About the respect due to the coconut palm...

Hinano Murphy and members of the Atiti'a Association

During my travels in French Polynesia, I made several times a public lecture untitled: “Coconut, Sister of Mankind, the hunt for lost varieties”. It is indeed a challenge to come to this place, as a French man presently living in France, and to tell the Polynesians that you are a world coconut specialist.
At the beginning, they just do not believe you; and you need time and care to convince them. Anyway, I succeeded quite well in this challenge, as shown in the press releases available here.
Some of these lectures were conducted in large conference room, with more than 100 people listening, for instance at the University of French Polynesia. Some others lectures were released in small villages of remote islands, with no more than 20 people listening.

Patirita from Tatakoto Atoll

I must confess that, from both personal and anthropological points of view, the smaller lectures were the nicers. One of the most interesting talks was conducted in Moorea Island, at the Gump Research Centre of Berkeley University. We had an excellent contact with Hinano Murphy, the leader of the Te Pu Atiti'a cultural association. No more than 30 people attend the meeting; anyway, I had the great honour that the old Polynesian sages came and listen to me.
During the conference, I presented a short movie made in Africa at the Marc Delorme Research Centre. This movie shows the technique of assisted pollination for production of coconut hybrid seednuts. In this video, the inflorescence of a Malayan Yellow Dwarf (MYD) is artificially unwrap before its natural opening; then all the spikelets containing male flowers are cut; all the remaining male flowers are remove in order to keep only the female flowers on the inflorescence. When these female flowers become mature, a mix of talk and pollen of the West African Tall (WAT) is pulverized on the inflorescence in order to obtain seednuts of the Mawa Hybrid (MYDxWAT).

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At the end of the lecture, we had some interesting exchanges with the Polynesian sages about cultural facts regarding the coconut palm. But nothing really important was said. Hopefully, one week later, I was lucky to meet again Hinano Murphy and to get an indirect feedback regarding the reactions and feelings of the old Polynesian sages.

In fact, when watching my movie, the sages were deeply shocked by the disrespectful and brutal way the coconut palm was treated.

The legitimacy of man's direct intervention, with instruments, on plant reproduction is not accepted in all the cultures : this is a fact of society. What seems to be decisive in the assessment of the planting material is not only its agricultural value or utilization value, but also the process by which it was created, its legitimacy and its consequences.

The issue of man's legitimate action on his environment was studied by André-Georges Haudricourt (1962). Haudricourt looked at two extreme types by comparing sheep and yam, to analyse the relations that man has with domesticated beings, be they plants or animals.

In sheep rearing, as it is practised in the Mediterranean region, the contact with the domesticated being is permanent, sometimes brutal: the shepherd accompanies and directs his herd with his stick and his sheepdogs, schedules watering holes and determines the routes taken. Without man, the herd could not survive, so that man's action needs to be direct for the effect to be positive.

Yam growing (Dioscorea alata L.) as practised by the Melanesians of New Caledonia illustrates the other extreme: positive indirect action. The Melanesians are never in brutal contact with the plant. Man intervenes around the plant by constructing ridges and spacing the tubers, which are then left to grow, because direct action would be prejudicial or negative for the plant.
Haudricourt goes on to quote the work by the Chinese thinker Mencius, born around 300 years BC:
"A man, troubled to see that his rice was not growing, pulled at the stems. On returning home, the fool told his household: ‘today I am very tired, I have helped the crop to grow’. His sons ran to see his work for themselves. The stems were already dry. (…) Those who use violent means …. do like this madman who pulled up his crop. Their efforts are not only futile, they are harmful".

Haudricourt puts forward a parallel between the treatment of plants and the treatment of others. He takes the example of traditional Chinese society, emphasising that good government depends here on the virtue of the statesmen and not on its actions "just as the virtue of the land makes for the rapid growth of plantations". Man is not placed in a position of cause, otherwise the effect is negative.

In the framework of the Polymotu project, we are proposing two new designs to produce coconut seeds: the first design is adapted to small islands. The second design is adapted the mainlands with landscaping pollen barriers. In both designs, hybrids seednuts can be obtained naturally, without human intervention on the inflorescences. So it fit more closely with Polynesian tradition and the "respect due the coconut palm"... .

Reference

Haudricourt, A. G. 1962. Domestication des animaux, culture des plantes et traitement d'autrui, L’homme, Tome II, 40-50.

