Amsterdam Island, showing the Plateau des Tourbières taking up much of the western (left-hand) side of the island
Amsterdam albatross feeding its chick

The Plateau of Bogs (French: Plateau des Tourbières) comprises the highest upland region of Amsterdam Island, a small French territory in the southern Indian Ocean. Over 500 metres (1,600 ft) above sea level, it contains the island's highest peaks: Mont de la Dives (881 metres or 2,890 feet), Grande Marmite (742 metres or 2,434 feet) and Mont Fernand (731 metres or 2,398 feet).

Environment

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The lower-lying areas of the island were mainly covered by a woodland of Phylica arborea trees mixed with ferns before the vegetation was devastated by a combination of wood-cutting, anthropogenic wildfire and grazing by feral cattle, and became replaced by exotic grassland.[contradictory] The vegetation of the plateau, however, was not grazed by the cattle and remains in a largely natural state, consisting mainly of sphagnum bogs and mosses, with the dwarf shrub Acaena magellanica.[1]

Important Bird Area

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The plateau has been identified as an 800-hectare (2,000-acre) Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it is the only breeding site in the world for the critically endangered Amsterdam albatross.[2] The species has a biennial breeding system with an average of 20 pairs breeding each year in a loose colony on the plateau. The total population of the albatross is about 150 individuals. The only other bird present is the brown skua, with some 40 breeding pairs.[3]

References

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Sources

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  • Berteaux, D.; Micol, T. (1992). "Population studies and reproduction of the feral cattle (Bos taurus) of Amsterdam Island, Indian Ocean" (PDF). Journal of Zoology. 228 (2): 265–276. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04607.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2011.
  • "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Plateau des Tourbières". BirdLife International. 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  • "Diomedea amsterdamensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010. IUCN. 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2011.

37°51′S 77°33′E / 37.850°S 77.550°E / -37.850; 77.550