Tetiaroa Society

Programs: Tetiaroa society helps support the operation of an ecostation, located on motu onetahi, one of the 12 islets of tetiaroa (33 miles north of tahiti, french polynesia), as a facility accessible to scientists, volunteers, engineers, cultural advisors, teachers and students from around the world. It also serves as a base for the society's community outreach, education, and conservation programs. The ecostation is a dynamic and powerful tool in our mission to create sustainable interdependence. Designed and built to leed platinum standards, the ecostation allows scientists to be inspired by tetiaroa's unique, natural environment while their work is integrated with it. The research conducted here serves as a living case study, where the lessons learned can be implemented locally and applied to places across the globe, creating a ripple effect of sustainability in action. Research activities conducted via the ecostation in 2016 were:- mosquito eradication project (all year long): study done by the institute louis malard. The aelimin+ project aims at suppressing an isolated aedes polynesiensis population on motu onetahi using an integrated mosquito control approach combining the reduction of mosquito larval containers (the brando hotel), the deployment of novel aedes traps and weekly releases of wolbachia-based incompatible male mosquitoes. Scientist involved: herv bossin. - post larval capture and culture project (all year long): study done by criobe. The present project planned over 3 years to replenish the tetiaroa lagoon by rearing and releasing fish and crustaceans caught at post-larval stage. The marine post-larvae were caught using nets set up on the reef crest of tetiaroa. The implementation of this project is part of a responsible approach to management of the resource in the context of sustainable development on tetiaroa and is part of the tetiaroa sustainable and conservation plan. Scientists involved: david lecchini, camille gache- acidification of the oceans project (january): study done by the university of washington. In addition to the continued measurement of water chemistry parameters they have been measuring since may 2014, they were accompanied in january 2016 by researchers from southern cross university (lismore, nsw australia) measuring carbonate dissolution rates in lagoon sediments, geomar (germany) measuring gps heights of reefs and land for sea level determinations, and joint institute for the study of atmospheres and oceans (jisao, seattle wa) collecting short borings of coral heads for paleo-climate reconstructions. Scientists involved: nick roden, isaiah bolden. - tetiaroa island digital ecosystem avatar (idea) (february/june/august): the key goal is to predict how biodiversity, ecosystem services, and society on the islands will co-evolve over the next several decades, depending upon what actions are taken, building a sustainability simulator: a place-based data science infrastructure and computational platform for scenario-based planning. The idea will inform tetiaroa's "conservation and sustainable use plan" (casup), helping to model the complex links and feedback loops between the environment, biodiversity, and human activities across a coupled marine-terrestrial landscape. Scientists involved: neil davies, armin grun, matthais troyer - oceanographic study (july): this project done by duke university, aims to fill a critical need for understanding the hydrodynamics around tetiaroa atoll, an emerging convening point for coral reef science. From a hydrodynamic standpoint the project proposes to employ oceanographic sensors inside the lagoon and on the barrier reef in order to record and model water movement through the atoll. Scientists involved: james hench, walter torres