Stalked and fleshy life forms photographed on Banc Gail (southwestern lagoon, New Caledonia), a site heavily impacted by hypersedimentation

Philippe Borsa (1) , Eric Folcher (2) , Antoine Gilbert (1)

1 CoReUS - Écosystémique des communautés récifales et de leurs usages dans le Pacifique insulaire
2 IRD

Previous research has shown that a 100-km² area in the central part of the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia ('Banc Gail') consists of a field of mud-mounds built on oyster reefs. Erosion caused by land clearing and mining is assumed to have dramatically increased hypersedimentation in a recent past, which in turn is thought to have caused the extinction or near-extinction of Banc Gail's oyster populations. SCUBA-diving exploration of Banc Gail revealed a peculiar ecosystem now dominated by stalked or fleshy, mucus-producing corals.

Mots clés: Hypersedimentation; mud mound; silt; corals; underwater photographs; oyster reef; dead community

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Philippe Borsa, Eric Folcher, Antoine Gilbert. Stalked and fleshy life forms photographed on Banc Gail (southwestern lagoon, New Caledonia), a site heavily impacted by hypersedimentation. Proceedings of the 11th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, Tahiti, French Polynesia, 2-6 March, 2009, 2009, Papeete, French Polynesia. ⟨hal-00554676v2⟩