Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Long-term ecological change in a conservation hotspot: the fossil avifauna of Mé Auré Cave, New Caledonia

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Through the continuing accumulation of fossil evidence, it is clear that first human arrival on islands around the world was linked to a rise in the extinction rate for vertebrates. Bones in human-era fossil sites can also reveal changes in the composition and structure of ecological communities due to human environmental impacts. New Caledonia is a large and biogeographically distinct island in the southwest Pacific and is considered a critical priority for biodiversity conservation. We examined fossil birds from the Mé Auré Cave site (WMD007), located in lowland dry forest on the west coast of New Caledonia. Accumulation of bird skeletal material in the cave was primarily through deposition in barn owl (Tyto alba) pellets. The site recorded the island-wide extinction of two species and extirpation of at least two other species from the lowlands in the past 1200 years. Species richness of birds in the stratigraphic deposit was quite high, reflecting the catholic diet of barn owls on islands, and many species have continued to persist near the site despite loss and degradation of the dry forest. However, we found substantial turnover in relative abundance of species in the cave deposit, with edge and open country birds becoming more common through time. These changes may reflect the severe reduction of dry forest habitat during the colonial period. This work provides a temporal record of avifaunal and environmental change in the threatened dry forest habitat that should be particularly informative for ongoing conservation and restoration efforts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson A, Sand C, Petchey F, Worthy T (2010) Faunal extinction and human habitation in New Caledonia: initial results and implications of new research at the Pindai Caves. J Pac Archaeol 1:89–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews P (1990) Owls, caves and fossils: predation, preservation and accumulation of small mammal bones in caves, with an analysis of the Pleistocene cave faunas from Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset, UK. Natural History Museum Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Balouet J-C (1984) Paléontologie des vertébrés terrestres de Nouvelle-Calédonie et paléobiogéographie du Pacifique sud ouest. Thèse de 3° cycle, n° 84-39, Université Paris VI

  • Balouet JC, Olson SL (1989) Fossil birds from late quaternary deposits in New Caledonia. Smithsonian Contrib Zool 469:1–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Birdlife International (2010) World bird database. Birdlife International, Cambridge, UK. Available from http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/index.html. Accessed Jan 2010

  • Blackburn TM et al (2004) Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on Oceanic islands. Science 305:1955–1958

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchet P, Jaffré T, Veillon J-M (1995) Plant extinction in New Caledonia: protection of sclerophyll forests urgently needed. Biodivers Conserv 4:415–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchet P et al (2002) Assessing the magnitude of species richness in tropical marine environments: exceptionally high numbers of molluscs at a New Caledonia site. Biol J Linn Soc 75:421–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronk Ramsey C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce M (1999) Family Tytonidae (Barn-owls). In: del Hoyo J, Elliot A, Sargatal J (eds) Handbook of the birds of the world, vol 5. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp 34–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Chazeau J (1993) Research on New Caledonian terrestrial fauna: achievements and prospects. Biodivers Lett 1:123–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compton RH (1917) New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines. Geogr J 49:81–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook J (1784) A voyage towards the South Pole and round the world, performed in His Majesty’s ships the resolution and adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775, 4th edn. W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London

  • Cowie RH, Grant-Mackie J (2004) Land Snail Fauna of Mé Auré Cave (WMD007), Moindou, New Caledonia: human introductions and faunal change. Pac Sci 58:447–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Garine-Wichatitsky M et al (2005) The diets of introduced rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) in a native sclerophyll forest and a native rainforest of New Caledonia. N Z J Zool 32:117–126

    Google Scholar 

  • de Garine-Wichatitsky M et al (2009) Population genetic structure of wild and farmed rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) in New-Caledonia inferred from polymorphic microsatellite loci. Genetica 137:313–323

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Debrot AO et al (2001) The Curacao Barn Owl: status and diet, 1987–1989. Caribb J Sci 37:185–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Debus SJS (1996) Family Turnicidae (Buttonquails). In: del Hoyo J, Elliot A, Sargatal J (eds) Handbook of the birds of the world, vol 3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp 44–59

    Google Scholar 

  • del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Christie DA (eds) (1992–2009) Handbook of the birds of the world, vols 1–14. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona

  • Desmoulins F, Barré N (2005) Oiseaux des Forêts Sèches de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Programme Forêt Sèche and Société Caledonienne d’Ornithologie, Nouméa

    Google Scholar 

  • Doughty C, Day N, Plant A (1999) Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu & New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning JB Jr (2008) CRC handbook of avian body masses, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekstrom JMM, Jones JPG, Willis J et al (2002) New information on the distribution, status and conservation of terrestrial bird species in Grande Terre, New Caledonia. Emu 102:197–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garnett ST, Crowley GM (2000) The action plan for Australian birds 2000. Environment Australia, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie TW, Jaffré T (2003) Tropical dry forests in New Caledonia. Biodivers Conserv 12:1687–1697

