Clipperton Island
Clipperton is a nine-square kilometer coral in the Pacific Ocean, southwest of Mexico and west of Costa Rica at 10 ° 18′N 109 ° 13′V. The island has no permanent inhabitants. It is a short airstrip, and the ruins of a lighthouse from the 19th century, and a tuna fishing station. It is estimated nearly 115 species of fish near the island. Clipperton is administered from French Polynesia. The island has a tropical marine climate, with average temperatures between 20-32 degrees Celsius.
Clipperton is now almost a desert, as it was in the 19th century, but 80% of the island was covered by grass (mark) after the Mexican occupation and the introduction of pigs at the beginning of the 20th century. When Snodgrass and Heller visited the island in 1898, they reported “that no land plants were native species on the island.” Sachet (1962) managed out that according to historical notes from the island in 1711, 1825 and 1839, the island had a low grass, and partially forested vegetation. After the pigs were lost, in 1958, the island’s vegetation gradually disappeared, because of the attacks to millions of crabs. The pigs were held before this crab attacks at bay. Today, only 674 coconut palm trees (counted during the French expedition “Passion 2001″ by C.jost) and five islets in the lagoon with little grass, as these crabs can not reach.
Cocos Islands & Christmas Island