Polymotu precursors: Pathi (Maprao Kathi) Island in Thailand

Polymotu concept is to use geographical and reproductive isolation to conserve and reproduce varieties of plants and trees. When a small isolated place is planted all with the same variety, the plants conserved there breed only within the same variety, and certified seed and seednuts can be produced at the lower cost. These isolated places can be small islands or small valleys; they can also be located in flat mainland, with landscaping designed to create pollen barriers.

There is, at least, one modern example of an island which was recently devoted to the conservation and use of a unique coconut variety,. This is a great success story, because it is a profitable business and it could also lead to a major improvement of this coconut variety. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Makapuno is an economically important coconut variety. Instead of coconut water, this coconut contains a soft, white jelly-like mass which is considered a delicacy. Makapuno is preserved in heavy sugar syrup and bottled for local consumption and export. In the Philippines alone, the domestic market needs 4 million kg of the highly-priced Makapuno meat annually. Less than 3% of that demand is being met. Makapuno coconuts are sold for at least 5 times the price of an ordinary coconut.

Growing Makapuno is unlike growing ordinary coconut trees. In each coconut bunch produced by such a palm, 15 to 20 % of the fruits only are Makapuno, the remaining are normal coconuts. Makapuno coconuts do not germinate because the abnormal jelly-like kernel does not support the growth and development of the embryo (Mujer et al., 1984). So the only way to reproduce a Makapuno coconut was to germinate a normal coconut from a Makapuno palm ; and not all these germinated coconuts will give Makapuno palms.

The coconut embryo culture technology was developed in the Philippines in the 1960s. Using in vitro culture, Dr. Emerita de Guzman rescued the first embryo from a non-germinating Makapuno coconut. Dr. Erlinda P. Rillo and her team did further research and exploited this technique to develop a Makapuno-based industry in the Philippines (Rillo & Paloma, 1992 ; Areza-Ubaldo & al., 2003).oo

The opportunity to create a Makapuno Island in Thailand was seized 25 years ago, when the Thai government built the huge Srinakharin dam at Kanchanaburi. The hills were submerged and their peaks turned into more than 100 islands. All the coconut trees in one island were destroyed. Then the island was planted with Makapuno embryos rescued by using in vitro culture. In order to get a large amount of embryos, the Makapuno seednuts were collected from whole Thailand. Researchers paid 50 Bath for each Makapuno nut. Then, they split the nuts, took the embryos, and sell the remaining half Makapuno nuts each at 50 Bath in the Bangkok markets (Thai way, never miss a business). Not all the collected Makapuno nuts were the big round fruits typical from the Thailand tall varieties. A few dwarf palms were producing

On the way to Makapuno Island

Makapuno coconuts not typical to the Thailand Tall. About 20000 coconuts were bought. 8000 good embryos were obtained and cultivated in vitro. 2000 plantlets were obtained, then transferred and planted in the Island.

The island is located near the Burmese border, at about 200 km North-West from Bangkok (Latitude: 14°54'32.34"N; longitude:  98°31'29.40"E). No stray coconut pollen can reach the island of the because of the distance across the water barrier and pf absence of coconut palm on the closest land. All the marketing of the island was based on the fact that its coconuts never germinate, because they are 100 percent Makapuno.

Makapuno Palms

Departure to Makapuno Island

On the 25th November 2009, Thanks to Thai researchers and the Department of Agriculture of Thailand, we had the great opportunity to visit the Pathi or Makapuno Island. It takes about 20 minutes to reach the island using a small boat.

When arriving, the island looks like any nice traditional Thai coconut plantation, except for one detail: no forgotten germinated seednuts are growing on the ground. Many fruit species are growing there. Some of the coconut palms are heavy producers; the average production seems to be 80 to 100 coconuts per palm per year. Nobody can imagine that these coconut palms were grown in glass tubes.

One of the best Makapuno palms

Dr Narong Chomchalow, President of the Thailand Network for the Conservation and Enhancement of Landraces of Cultivated Plants (TNCEL), gave us the following information about Makapuno in Thailand: "There are two main types of Makapuno in Thailand. One is called Kathi Khao Chao (non-glutinous) - the meat is rather hard, borne on the fruit which is not fully mature or those newly harvested fruits. If the palm is planted on fertile land, the fruit has thicker meat than when the palm is planted in infertile land. Its general characteristics are as follow: light (non-viscous) water, thin meat, rather hard and not as fluffy as the other type (see later); it is used in food processing such as boiled in syrup, blend, or make into ice cream.oo The second type is called Kathi Khao Niao (glutinous) - derived from fruits which are picked when fully mature, i.e. remaining on the tree for a longer period, or has been stored for a long time before opening. Its general characteristics are as follow: viscous water, thick meat, soft and more fluffy than Kathi Khao Chao.oo It is popularly consumed fresh. If the fruit is kept for a longer period, the meat disintegrates with rancid odor. Sometimes all the meat disappeared.

