The Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands is a

temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The predominant vegetation in this biome consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from semi-arid to sem ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

comprising

Île Amsterdam Île Amsterdam (), also known as Amsterdam Island and New Amsterdam (''Nouvelle-Amsterdam''), is an island of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the southern Indian Ocean that together with neighbouring Île Saint-Paul to the south ...

and

Île Saint-Paul Île Saint-Paul (Saint Paul Island) is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (''Terres australes et antarctiques françaises'', TAAF) in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . The island is located about south of the la ...

, two volcanic islands in the southern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

Setting

and

are two volcanoes 83 km from each other lying in the centre of a triangle between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

and southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The islands are remote, situated about 3000 km (1860 mi) from each neighbouring continent. They have cool

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

s with temperatures ranging from 13 °C (55 °F) in August to 17 °C (63 °F) in February, rainfall of 1,100 mm (43 in), persistent westerly winds, and high humidity levels. The only way to visit the islands is on the French research vessel ''Marion Dufresne II'' which services the Martin-de-Viviès research station on Amsterdam Island.

Flora

Plant life changes with elevation; at lower levels the volcanoes are covered with grass and

tussock grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perenni ...

lands and

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

meadows and, on Amsterdam, the tree ''

Phylica arborea ''Phylica arborea'', also known as the Island Cape myrtle, is a shrub or small tree with narrow needle-like dark green leaves, downy silver on the underside, and with greenish white terminal flowers. Usually a shrub or procumbent tree, it may re ...

'' mixed with

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s. Higher up, on the Plateau des Tourbières, there are

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es.

Fauna

These isolated islands are not rich in wildlife diversity but are home to a large population of

subantarctic fur seal The subantarctic fur seal (''Arctocephalus tropicalis'') is found in the southern parts of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. It was first described by Gray in 1872 from a specimen recovered in northern Australia—hence the inappropri ...

. They are an important breeding ground for the

Indian yellow-nosed albatross The Indian yellow-nosed albatross (''Thalassarche carteri'') is a member of the albatross family, and is the smallest of the mollymawks. In 2004, BirdLife International split this species from the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross; however Clements ...

flesh-footed shearwater The flesh-footed shearwater (''Ardenna carneipes''; formerly ''Puffinus carneipes'') is a medium-sized shearwater. Its plumage is black. It has pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a distinct black tip. Together with the equally light-billed p ...

, gentoo penguin,

northern rockhopper penguin The northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin (''Eudyptes moseleyi'') is a penguin species native to the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is described as distinct from the southern rockhopper penguin. ...

great skua The great skua (''Stercorarius skua''), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken fr ...

Antarctic tern The Antarctic tern (''Sterna vittata'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fis ...

and the endemic

Amsterdam albatross The Amsterdam albatross or Amsterdam Island albatross, (''Diomedea amsterdamensis''), is a large albatross which breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It was only described in 1983, and was thought by some researchers to ...

. They were formerly home to two endemic ducks: the

Amsterdam wigeon The Amsterdam wigeon (''Mareca marecula'', formerly ''Anas marecula''), also known as the Amsterdam Island duck or Amsterdam duck, was a species of anatid waterfowl, endemic to Île Amsterdam (Amsterdam Island), the French Southern Territories. T ...

and an undescribed species on Île Saint-Paul.

Threats and conservation

Although the islands are remote and therefore safe from most human activity and pollution, several

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of flora and fauna have damaged the environment. Amsterdam Island cattle, in particular, grazed on young and regenerating plants and trampled on bird eggs. Five cattle had been brought to Amsterdam in January 1871. They were abandoned later that year and subsequently increased to a wild population of 2,000. As part of the

French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (french: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF) is an Overseas Territory (french: Territoire d'outre-mer or ) of France. It consists of: # Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continen ...

the islands are home to a research base which is working to preserve the original plant and animal life. Initially, they restricted the cattle to the northern half of Amsterdam. When the discovery was made in 2007 that the native flora and fauna had returned to the areas no longer grazed by the cattle, a plan to cull the remaining cattle on the island was launched in 2008. By 2010, the eradication program was complete, and no cattle remain on the island. The cattle population itself had become of scientific interest as it was a rare example of a completely feral herd of cattle. Humans have caused other damage to the islands' ecosystems, as much of Amsterdam's woodland was cleared in the 18th and 19th centuries by whalers, sealers, and visitors from passing ships and is struggling to recover. Seal populations have recovered from commercial

seal hunting Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Ice ...

and are no longer threatened.

External links

References

{{reflist Afrotropical ecoregions Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Île Amsterdam