About the Author

Jean-Yves Meyer is a plant ecologist and conservation biologist. He has been working on the terrestrial biodiversity of French Polynesia for the past twenty years as a senior research scientist at the D�l�gation � la Recherche de la Polyn�sie fran�aise (French Polynesian Department of Research) based in Tahiti. He was responsible for organizing the multidisciplinary expeditions to the Austral Islands (2002-4). Elin M. Claridge is an entomologist by training. She completed her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006 and participated in the Austral Islands expeditions (2002-4) as well as organized entomological surveys in other archipelagoes of French Polynesia (Society, Marquesas, Tuamotu, 2005-7). She is now living in Rurutu.