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grandcolas P, Murienne J, Robillard T et al (2008) New Caledonia: a very old Darwinian island? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 363:3309–3317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant-Mackie J, Bauer AM, Tyler MJ (2003) Stratigraphy and Herpetofauna of Mé Auré Cave (Site WMD007), Moindou, New Caledonia. In: Sand C (ed) Pacific archaeology: assessments and prospects. Proceedings of the conference for the 50th anniversary of the first lapita excavation, Kone-Noumea, 2002. Les Cahiers de l’archaeologie en Nouvelle-Caledonie 15, Noumea, pp 295—306

  • Heads M (2008) Panbiogeography of New Caledonia, south-west Pacific: basal angiosperms on basement terranes, ultramafic endemics inherited from volcanic island arcs and old taxa endemic to young islands. J Biogeogr 35:2153–2175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horrocks M, Grant-Mackie J, Matisoo-Smith E (2008) Introduced taro (Colocasia esculenta) and yams (Dioscorea spp.) in Podtanean (2700-1800 years BP) deposits from Mé Auré Cave (WMD007), Moindou, New Caledonia. J Archaeol Sci 35:169–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) (2009) Red list of threatened species. Available at http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 16 Jan 2010

  • Jaffré T, Bouchet P, Veillon J-M (1998) Threatened plants of New Caledonia: is the system of protected areas adequate? Biodivers Conserv 7:109–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaffré T et al (2004) Composition et caractérisation de la flore indigène de Nouvelle-Calédonie [Composition and characterisation of the native flora of New-Caledonia]. Documents scientifiques et techniques II4. Volume spécial. IRD, Nouméa

    Google Scholar 

  • Kier G, Kreft H, Lee TM et al (2009) A global assessment of endemism and species richness across island and mainland regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:9322–9327

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirch PV (2000) On the road of the winds: an archaeological history of the Pacific islands before European contact. University of California Press, Berkeley

  • Matisoo-Smith E, Robins J (2004) Origins and dispersals of Pacific peoples: evidence from mtDNA phylogenies of the Pacific rat. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:9167–9172

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCormac FG, Hogg AG, Blackwell PG et al (2004) SHCal04 southern hemisphere calibration 0–11.0 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46:1087–1092

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Myers N et al (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Najit T, Grandcolas P (eds) (2002) Zoologica neocaledonica 5. Systématique et endemisme en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris 187:133–160

  • Neall VE, Trewick SA (2008) The age and origin of the Pacific islands: a geological overview. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 363:3292–3308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogilvie-Grant WR (1889) On the genus Turnix. Ibis 1(series 6):446–475

  • Olson DM, Dinerstein E (1998) The global 200: a representation approach to conserving the earth’s most biologically valuable ecoregions. Conserv Biol 12:502–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson SL, James HF (1982) Fossil birds from the Hawaiian islands: evidence for wholesale extinction by man before western contact. Science 217:633–635

    Google Scholar 

  • Paris J-P (1981) Géologie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie: Un essai de synthèse. Mémoire du Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières 113:1–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons J (1945) Coffee and settlement in New Caledonia. Geogr Rev 35:12–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascal M, de Forges BR, le Guyader H, Simberloff D (2008) Mining and other threats to the New Caledonia biodiversity hotspot. Conserv Biol 22:498–499

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pimm S et al (2006) Human impacts on the rates of recent, present, and future bird extinctions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:10941–10946

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poplin F, Mourer-Chauviré C (1985) Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Aves, Galliformes, Megapodidae), Oiseau géant éteint de l’Ile des Pins (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Geobios 1:73–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ralph CJ, Scott JM (eds) (1981) Estimating numbers of terrestrial birds. Studies in avian biology, no. 6. Allen Press, Lawrence

    Google Scholar 

  • Sand C (1996) Recent developments in the study of New Caledonia’s prehistory. Archaeol Oceania 31:45–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Sand C, Ouetcho A (1993) Three thousand years of settlement in the south of New Caledonia: some recent results from the region of Paita. N Z J Archaeol 15:107–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith SA, Sadlier RA, Bauer AM et al (2007) Molecular phylogeny of the scinid lizards of New Caledonia and adjacent areas: evidence for a single origin of the endemic skinks of Tasmantis. Mol Phylogenet Evol 43:1151–1166

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Solem A (1964) New records of New Caledonian nonmarine mollusks and an analysis of the introduced mollusks. Pac Sci 18:130–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Spaggiari J, de Garine-Wichatitsky M (2006) Home range and habitat use of introduced rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) in a mosaic of savannah and native sclerophyll forest of New Caledonia. N Z J Zool 33:175–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Spaggiari J, Chartendrault V, Barré N (2007) Zones Importantes pour la Conservation des Oiseaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Société Calédonienne d’Ornithologie, Nouméa

    Google Scholar 

  • Stafford TW Jr (1991) Accelerator radiocarbon dating at the molecular level. J Archaeol Sci 18:35–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steadman DW (2006) Extinction and biogeography of tropical Pacific birds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson J, Dodson JR (1995) Paleoenvironmental evidence for human settlement of New Caledonia. Archaeol Ocean 30:36–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson J, Dodson JR, Prosser IP (2001) A late quaternary record of environmental change and human impact from New Caledonia. Paleogeogr Paleocl 168:97–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver M, Polach HA (1977) Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19:355–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor I (1994) Barn owls: predator-prey relationships and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson A-G (1984) The uses and misuses of capital: New Caledonia's mining industry 1870–1901. J Pac Hist 19:66–82

