Institute Of Applied Sciences

IAS Taxonomists lend expertise to Vanuatu Tafea Province expedition

06 February 2018

The Institute of Applied Sciences (IAS) through its South Pacific Regional Herbarium Curator, Mr Marika Tuiwawa and the Senior Technician, Mr Alifereti Naikatini was part of an international expedition team to the Tafea Province, Vanuatu from 11 July to 24 August 2017.

IAS Senior Technician Mr Alifereti Naikatini (right) with Thomas Doro (Vanuatu Herbarium Technician) marking transects at the Tafea Province expedition, Vanuatu

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the trip marked the eleventh journey of the international team to Vanuatu for the Plants “mo Pipol” programme. The team included 20 researchers from Vanuatu (Vanuatu Forestry Department and the Tafea Kaljoral Senta), Fiji (IAS, The University of the South Pacific), and the United States (University of Hawaii, California State University, Perdue University, the US Department of Agriculture, and the New York Botanical Garden), plus local partners in Vanuatu.

The collaboration of international and ni‐Vanuatu researchers along with local residents of Aneityum and Tanna resulted in a highly successful trip, and the team made impressive advances in documenting the botanical biodiversity of Aneityum Island in the Tafea Province.

IAS Senior Technician Mr Alifereti Naikatini (right) with Curator Vanuatu Herbarium, Mr Sam Chanel processing samples and pressing leaves at the Tafea Province

In the botanical survey, numerous specimen collections (including bryophytes, lichens and fungi) were made, including a number of new records for the Tavea Province and Vanuatu. All the fleshy fungi collected in the expedition are the first reports for Aneityum, and an estimated 25% are undescribed species and thus new to science. In addition, the team established four long-term monitoring transect plots. The data from these plots will be used to quantitatively describe and characterise the forest types of Vanuatu.

As a result of this programme in Vanuatu, four students have shown an interest in pursuing further tertiary education of which two students have been awarded scholarships to begin full-time studies this year with the University of the South Pacific.

IAS South Pacific Regional Herbarium Curator, Mr Marika Tuiwawa (5th from right) at the Tafea Province Expedition Team meeting in Vanuatu

Mr Tuiwawa stated that, as a member of an international network of herbaria, IAS participates in such expeditions to maintain and update collection of botanical specimens for study by both local and international botanists and scientists working in associated fields.

The South Pacific Regional Herbarium at IAS currently houses more than 50,000 vascular plant specimens, bryophytes and algae from the region and serves as an important resource centre in matters pertaining to the taxonomy, conservation and ecology of plants, forestry, land use planning, economic plants and weed problems for Fiji and the region.