Crabs & coconuts… the forests of Tetiaroa

Forest monitoring in the South Pacific – Blog #3

So ends our first week monitoring forests on the stunning atoll of Tetiaroa, 3 hours boat ride from Tahiti. Hosted by the Tetiaroa Society, Heipoe and I are living and working with the Tetiaroa Society rangers, guides and other staff of The Brando hotel on Onetahi, the only inhabited motu (islet) on the atoll.

It’s been a busy week and a steep learning curve, for example:

My French… when tree measurements and tag numbers are being read out in French – it’s incentive to learn quickly!

Luckily for me, crab is crabe in French

Coconut crabs grow to 1m and are a fantastic blue colour

A true islander doesn’t need to pack lunch. Coconuts are all you need according to Tetiaroa Society ranger Lusiano.

Rats live in trees – and jump out when hotel guests come to visit and find out what scientists get up to. Rats don’t jump out of trees at any other time. (Luckily these were polynesian rats (Ratus exulans), which are actually quite cute).

An iphone compass is remarkably accurate – so much for the brand new scientific one I just purchased!

Pisonia trees (also known as cabbage trees or pu’atea in Tahitian) can regrow from almost any branch or stem that falls off, making measurements highly complicated when ‘dead’ branches are transforming into new trees before your eyes.

People get excited about helping with scientific research, even when it means getting dirty and paint splattered. On their one day off each week, hotel staff are often keen to join us. So far we’ve been joined by Claire from the spa and pastry chefs Jann and Eloise (all of whom we’re hoping will invite us to ‘help’ them in their workplaces soon too…). Ours aren’t the only forest plots to involve volunteers, Earth Watch run fantastic programs in Wytham Woods near Oxford, but I dare say we are the first to involve hotel staff and hotel guests in our monitoring!

Pandanus (walking trees or fara in Tahitian) are dioecious – meaning they have separate male and female flowers – in this case, separate male and female plants. They also have nasty spikes and destroy bare legs.

Birdwatching isn’t so bad after all…

Moana’s babies – two frigatebird chicks who fell out of their nest and were abandoned by their parents.

Red footed booby. Their scientific name is Sula sula and in French they are known as fous à pieds rouges.

Tomorrow is a data entry and prep day – hopefully with a chance of joining a whale watching tour in the afternoon. They are abundant just outside the lagoon this time of year, I’m itching to get out there!

A tagged and painted Pisonia tree

Heipoe -Le Petit Chaperon Rouge perdu dans la forêt