Dr Narong Chomchalow, Dr.Uthai Charanasri and a worker

Kathi Khao Niao (glutinous)

This is known as dumb coconut or Duean Kin (meaning Moon Eats), probably the same as those which are called eaten by the devil or eaten by the moon in other countries."

It seems that it exists a type of Makapuno in the Philippines that does not exist in Thailand. This type is called ‘Type 3’ by the Filipinos; when the fruit is 10-11 month old, the cavity of the nut is already almost fully filled with meat. In Makapuno island in Thailand, we observed an overmature fruit with the cavity almost filled with meat, but this is not the same. In Thailand, it occurs only for overmature fruits while in the Philippines, this can be encountered on younger fruits.
Another island on the same lake was designed for producing oil palm seeds. As this island is completely isolated from any other pollen source, there is no need to bag the inflorescences for producing seedlings. This generates subsequent economy of manpower. We made the observation that producing of both Makapuno coconut and Oil palm seeds production could be conducted on the same island.

Kathi Khao Chao (non-glutinous)

A few years back, the Makapuno Island Company received a complaint from one of their customers that one of their 100-percent guaranteed Makapuno fruits germinated. The owner investigated and upon opening the fruit, it turned out to be Makapuno. As the evolutionary process is continually unfolding, one individual Makapuno was somehow able to develop enzymes to digest and metabolize the endosperm, thereby enabling germination. This began a search for the mother tree that bore this very unusual and attractive germinating Makapuno fruit. This palm was found and its progeny planted.oo

Arrival at Makapuno Island

Dr Somchai Watanayothin, Coconut Breeder at the Horticulture Research Institute of Thailand, added the following information: "During the year 2000, the owner of Makapuno Island in Thong pa-phumi District, found out the mother palm that produced Makapuno fruits germinated. He harvested Makapuno nuts and raised them in the nursery. After three months he have got 5 seedlings but two of them grew up. The other three seedlings dead. He brought two Makapuno seedlings to plant in Palm oil Island, at about 30 minutes of Makapuno by a rapid speed boat. Now they are six years old but they have not yet bared fruits. That is a history of the new strain of germinating Makapuno in Thailand.” Makapuno Island could lead to a great and unexpected improvement of the Makapuno variety.

So, we can assert that the precursor of the Polymotu concept is a Thai researcher; the reason why Drs Somchai Watanayothin and Uthai Charanasri were searching for geographical and reproductive isolation of palms was more specific than ours; it was linked to the special habit of the Makapuno coconut variety. This was also made on the Thai way, directly as a profitable business: up to now I am not sure that Thai researchers really realize the huge conservation value of what they did.
Anyway the Polymotu concept can be seen as a generalization of the pioneer work of Drs Uthai Charanasri, Somchai Watanayothin and Narong Chomchallow.

Srinakharin lake, at departure from Makapuno Island

Bird conservation in New Zealand

Kakato birds in captivity

Polymotu concept is to use geographical and reproductive isolation to conserve and reproduce varieties of plants and trees. When a small isolated place is planted all with the same variety, the plants conserved there breed only within the same variety, and certified seed and seednuts can be produced at the lower cost. These isolated places can be small islands or small valleys; they can also be located in flat mainland, with landscaping designed to create pollen barriers.
We discussed about Polymotu concept with Dr Jean-Dominique Lebreton, the director of the Centre for Functional and Evolutional Ecology at Montpellier, France. Then Dr Lebreton made a very interesting connection between Polymotu and what is achieved in New Zealand in the field of conservation of endangered birds.
Humans have had a profound effect on many bird species. Over one hundred species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic human-caused extinctions occurred in the Pacific Ocean as humans colonised the islands, during which an estimated 750-1800 species of bird went extinct. According to Worldwatch Institute, many bird populations are currently declining worldwide, with 1,200 species facing extinction in the next century.
Translocations involve moving populations of threatened species into areas of suitable habitat currently unused by the species. There are several reasons for doing this; the creation of secondary populations that act as an insurance against disaster, or in many cases threats faced by the original population in its current location.

