Clipperton : environnement et biodiversité d’un microcosme océanique

The island of Clipperton belongs to a young underwater chain of the largest tectonic plate of the globe. Located at the intersection of the western Indo-Pacific and the eastern Pacific regions, Clipperton is of interest because it lies far from the epicenter of biodiversity in the Indo-Malayan arc. The sole coral atoll of the East Pacific and now completely closed, its lagoon is the seat of unusual biogeochemical processes. Although no longer inhabited, Clipperton saw several periods of human occupation during the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by later occupations lasting from a few days to a few months. In this synthesis of the results of the expedition, which took place between December 2004 and April 2005 and was organized by Jean-Louis Étienne, researchers present the results concerning the geophysical, geomorphological, geochemical and environmental aspects, and update the inventories of the marine, lagoonal and terrestrial biodiversity of the island.