A scanned report and some data on scientific work carried out on a species of wingless fly on Heard Island. Taken from the report: During a years stay at Heard Island (1951) the opportunity was taken of carrying out a number of physiological experiments upon one of the three dipterous species present. For these experiments it was decided to use samples of Calycopteryx moseleyi minor since these were present around the camp in sufficient numbers to be conveniently collected. Observations were of two kinds (1) Those carried out in the field (2) Laboratory experiments. The first included the determination of the life history of the species together with details of its food, normal habitat and other pertinent data whilst the latter consisted of thermal, phototaxic and environmental experiments. Naturally conditions on an Antarctic field station are not propitious for accurate physiological experiments since both climatic conditions and lack of technical apparatus present difficult obstacles. However, the animals concerned are of such interest to comparative physiologists that the limiting factors of the experiments become relatively unimportant.

The biodiversity database is planned to be a reference on Antarctic and subantarctic flora and fauna collated by the Regional Sensitivity to Climate Change (RiSCC) group and developed by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. Searches are available in the following areas: Taxonomy Protection and convention measures (protected species) Observations Scientific Bibliographies

Report of the 1985 A.N.A.R.E to Heard Island. This document contains the following scientific reports: Zoology - elephant seals, fur seals, General Zoology - leopard seals, fish, insects, birds; Botany - lant communities, lichens and mosses; Limnology - Zooplankton and phytoplankton; Earth Sciences - meteorology, geomagnetism, glaciology, general mapping, general phenomena; Miscellaneous Collections; History; Environmental Impact Assessment; Site Clean up; Building report and Camp inventory; Logistics; Field Operations; Recommendations; Bibliography; Appendix. Taken from the report: The 1985 ANARE to Heard island was of greater duration than any since 1963, although brief stopovers have been made by other ANAREs more recently. It was also the first time since the 1950s that biological research was the major scientific endeavour of two ANARE parties working simultaneously at both ends of the island. This reflects renewed interest in The Territory of Heard Island and The McDonald Islands and its surrounding Exclusive Economic Zone, which has a significant fishery potential. As studies on the population of the Island's Elephant Seals may offer methods of monitoring major changes in the relative balance of high level consumers in the marine ecosystem (See below), the expedition had as its highest priority the thorough censusing of Elephant Seals on the Island over the pupping period, as part of an international program aimed at monitoring the total population of these seals. A census of the whole island, by counting seals hauled out on beaches, necessitated two parties; one at Atlas Cove and the other at Spit Bay. The expedition was also given the tasks of carrying out a limited clean up of the old Atlas Cove camp (following an explicit brief which recognised its heritage value), of making a site survey for the proposed camp, and of producing an Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed site. Other tasks included the deployment of magnetometers and the regular measurement of absolute magnetic values, a comparative meteorological program at either end of the island, an assessment of seal blubber by ultrasound, a collection of Elephant Seal blood samples for electrophoretic analysis, a Fur Seal census, a botanical survey and a general biology program made up of many small sections.

This record relates to the Australian component of the Latitudinal Gradient Project. The LGP is largely a New Zealand, US and Italian venture, but a small contribution has been made by Australian scientists. The Australian component of this work was completed as part of ASAC projects 2361 and 2682 (ASAC_2361, and ASAC_2682). Data from this project were entered into the herbarium access database, which has been linked to this record. The list below contains details of where and when samples were collected, and also the type of sample and the method of sampling. Cape Hallett and vicinity (2000, 2004): Biodiversity assessment of terrestrial plants (mosses, lichens); Invertebrate collections (mites, Collembola); plant ecology and community analysis; photosynthetic physiology of mosses and lichens; molecular genetics of mosses and lichens. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, field laboratory experiments for physiological studies. Dry Valleys: Taylor Valley (1989, 1996), Garwood Valley (2001), Granite Harbour (1989; 1994, 1996) - plant ecology; plant physiology; biodiversity; invertebrate collections; molecular genetics of mosses. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, field laboratory experiments for physiological studies. Beaufort Island (1996) - plant biodiversity; molecular genetics of mosses. Random sampling for biodiversity studies; point quadrats, releves for vegetation analysis, laboratory studies for molecular genetics. Darwin Glacier (1994): plant biodiversity; molecular genetics of invertebrates and mosses (random sampling for biodiversity; laboratory studies of invertebrate and moss molecular genetics). Project objectives: 1. Investigate the distribution of bryophytes and lichens in continental Antarctica 1a). to test the null hypothesis that species diversity does not change significantly with latitude; 1b). to explore the relationships between species and key environmental attributes including latitude, distance from the coast, temperature, substrate, snow cover, age of ice-free substrate. 2. To continue to participate in the Ross Sea Sector Latitudinal Gradient Project and develop an Australian corollary in the Prince Charles Mountains, involving international collaborators, incorporating the first two objectives of this project. 3. To develop an international collaborative biodiversity and ecophysiological program in the Prince Charles Mountains that will provide a parallel N-S latitude gradient study to mirror the LGP program in the Ross Sea region as part of the present RISCC cooperative program (to be superseded by the EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity of Antarctica) program) to address the above objectives. Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: Continuing identification of moss and lichen samples previously collected from Cape Hallett, Granite Harbour and Darwin Glacier region. Lecidea s.l. lichens currently being studied in Austria by PhD student. Field work in Dry Valleys significantly curtailed by adverse weather. Field work planned for Darwin Glacier region and McMurdo Dry Valleys, particularly Taylor Valley and Granite Harbour region was severely curtailed due to adverse weather, helicopter diversions due to a Medical Evacuation, and other logistic constraints. 10 days of field time were lost. Limitations on field travel in Darwin Glacier region restricted the field work to a biologically depauperate region. The Prince Charles Mountains N-S transect, the only continental transect possibility for comparison with the Ross Sea area, unfortunately appears to have been abandoned through lack of logistic support. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Identification of samples collected from AAT and Ross Sea Region continued during the year, interrupted significantly by the packing of the collection and transfer of specimens to the Tasmanian Herbarium. Work is now proceeding at the Herbarium with sorting, databasing and incorporation of packets into the Herbarium collection. The merging of the collection provides long-term security of curation and significantly boosts the cryptogam collections (35000 numbers) of the Tasmanian Herbarium.