International scientists and students are invited to carry out programs at the University of California Berkeley's Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station. While the focus of the Gump Station is field-based scientific research and advanced training, activities in all academic disciplines are welcome. Research spans levels of biocultural organization, from genetics and molecular biology, through organismal and population biology, to anthropology, economics, and social sciences.
Transdisciplnary science re-assembles the parts of a system (as studied by specialists) to understand the functioning of the whole. Moorea includes most of the complexity of larger regions but in a discrete geography and on a tractable scale. Furthermore, its archipelago setting allows comparison with other Polynesian islands, which share common ancestry but differ in key parameters that are likely to affect their vulnerability and resilience. Together these characteristcs enable a whole-system approach rarely tried before, but one that is undoubtedly necessary to answer some of the most challenging questions in science.
The Gump Station property in Moorea is owned by the Regents of the University of California and administered by the Berkeley campus through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. The Station's Executive Director, Neil Davies, is a UC employee based permanently in Moorea reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Research, Graham Fleming, in Berkeley.
A faculty advisory committee from across the University of California system provides strategic guidance. Current board members (appointed in 2007) include:
As of 2007, the University of California (through its Berkeley, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles campuses and Office of the President) provides part of the Station's operating budget. The rest of the operating budget comes from user fees (recharge) and a grant from the National Geographic Society.
Located on Moorea (17o 30' S 149o 50' W), one of the Society Islands, 15 km northwest of the main island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, the Gump Station occupies 14 hectares (35 acres) of land from the shore to 149m (489ft). The Station stands at the entrance to Cook’s Bay, providing excellent access to the ocean, lagoon, and island interior. From Cook’s Bay, the main island of Tahiti and its capital Papeete is just 20Km away (25 minutes by car-ferry; 7 minutes by plane). As the commercial heart of French Polynesia, Papeete provides for most logistical needs and is the hub for international air travel.
Researchers and classes find the Gump Station an excellent base for field studies. Marine scientists can work in a variety of habitats - mud and sand flats, sea grass beds, inner and outer coral reefs, algal ridges and deep oceanic waters - all easily accessible from the Station. Terrestrial and freshwater scientists study island biogeography, geomorphology, the biology of invasive species, and the ecology of insular plant and animal communities. Human scientists (ethnobiology, public health, sustainable development, sociology, environmental design, policy, anthropology and archeology) find a fascinating balance between traditional Polynesian society and the culture of more recent immigrants (particularly from Europe and China) as well as a wealth of archeological sites.
Surrounded by a well developed coral reef and lagoon system (12 reef passes), Moorea (132 sq Km) is a high (1207m), 1.2 million year old volcanic island with freshwater streams that flow year-round. A range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats are located close to the station. Interdisciplinary studies are especially welcome. The six volumes of the Proceedings of the Fifth International Coral Reef Congress (1985), held on Tahiti, contain detailed information about the biology and geology of Moorea and other French Polynesian islands.
Please see the shipping and import duties information page before sending any equipment items to the Gump Station.
Gump Station, UCB BP 244 - 98728 Maharepa Moorea French Polynesia Email: gump@moorea.berkeley.edu Fax: +689 56.32.72 Tel: +689 56.13.74 or 56.45.35 --