Kakato Bird in the wild

One famous translocation was of the Kakapo of New Zealand. The kakapo (Strigops habroptilus Gray 1845) is a large, flightless, nocturnal parrot, endemic to New Zealand. Once abundant throughout New Zealand, the whole population in the wild was reduced to approximately 50 individuals. In situ conservation of natural populations has proved impracticable. These large flightless parrots were unable to cope with introduced predators, such as rats and cats in their remaining habitat on Stewart Island.
Between 1974 and 1992, kakapo birds were translocated to four of New Zealand's offshore islands (Maud, Little Barrier, Codfish, and Mana). Few, if any, kakapo now remain within their former range. Regular monitoring and intensive management of the translocated populations is being undertaken. In April 1998, a total population of fifty-six kakapo was known to survive on offshore islands.

Maud Island in New Zealand

Twenty-six kakapo, thirteen males and thirteen females, were temporarily transferred to Pearl Island (518 ha), southern Stewart Island, from April 1998 to April 1999. The translocation of kakapo to Pearl Island, and subsequent breeding season, provided an ideal experimental framework to study kakapo dispersal, movement patterns, home range development, habitat selection, and lek development during the non-breeding and breeding seasons (Leigh, 2009). The study have shown that Kakapo selected habitat mosaics and vegetation types with higher species diversity and moderate to high abundance of mature rimu and yellow silver pine trees.

Codfish Island in New Zealand

Of course, we cannot plant coconut palms in New Zealand, because the weather is too cold. This was one of the great sadness of the Maori people - they tried so many times to plant coconut palms when arriving from their tropical islands. Anyways, we can use  as an example what Kiwis and Maoris did for bird, and apply it to the coconut palm and other species in our warmer islands.

Reference.

Joyce, L. (2008) Movement patterns, home range and habitat selection by kakapo (Strigops habroptilus, Gray 1845) following translocation to Pearl Island, Southern New Zealand. Phd Thesis, University of Otago, Neaw Zealand.

Motu (coral islands) born from a coconut palm !

Location of Tuamotu Archipelago

Par R. Bourdeix and Tehira (C.A. Tshonfo), 2011

During 2009, the IFRECOR (French Initiative for Coral Reefs) and CRIOBE (Island Research Centre and Observatory of the Environment) funded a scientific survey on the atoll of Fakarava, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia.

You can click on photos and maps to enlarge them.




Location of Fakarava Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago

The objective of this survey  was to conduct an inventory of coconut varieties and assess the potential conservation of traditional varieties on the many small motu (coral islands) of the atoll.

Fakarava, Havaiki-te-araro, Havai'i or Farea is  is the second largest of the Tuamotu atolls.

Fakarava map and location of a small motu

The shape of Fakarava Atoll is roughly rectangular and its length is 60 km and its width 21 km.

Approximatively 700 inhabitants are living here. Fakarava  is among seven atolls that have been grouped together as part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) global network until October 2008.

Precise location of a small motu

At the time, Mr. Cyril Tshonfo Ayee said Tehira was president of the Association of the Biosphere Reserve of the Municipality of Fakarava. He welcomed us with great hospitality and he gave us a great deal of valuable information. We also took a boat to visit the numerous motu of the attoll. One of the smallest of the motu was particularly interesting...

Tehira indicates that for the Polynesian, a motu is defined as a small island on which vegetation grows. A rock or a sand without vegetation are not motu. According Tehira, in many cases, "it is the coconut tree which creates the motu." Tehira said and have seen over the years, some sandbanks become small motu.



bird on a coconut seedling strongly carenced

The photographs illustrate the various stages of this process.

Coconuts brought by sea germinate on a sandbar that has not yet stabilized.

Then the birds come to rest on the palms. Their feathers or their droppings, the birds carry seeds that are deposited on the sand around the coconut. Bird droppings enrich the soil.

Detailed view of the motu

In most cases, a single coconut tree manages to survive to adulthood. Gradually, vegetation grows at the foot of a coconut tree. The roots of the coconut palm and other plants help to establish and maintain the sandbank.

We observed this small motu with only one adult coconut palms. This motu is located at 750 m from another motu where 20 to 30 adult coconut palms are growing. According to the main direction of the  wind and to the 750 m distance, it is very improbable that the coconut pollen can reach this motu. Studies conducted in Africa have shown that a 300 m distance is sufficient to obtain a high reproductive isolation.

The unique coconut palm of the small motu was bearing 9 fruits bigger than a fist. On the ground at the basis of its stems, 15 coconuts were counted. 13 of these coconuts looks  the same shape, and we think that they originates from the unique adult palm of the motu. Some of theses coconuts, when they were shaken, made the usual sound of normal mature nuts containing a normal amount of coconut water.