Written by Brett Benz, Collection Manager, UMMZ Division of Birds, Published 3/25/2020
This past February (2020), UMMZ Bird Division Collection Manager Brett Benz set out on a remote expedition to Mt. Obree in the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to survey the local bird diversity as part of his long-term fieldprogram centered on examining the environmental factors that have shaped patterns of species richness and endemism across the New Guinea highlands. Although this South Pacific island encompasses less than one percent of the Earth’s
landmass area, it comprises one of the largest remaining tracts of primary rainforest in the eastern hemisphere and harbors over five percent of global tetrapod diversity. With over 200 new vertebrate and invertebrate species described from PNG in the last decade alone, there are few other comparable bioregions with such extraordinary levels of undescribed species diversity coupled with a general absence of modern specimen-based inventories.
After 29 hours of connecting flights via Los Angeles and Brisbane, Benz arrived in the capital city Port Moresby, where he was joined by colleague and PNG National Museum Curator Bulisa Iova, who had been working for several weeks to establish local land-use agreements with customary landowners and set up the complex travel logistics, including a helicopter charter that would be required to transport their research equipment and three-week supply of food to the summit of Mt.
Obree, at just over 3000 meters elevation.
Benz and Iova have been working together for over a decade, conducting numerous bird surveys across the New Guinea highlands to shed light on population structure and species limits in this important center of avian endemism. Benz’s fascination with the New Guinea avifauna stems from his time as an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas, where he had the opportunity to participate on a rapid biodiversity assessment in the Finisterre Ranges of PNG in 2001. “On that
first trip I was able to observe this strange but spectacular bird diversity, Birds-of-Paradise, Bowerbirds, Cassowary, firsthand in the bush, and it really put the hook in” said Benz, who has been studying the birds of New Guinea and Australasia ever since.
With the wet season fully underway, daily rains and dense cloud cover blanketed the entire Papuan Peninsula, delaying departure for several days. On the third morning, a brief respite from the weather allowed the fully loaded AS350 helicopter to take flight shortly after sunrise, hugging the lush rainforest canopy, before ascending into the rugged montane landscape of the Owen Stanley Ranges. After a 45-minute flight over deep valleys and sheer forested ridgelines, the team arrived at the summit of Mt. Obree, cloaked in an amber haze of early-morning transpiration rising from the densely forested slopes below.
After circling the wind-swept summit several times, the team spotted the landing site and set down in a small tree-fern savanna just below the peak. Upon landing, Benz and Iova were greeted by six local landowners who had hiked a day and a half from Oidobu Village to assist the team with daily survey activities. Knowing that the weather can change in an instant at this elevation, the team quickly unloaded the helicopter and got to work setting up camp before clearing mist-net lanes in the mossy understory.
Ten days were spent documenting bird species inhabiting the upper montane forests of Mt. Obree. The morning dawn chorus of Slaty Robins, Regent Whistlers, and Mountain Mouse-Warblers was raucous but brief, as the breeding season here was largely complete, and most species were busy foraging for newly fledged young or drying their plumage in the rare moments of sunlight
before the next round of rain shower arrived by late morning. Although the daily rains and heavy cloud cover coupled with temperatures dipping into the low 40’s at night made field work difficult, camp spirits remained high, and the team kept warm in the evenings while sharing stories around a robust campfire. With the assistance of 15 additional porters that made the hike from Oidobu Village, the team descended to a mid-montane camp at 1800 meters elevation to assess patterns of elevational turnover in species composition between upper and mid montane bird communities. A total of 115 species were documented between the two camps, including sightings of several keystone species such as the Dwarf Cassowary and New Guinea Harpy Eagle, which are typically only present in areas of low hunting pressure and minimal habitat disturbance. As food supplies dwindled to just a few packs of instant ramen noodles, the team set out for Oidobu Village after 22 days in the bush, which would serve as the extraction point for Benz and Iova’s return flight to Port Moresby.
The research collections and associated tissue samples resulting from this expedition comprise the first specimens added to the UMMZ Bird Division from PNG in over four decades, including several specimens that represent the first genomic tissue samples for that species in global museum holdings. These genomic resources are currently being used in a number of conceptually innovative studies ranging from phylogeny reconstruction using next-generation sequencing methods to comparative phylogeography integrated with paleoecological niche modeling to test hypotheses of community assembly in the New Guinea highlands. These collections are also playing a critical role in developing conservation priorities and wildlife management areas in the Owen Stanley Ranges.
