Ascidians of the Sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand, Cape Expedition, 1941-1945

Beryl Brewin1

1 University of Otago, , New Zealand

Corresponding author(s): Beryl Brewin

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Brewin B (2020): Ascidians of the Sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand, Cape Expedition, 1941-1945. v1.2. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Dataset/Occurrence. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nzsubantascidians&v=1.2

Abstract

This report is based on the collections of specimens and data in the Auckland and Campbell Islands in the years 1941-45. Early in 1941, coast-watching stations were established at Port Ross, Carnley Harbour, and Perseverance Harbour, and the personnel of from three to five men at each were relieved once a year. Standing instructions issued by the Navy Office included a recommendation that the men should, in addition to service routine, record general observations on natural phenomena. This report is regarded as of the Cape Expedition which was the war-time code name for parties in the field between 1941 and 1945. 
Prior to the Cape Expedition, the accounts of the ascidians of the Auckland and Campbell Islands appear in the papers from Dr. Th. Mortensen's Pacific Expedition (Bovien, 1921, amd Michaelsen, 1922, 1924). The ascidians collected by Mr. W. H. Dawbin during the Cape Expedition were all from the Auckland Islands.

Keywords: Occurrence, Observation

General description

Additional information: marine, harvested by iOBIS

Project details

Project title: Cape Expedition
Personnel: Robert Falla, W. H. Dawbin
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Three stations were established, at Ranui Cove in Port Ross at the northern end, and at Carnley Harbour at the southern end, of Auckland Island, and at Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island. The stations were small, with four men (increased to five in the second year) at each. At first the coastwatchers were civilians, but all were attested as privates in the New Zealand Army from December 1942. The stations consisted of portable prefabricated huts with double plywood walls and double windows. Each station also had a dinghy with an outboard motor. Because it was understood that resupplying them could be problematic and sporadic, the stations were provided with three years' supply of food, clothing and other consumables. A larger vessel, the 57-ton MV Ranui with a crew of four, was based at Waterfall Inlet in the Aucklands to serve as a link between the stations and, in an emergency, the outside world. 
Design description: Although no enemy ships were sighted during the duration of the program, the secondary work carried out by the coastwatchers proved successful. From June 1942 the stations began reporting weather conditions daily; the reports were so valuable that in the third year of the program trained meteorologists joined the relief parties. Surveyors, geologists and naturalists also became part of the program, during the fourth and fifth years of which a special party of three completed the survey of the island groups. When the coastwatchers were demobilised on 15 October 1945 and withdrawn, the Campbell Island station was retained as part of New Zealand's weather forecasting service. Many of the scientific results garnered through the work of the Cape Expedition's coastwatchers were later published by the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in its Cape Expedition Series of bulletins. Ornithologist and museum director Robert Falla had been involved in organising the expedition. 

Data published through GBIF: https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nzsubantascidians

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Ascidians
Taxonomic ranks
Class: Ascidiacea

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Auckland and Campbell Islands, New Zealand
Coordinates: 52°36'36''S and 50°29'20.4''S Latitude; 165°56'27.6''E and 169°16'1.2''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: November 1, 1914 - December 31, 1943

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Ascidians of the Sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand, Cape Expedition, 1941-1945
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/archive.do?r=nzsubantascidians
Publication date of data: 2020-05-14
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2020-04-30
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Brewin, B. (1950) The Ascidians of the Sub-antarctic Islands of New Zealand, Cape Expedition Series, Bulletin No. 11, 11pp.