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Driftwood on Heard Island
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Abstract
Samples from 73 pieces of non-structural driftwood on Heard Island (53°06′S, 73°30′E) were identified to genus or species. Thirty-one belonged to South American species of Nothofagus. The remainder, consisting mostly of conifers especially Picea and Larix, probably came from ships' cargoes. The assemblage is similar to those reported, from smaller samples, on other southern islands. Other items of flotsam, including fishing buoys and drift-cards, are also reported from Heard Island. The significance of driftwood transport from South America to the island in accounting for long-distance dispersal of terrestrial and intertidal organisms is discussed.
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