater habitat,D. celesteinhabits only a few isolated locations on the island. This restricted distribution is one of a number of factors which has previously highlighted the vulnerability of this species to outside threats. A number of anthropogenic factors including the introduction of multiple invasive species and habitat destruction have led to drastic ecosystem change on Christmas Island. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the restricted geographical distributions ofD. celestepopulations contribute to significant genetic structuring across Christmas Island, with an objective to inform future conservation strategies for this species on Christmas Island. Fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene and the control region were sequenced from 95 individuals collected from all five locations on Christmas Island known to be inhabited byD. celeste. Analyses using analysis of molecular variance revealed no evidence of population sub-structuring, indicating that despite any geographical isolation, there is a single population ofD. celesteon Christmas Island. This lack of population differentiation is probably explained by the oceanic dispersal of larvae, rather than terrestrial migration ofD. celeste. Therefore, based on these results, for conservation purposes,D. celesteon Christmas Island can be considered a single management unit.

scholarly journals Realism of the Indian Ocean Dipole in CMIP5 Models: The Implications for Climate Projections

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (17) ◽  
pp. 6649-6659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Weller ◽  
Wenju Cai
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Indian Ocean Dipole ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Tropical Indian Ocean ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Abstract An assessment of how well climate models simulate the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) is undertaken using 20 coupled models that have partaken in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Compared with models in phase 3 (CMIP3), no substantial improvement is evident in the simulation of the IOD pattern and/or amplitude during austral spring [September–November (SON)]. The majority of models in CMIP5 generate a larger variance of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Sumatra–Java upwelling region and an IOD amplitude that is far greater than is observed. Although the relationship between precipitation and tropical Indian Ocean SSTs is well simulated, future projections of SON rainfall changes over IOD-influenced regions are intrinsically linked to the IOD amplitude and its rainfall teleconnection in the model present-day climate. The diversity of the simulated IOD amplitudes in models in CMIP5 (and CMIP3), which tend to be overly large, results in a wide range of future modeled SON rainfall trends over IOD-influenced regions. The results herein highlight the importance of realistically simulating the present-day IOD properties and suggest that caution should be exercised in interpreting climate projections in the IOD-affected regions.

The common wolf snake, Lycodon aulicus capucinus, a recent colonists of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
TH Fritts
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Boiga Irregularis ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Brown Tree Snake ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Common

The discovery of the common wolf snake, Lycodon aulicus capucinus, on Christmas I . in the Indian Ocean suggests that individuals of the species have colonised the island recently. On the basis of biological information for this widespread colubrid snake and for the brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, a well-documented pest species on Guam, the establishment of the common wolf snake would pose a severe threat to the native fauna and ecology of Christmas I. Immediate research is needed to document the spread of the snake, to evaluate its effects on other fauna, and to control or eradicate the species before it becomes firmly established.

scholarly journals Guide to the Birds of Fiji and Western Polynesia

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
H. F. Recher
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Raphus Cucullatus ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
The Indian Ocean

FEW taxa have suffered at the expansion of humanity to the extent of the birds of Pacific Islands. Of the 130 or so birds to become extinct as a consequence of European exploration and colonization of the Pacific, most were island birds and most were flightless rails. Not so well understood is the scale of extinctions that accompanied pre-European colonization of the Pacific islands. Only now is the paleontological record revealing the richness of the lost Pacific avifauna much of which can be put on a par with the loss of moas from New Zealand and the Dodo Raphus cucullatus from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Taxonomic note on Calymperes flaviusculum, a synonym of C. moluccense (Calympereaceae, Bryophyta)

Phytotaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 399 (2) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
ORAWANYA SUWANMALA ◽  
SI HE ◽  
LEONARD T. ELLIS ◽  
SAHUT CHANTANAORRAPINT
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Taxonomic Note ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Family ◽  
Variable Species ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Calymperes Sw. ex Weber (1813) is the second largest genus in the family Calymperaceae (after Syrrhopodon Schwägrichen (1824: 110)) and comprises approximately 53 accepted species worldwide, mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions (Frey & Stech 2009). It is easily separated from other genera of the Calymperaceae by its distinctive sporophytes, which lack peristome teeth, but possess a persistent calyptra. Calymperes palisotii Schwägrichen (1816: 334) is an extremely variable species, occurring from the Neotropics, across Africa, through the islands of the Indian Ocean, to India and Sri Lanka, rarely penetrating eastwards into Indochina and Malesia (Ellis 2018). In their broad concept, Reese & Mohamed (1985) treated many species of Calymperes as synonyms of C. palisotii. These included C. moluccense Schwägrichen (1824: 99) a highly variable species from Malaysia and Oceania. Based on an examination of a wide range of materials of C. palisotii, Ellis (1987) considered that C. moluccense was quite different from C. palisotii, and reinstated C. moluccense as a good species, placing in synonymy with the latter, several taxa also previously regarded as synonyms of C. palisotii (Ellis 1987).

New Afrotropical and Oriental species of Micrepimera Matile (Diptera: Keroplatidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 3128 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
JAN ŠEVČÍK ◽  
LÁSZLÓ PAPP
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
First Record ◽  
Northern Vietnam ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Afrotropical Region ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Wing Coloration

Two new species of Robsonomyiini (Diptera: Keroplatidae: Macrocerinae), Micrepimera berentiana sp. n. and M. pandastica sp. n., are described from southern Madagascar and northern Vietnam, respectively. This is the first record of this tribe in the Afrotropical region and from mainland Asia. Both the new species differ from M. punctipennis Matile (described from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean) mainly in wing coloration, structure of antennae, and details of the male terminalia.

scholarly journals Soldiers, Artisans, Cultivators and Revolutionaries: The Movement of Sikhs in the Indian Ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjali Gera Roy
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Martial Race

The geography of Punjab, a land-locked region divided between India and Pakistan, makes it an unlikely player in oceanic sojourns. But imperial interventions in Punjab in the middle of the 19th century triggered movements from Punjab that inserted this region in the littoral narrative of the Indian Ocean. Unlike the movements of lascars and traders, who have been central to the revisionist histories of the Indian Ocean, those from Punjab have not featured in oceanic dialogues. The absence of Sikhs in Indian Ocean studies is largely due to the silence of Sikh soldiers, skilled craftsmen and cultivators with largely rural roots who were uprooted to strange lands. The confusion of Sikhs with Hindus, Muslims and, even Afghans, in the colonial era, as well as the classification of Punjabi Muslims as Pakistani in the post-colonial, further problematizes the Sikh migration narrative. Drawing on a wide range of official and unofficial historical sources, this essay argues that twin developments in Punjab, namely the construction of Sikhs as ‘a martial race’ and their integration into the imperial capitalist economy, connects the movements of soldiers and policemen to Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements and Kenya with those of skilled artisans to Mombasa and Uganda. Keywords: Sikhs, Indian Ocean, labour migration, cultural identity

scholarly journals Dictyostelid Cellular Slime Molds from Christmas Island, Indian Ocean

mSphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pu Liu ◽  
Yue Zou ◽  
Wenxiu Li ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
Xinru Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Litter Layer ◽  
Slime Molds ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Christmas Island ◽  
Land Crabs ◽  
The World ◽  
Cellular Slime ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Cellular Slime Molds

ABSTRACT Christmas Island (10°30′S, 105°40′E) is an Australian external territory located in the Indian Ocean, approximately 350 km south of Java and Sumatra and about 1,550 km northwest of the closest point on the Australian mainland. In May 2017, 20 samples of soil/humus were collected on Christmas Island and processed for dictyostelid cellular slime molds. Four species were recovered. Two of these (Dictyostelium purpureum and Cavenderia aureostipes) are common and widely distributed throughout the world, but two other species (Dictyostelium insulinativitatis sp. nov. and Dictyostelium barbarae sp. nov.) were found to be new to science and are described here. IMPORTANCE Reported here are the results of a study for dictyostelids carried out on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Six isolates representing four species of dictyostelid cellular slime molds were obtained from two of the four localities from which samples were collected on the island. Two of the species (Dictyostelium insulinativitatis and D. barbarae) belong to the Dictyosteliaceae, genus Dictyostelium, and are new to science. These are described based on both morphology and phylogeny. The diversity and abundance of dictyostelids on Christmas Island appear to be low, which might in part be due to the abundance of land crabs, which considerably reduce the extent of the litter layer on the forest floor.

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