ÃŽle De La Possession
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

ÃŽle de la Possession, or Possession Island, formerly ÃŽle de la Prise de Possession, is part of the
Subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...
Crozet Archipelago. Administratively, it is part of the
French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (, TAAF) is an overseas territory ( or ) of France. It consists of: * Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continent of Antarctica. * Crozet Islands (), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south ...
. It is an important nesting site for
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s.


Description

ÃŽle de la Possession lies in the eastern group of the archipelago, about 20 km west of ÃŽle de l'Est (East Island). With an area of it is the largest island of the group and the only inhabited one. It has a rugged landscape of mountains cut by deep glaciated valleys. The coastal areas and valleys are covered with
herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...
subantarctic vegetation. It is uninhabited except for the staff of a research station.


Alfred Faure research station

The Alfred Faure research station (Base Alfred-Faure) is located at the eastern end of ÃŽle de la Possession, at an elevation of 143 m above Baie Marin (Port Alfred). It comprises about 12 main buildings and supports up to about 45 visiting personnel. It is named after a leader of the base in the 1960s. A 1.6 km road and aerial cableway connect the base to the sea, where supplies are brought by the vessel ''Marion Dufresne''. The daily temperature at the site varies annually from an average high of 7.9 °C to an average low of 2.7 °C.


History

In 1840 the
Ross expedition The Ross expedition was a voyage of scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, led by James Clark Ross, with two unusually strong warships, HMS Erebus (1826), HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS Terror (1813), HMS ''Terror''. It explored what i ...
anchored near the island to bring provisions to a stranded group of eleven elephant-seal hunters.


Wildlife


Birds

The island has been identified as an
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) by
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...
as a breeding site for seabirds, of which there are at least 26 breeding species. Birds nesting in relatively large numbers include
king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
, northern rockhopper and
macaroni penguin The macaroni penguin (''Eudyptes chrysolophus'') is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities consid ...
s, wandering,
sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in '' The Sooty ...
and light-mantled albatrosses, northern giant petrels, medium-billed prions, Kerguelen and soft-plumaged petrels, and South Georgia diving petrels. Other island breeders in smaller numbers are southern giant petrels, grey-headed albatrosses and Kerguelen terns. Crozet blue-eyed shags,
black-faced sheathbill The black-faced sheathbill (''Chionis minor''), also called the lesser sheathbill or paddy bird, is one of only two species of sheathbills, aberrant wader, shorebirds which are terrestrial (land)scavengers of subantarctic islands. Description ...
s and Eaton's pintails are resident. The smaller birds nest only at higher altitudes because of their vulnerability to rat predation at lower levels.


Other wildlife

The goats that were introduced have been eradicated, though
black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
s remain and are a threat to the birdlife. Both
Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...
and subantarctic fur seals, as well as
southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...
s, breed on the island. A pod of about 80
killer whale The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopolit ...
s inhabits the surrounding waters. Two plants and 59
arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
species endemic to the archipelago are present.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: ÃŽle de la Possession. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10 January 2012.


See also

* List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Possession, Ile de la Important Bird Areas of the Crozet Islands Volcanoes of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Possession Seabird colonies Penguin colonies