Treasure of the Mozambique Channel: Juan de Nova Island
Three to four times a year, scientists land on Juan-de-Nova Island to carry out studies on the ecosystems. The inventory of biodiversity is barely sketched there. Everything, or almost, remains to be discovered. Researchers from Ecomar (Laboratory of Marine Ecology) have been identifying and observing seabirds swirling noisily above the beaches of the atoll for more than fifteen years. In particular, they are studying the behavior of the two million pairs of terns that have found refuge on Juan-de-Nova Island to form the largest colony in the Indian Ocean. With the other Scattered Islands, especially Europa Island, this islet is of the same major importance for the preservation of avifauna on a planetary scale. Pascale Chabanet of the Research Institute for Development (IRD), explores with other scientists the turquoise waters and explains: “The reefs of these deserted and isolated islands like Juan-de-Nova are preserved from all pollution and all anthropogenic influence. But they are affected by climate change. The challenge ? Use these bits of primitive nature as witnesses and measure the part attributable to man in the upheavals that shake the balance of the planet. »
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