Maurice Hulle - The Terrestrial Macroinvertebrates of the Sub-Antarctic Iles Kerguelen and Ile de la Possession

The sub-Antarctic islands are a global treasure. Most are recognized as such through their listing as World Heritage Sites. Here, we have a further record of the treasures of two of the most important island groups in the sub-Antarctic. As far as we can tell, and new genetic techniques are on the cusp of revealing, much of the terrestrial invertebrate diversity of the Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic islands originated here. In this respect, a history of accomplished French researchers, starting with René Jeannel, has been vital. These islands lie at the center of the evolutionary drama that is the sub-Antarctic. A drama that has captivated the minds of some of biology’s greatest thinkers. Knowing the islands’ diversity and being able to recognize it places that drama and its actors within everyone’s grasp. Being able to tell the carabid beetles Amblystogenium minimum from Amblystogenium pacificum is now as easy as telling a Macaroni from a Rockhopper penguin.

The drama is not played out. The sub-Antarctic treasures face much difficulty because of introduced species, the local impacts of global climate change and what is now being increasingly documented as a positive effect of climate change on invasive species. If the play is not to end a tragedy, new actors are required; new actors with new parts. Parts that require thoughtful conservation action based on compelling evidence. In delivering this monograph, Maurice Hullé and Philippe Vernon have changed the nature of the auditions. They have broadened the talent pool to everyone who has a love of life as we know it. And they have extended the audience too. Even those who have never come close to the theatres that are these islands can take part by having the islands’ diversity revealed.

This monograph is an exceptional tribute to the way in which good science, strong support for it and personal tenacity, enthusiasm and humor can be combined to deliver a lasting legacy. I recommend that as a reader you now plunge yourself into the world of sub-Antarctic terrestrial life, a world that, once seen, will never leave you. Cogs and wheels have never looked this good.

Steven L. CHOWN

Professor, Monash University

President, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research

Melbourne, Australia

September 2020

When confronted with a book about invertebrates of sub-Antarctic islands, we might expect a boring list written in a 19th-Century fashion by museum experts about their identification… But the multidisciplinary state of the art of two modern field naturalists makes this book fascinating. Maurice Hullé and Philippe Vernon have indeed been remarkably successful in providing a story on biodiversity, with nice iconography, which started in 1830 and is still evolving today.

It is also nice that this book provides a historical view, a well-deserved tribute to those pioneers who first described the remarkable endemic larger invertebrates of the sub-Antarctic Îles Kerguelen and the Île de la Possession (Eaton, Waterhouse, Jeannel, Dreux, Voisin, etc.) and on their expeditions (Challenger, Volage, Gauss, etc.). It was indeed the time of the first discovery and description of species. And also the time when similarities of these invertebrates were found with the remote wildlife of Africa and America. It raised puzzling questions on the way the invertebrates were once established on the islands.

But in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a huge academic pressure on biologists worldwide to abandon such projects, obviously involving the collection of long-time series, for a more mechanistic approach in cellular and molecular biology. As a result, systematicians and field biologists disappeared from universities and research organizations. Physiology, once predominant when molecular biology emerged, became a science of the past. However, as a pocket of resistance, long-term programs on biodiversity received logistics and funding by the successive French organizations in charge of sub-Antarctic research ( Mission de Recherche des Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises (TAAF) 1, Institut Français de la Recherche et de la Technologie (IFRTP) 2and Institut Polaire Paul-Émile Victor 3(IPEV)). Thanks to the principal researchers, Paul Tréhen and Yves Frenot, and thanks to the support of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), particularly in the recruitment of new scientists, long-term series were obtained.

Technicians and engineers also played a major role in the treatment of field data and samples. It is not surprising that some of them contributed largely to the preparation of this book. In particular, the engineer Romain Georges and the technicians Christelle Buchard and Bernard Chaubet should be acknowledged. Thanks to them and to all the volunteers who, over the years, have been overwintering in Kerguelen and the Île de la Possession. Our knowledge on the biology of the larger invertebrates of Kerguelen and the Île de la Possession has considerably increased over the last decades, as shown in this book.

The focus was particularly on their geographical distribution, their ecology and population dynamics. We note that it is also then that it was perceived that the endemic fauna of the islands was not in a preserved sanctuary but had to cope with an increasing number of introduced species. Meteorological recordings made it possible to characterize the first changes in ambient temperature and rainfall, indicating climate changes. They also showed that even a small increase in ambient temperature and drop in rainfall could facilitate the influx of invasive species.

With such knowledge being securely documented by field work and long-term series, this book illustrates how powerful it is to now enter a mechanistic and functional approach. Ecophysiology is the key to determining the environmental conditions which enable or limit the ability of invertebrate newcomers to survive and establish themselves on the islands and for the endemic species to deal with such invaders. Complementing the understanding of physiological mechanisms of adaptation, genomics open new perspectives to decipher and understand the origin and biogeography of sub-Antarctic invertebrate fauna.

Thus, altogether, this book is not only about the listing of the larger invertebrates of Kerguelen and the Île de la Possession. It is a truly remarkable story on a field and laboratory research which is still ongoing, providing detailed information on the origin, evolution and ecosystem functioning of the invertebrate fauna of sub-Antarctic islands.

Yvon LE MAHO

Emeretus Director of Research, CNRS, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien

(University of Strasbourg/CNRS) and Centre Scientifique de Monaco

Member, French Academy of Sciences and Chair of the board, French Polar Institute

Strasbourg, France

September 2020

1 1 Research mission of the The French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

2 2 French Institute of Science and Technology.

3 3 The French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor.

This book is based on extensive fieldwork that was only possible thanks to the logistics and funding provided by the administration of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (TAAF) and the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV).

We are grateful to the leaders of the successive research programs, dedicated to the study of biodiversity and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, where this work took place: Paul Tréhen, Yves Frenot, Marc Lebouvier and David Renault.

From the very first missions that followed the establishment of the bases to the present day, many explorations have been carried out in almost all sectors of the Îles Kerguelen and Île de la Possession. Many people have made it possible to reach an almost exhaustive knowledge of the macroinvertebrate fauna. This involves more than 150 people: all the young wintering field assistants and the scientists in summer campaigns, as well as the civilian and military staff dedicated to logistics and who often accompanied the scientists into the field. May we thank them all here collectively!