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to F. Desmoulins and the Programme de Conservation des Forêts Sèches for providing bird survey data from the Deux Frères forest and to Mr. G. SantaCroce for access to the Me Aure Cave site. P. Maurizot and C. Sand provided valuable advice that enabled our fieldwork in New Caledonia. We thank A. Wiley for pretreatment of the barn owl bones for radiocarbon dating. We thank D. Steadman and curatorial staff at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) for their assistance. Funding was provided by a Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship to AGB and a NMNH grant to HFJ and AGB. The project was also partially supported by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics (DBI-0805669) to AGB.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect St., New Haven, CT, 06520-8106, USA

    Alison G. Boyer

  2. Division of Birds, MRC-116, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA

    Alison G. Boyer, Helen F. James & Storrs L. Olson

  3. School of Geography and Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92-019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Jack A. Grant-Mackie

Authors
  1. Alison G. Boyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Helen F. James
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Storrs L. Olson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jack A. Grant-Mackie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alison G. Boyer.

Appendix 1: Comparative material examined

Appendix 1: Comparative material examined

The primary reference collection used for fossil identification was composed of the following USNM skeletal specimens collected in New Caledonia: Gallirallus philippensis (USNM 561546), Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus (USNM 561549), Chalcophaps indica (USNM 561556), Columba vitiensis hypoenochroa (USNM 561555), Drepanoptila holosericea (USNM 562454), Ducula goliath (USNM 561561), Eunymphicus cornutus uvaeensis (USNM 561563), Cacomantis flabelliformis pyrrhophanus (USNM 561571), Tyto alba lulu (USNM 561574), Collocalia spodiopygia (USNM 561589), Todiramphus sanctus (USNM 561607), Lichmera incana (USNM 561807), Myzomela sanguinolenta caledonica (USNM 561808), Philemon diemenensis (USNM 561824), Phylidonyris undulata (USNM 561812), Gerygone flavolateralis (USNM 561669), Eopsaltria flaviventris (USNM 561676), Pachycephala caledonica (USNM 561710), Pachycephala rufiventris (USNM 561733), Rhipidura fulignosa (USNM 561693), Rhipidura spilodera (USNM 561707), Myiagra caledonica (USNM 561681), Clytorhynchus pachycephaloides (USNM 561680), Corvus moneduloides (USNM 561641), Lalage leucopyga (USNM 561831), Artamus leucorhynchus (USNM 561620), Coracina analis (USNM 561665), Coracina caledonica (USNM 561660), Aplonis striata (USNM 561614), Acridotheres tristis (USNM 561835), Zosterops lateralis (USNM 561795), Zosterops xanthrochrous (USNM 561754), Megalurulus mariei (USNM 400088), Erythrura psittacea (USNM 561844), Estrilda astrild (561845). We also made reference to over 50 additional skeletons from the southwest Pacific in the USNM and Florida Museum of Natural History (UF) collections, including: Turnix varius (USNM 500632), Gallirallus philippensis (USNM 560651, UF 42933, UF 43177), Porzana tabuensis (USNM 345124), Poliolimnas cinereus (USNM 560913), Columba vitiensis (UF 28543), Ducula pacifica (USNM 559586), Ptilinopus superbus (USNM 489040), Ptilinopus rivoli (USNM 489043), Ptilinopus greyii (UF 43162, UF 39593), Ptilinopus tannenensis (UF 42921), Gallicolumba stairii (USNM 576854), Gallicolumba beccarii (USNM 615012), Gallicolumba criniger (USNM 346463, UF 45053), Gallicolumba luzonica (USNM 346847, UF 19438), Gallicolumba rubescens (USNM 290145), Gallicolumba rufigula (UF 41434), Chalcophaps indica (UF 42904), Chalcophaps stephani (USNM 615011), Streptopelia chinensis (USNM 501286, UF 27711), Macropygia amboinensis (USNM 489045, UF 41528), Macropygia phasianella (USNM 612672), Eunymphicus cornutus (UF 44707), Charmosyna papou (USNM 613778, UF 39659), Charmosyna placentis (USNM 558317), Cyanorhamphus novaezelandiae (USNM 344438, UF 25958), Trichoglossus haematodus (USNM 612678, UF 43165), Chrysococcyx lucidus (USNM 620222, UF 39514), Eudynamys scolopacea (UF 41473), Tyto alba (USNM 559804), Hirundo tahitica (USNM 620241), Turdus poliocephalus (USNM 613705), Poliolimnas cinereus (USNM 560913).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Boyer, A.G., James, H.F., Olson, S.L. et al. Long-term ecological change in a conservation hotspot: the fossil avifauna of Mé Auré Cave, New Caledonia. Biodivers Conserv 19, 3207–3224 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9887-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9887-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation