From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 4, October 2020.
By Warren Wagner and David Lorence
Among the most isolated archipelagos in the Pacific, the Marquesas Islands, consisting of 12 main islands, are situated in the Polynesian-Micronesian biodiversity hotspot. Some 2,400 miles southeast of the larger Hawaiian Islands (6,423 sq. mi.), the Marquesas Islands are only about 400 sq. mi., around 20% smaller than the island of Kaua`i. Nuku Hiva, the largest island, is just 50 sq. mi. These relatively young islands (0.7 – 5.5 MYA) have some breathtaking and rugged spires and narrow ridges, but none are higher than 4,000 feet. The Marquesan flora displays a remarkably high degree of endemism despite the islands’ small sizes. Nevertheless, human colonization and the introduction of non-native invasive animals and plants over the years have severely impacted the low- to mid-elevation vegetation of the Marquesas. Scattered like green jewels across a remote swath of the South Pacific and seemingly far from the trappings of modern society, the Marquesas have long been a source of fascination for outsiders.
As a result, these islands have attracted a variety of individuals looking to connect with nature or a Polynesian culture free from Western influence. Notably, French painter Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer Jacques Brel both spent the last years of their lives in the Marquesas and were both buried in the cemetery at Atuona, Hiva Oa. The islands have also attracted famous writers and explorers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Herman Melville, Jack London, and Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl who wrote a book called Fatu Hiva during his year-long sojourn on the island where he and his young bride attempted (unsuccessfully) to live off the land. Today the Marquesas are reliably connected to the outside world by satellite dishes and mobile phones. There are airports on four of the main islands, although boat travel is required to reach the others. Nevertheless, many Marquesans still maintain strong connections to the sea and land, subsisting by fishing, hunting, and growing much of their food in agroforests and plantations, as well as selling copra and, more recently, noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) which has become popular as a nutraceutical.
The two of us became acquainted while doctoral students at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1987–1988 both of us assumed new research positions: Lorence at the National (then Pacific) Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) and Wagner at the Smithsonian Institution (formerly at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum). Since the Smithsonian Department of Botany and NTBG had a significant history of working on Pacific islands, it seemed like a great opportunity to collaborate and develop interactions between the two institutions. One logical project was a flora of the Marquesas Islands because of the years of previous work by Smithsonian researchers F. Raymond Fosberg and Marie-Hélène Sachet in the Marquesas and other Pacific islands, and the focus on Pacific botany by NTBG. The Marquesas flora project was initiated informally on Kaua`i in 1988 over drinks during a meeting with Peter H. Raven, who received the Robert Allerton Award that year. So, with a toast and handshakes the NTBG-SI Marquesas Flora project was born. It was conducted under an agreement with French Polynesia to be a collaborative project between the National Tropical Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Délégation à la Recherche de la Polynésie Française intended to provide a foundational knowledge of the flora as a vital component towards preserving the biodiversity of the Marquesas Islands.
Left: Warren Wagner and David Lorence aboard the sailing vessel Aeolus contracted for interisland transport, owned and captained by Eward H. Carus Jr., during their first collecting trip to the Marquesas Islands in 1988. (photo by E. Carus)
Right: Warren Wagner (left) and other members of the field team (Steve Perlman and Jacques Florence) standing next to the only vehicle they found to rent on Nuku Hiva, during the first collecting trip to the Marquesas Islands in 1988. (photo by D. Lorence)
The first expedition got underway in July 1988, just two weeks after Wagner began his position at the Smithsonian. Some of the team (Wagner and Lorence) flew via Tahiti to the Marquesas while the others departed from Honolulu with Edward H. Carus Jr., owner and captain of the 40-foot sailing vessel Aeolus which was used for interisland transportation. Steve Perlman from NTBG, the rough terrain collector, and Jacques Florence, then stationed on Tahiti, completed the collecting team. The project was principally supported by a generous, private donation from NTBG Trustee Cyrus B. Sweet, III and NTBG Fellow Barbara K. Sweet. With these funds and some institutional support from both NTBG and SI, we conducted 8 more expeditions from 1995 to 2005 with various teams comprised of US botanists (including a graduate student, Liloa Dunn, and post doc, Jon Price) and French Polynesian collaborators. Ken Wood of NTBG was involved in all but the first trip. The last trip, supported by Smithsonian Institution’s Global Genome Initiative was made by Eric Schuettpelz, Jean-François Butaud, and Ken Wood in 2017 towards collecting specimens and high-quality DNA of primarily ferns. During the course of the project, additional collections were also made by others, especially Jacques Florence (Flore de la Polynésie Française; 1997, 2004), who made 7 trips (3 with this project), and Jean-François Butaud, who made numerous individual trips as well as the most recent and final one.
Left: The two project rough terrain collectors from NTBG, Steve Perlman (green jacket) and Ken Wood (red jacket), on ridge of the youngest island, Fatu Hiva, in 2003, plotting a course to make assent of the rugged ridge terrain with few trails. (photo by Jean-Yves Meyer)
Right: Cliff vegetation with Oxalis simplifolia and Nephrolepis sp., with Jean-Yves Meyer climbing to reach plants, Hanahouua, Ua Huka, 2005. (photo by K. Wood)
The Flora of the Marquesas Islands is a complete account of all the vascular plants found in the Marquesas Islands. This is one of the first flora projects fully developed and presented in a web format <https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/marquesasflora/> via a site launched in 2002. Over the course of the project 35 additional publications by Lorence, Wagner, Fosberg, Sachet, and Florence along with other collaborators were completed, and include 86 species new to science increasing the known native flora by 25%. They include complete revisions of genera with more than a few species in the Marquesas (Bidens, Coprosma, Cyrtandra, Ixora, Lepinia, Oparanthus, Psychotria, and Trimenia). About one half of these were published in two special issues in Allertonia (1997) and PhytoKeys (2011). An additional dozen were published on molecular phylogenetics and biogeography in collaboration with students or post docs.
It took a number of dedicated people working with us to populate the database and develop the public website. In addition to a number of interns and students, the following staff and contractors were key in various parts of the project: Mike Sisson (processed the US backlog of Sachet; databased BISH collections), Tim Flynn (processed new collections, data entry, distribution of duplicates, parsed descriptions, editing), Royce L. Oliver (d. 1997, worked with Sachet and Fosberg; then WLW 1988-1992 on collections and nomenclature), Liloa Dunn (data entry, vernacular names), Robynn Shannon (database entry; specimen processing), Denise Mix (web design and database entry), Ellen Farr (web design and database structure), Sylvia Orli (Web design), Ken Wood (photography, ferns and content edits, endangered species evaluations), and Nancy Khan (processed new collections, data entry and database and content management, distribution of duplicates, parsed descriptions, and served as project technical editor).
Once all of the data from collections and numerous publications by us and others on Pacific plant lineages and collecting efforts were incorporated into the website database, the data were downloaded by Nancy Khan in 2018 and formatted into documents to which Lorence and Wagner then added keys, notes, and revisions based on new literature since the original drafts. The books were conceived as a hardcopy version of the web presentation and enhanced by previously published or new illustrations by Alice Tangerini and other illustrators, as well as color plates composed by Tangerini of photographic images taken during fieldwork.
Our research has found that the native flora consists of 100 ferns and lycophytes and 231 angiosperms (flowering plants), with 47 percent of the species endemic to the Marquesas. Of the total 835 vascular plant species recorded for the Marquesas Islands, approximately 495 are aliens introduced by humans, including 257 cultivated, 33 Polynesian introductions, and 214 other naturalized species, compared to the native flora of 331 species. Floristic affinities are with the Society Islands, other Polynesian islands, the Paleotropics, and although a relatively small proportion, a surprising number of original colonists from the Hawaiian Islands and even the Neotropics.
Spanning over three decades, this project has come to fruition with the publication of Volume 1 in late 2019 and volume 2 in September 2020. The two volume set, totaling 1134 pages, includes introductory chapters covering the project’s history, Marquesan geology and climate, a history of plant collecting in the islands, floristic qualities and plant communities, threats to the flora, conservation status of species including IUCN Red List recommendations, critical conservation considerations, and many other aspects, as well as taxonomic treatments of the native and naturalized ferns, lycophytes, monocots, and dicots. The volumes are richly illustrated with 391 full page figures including 273 plates of color images, 84 line drawings by Smithsonian illustrator Alice Tangerini, who also served as illustration coordinator, and 34 illustrations by other illustrators, notably Anna Asquith, Cathy Pasquale, and Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey.
The volumes are available at Amazon (search Marquesas Flora) or contact the authors.
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