Heard and McDonald Islands World Heritage values
Heard and McDonald Islands World Heritage Property was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 for its outstanding natural universal values. The World Heritage criteria against which Heard Island and McDonald Islands was listed remain the formal criteria for this property. The World Heritage criteria are periodically revised and the criteria against which the property was listed in 1997 are not necessarily identical with the current criteria.
Criteria
Outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
Heard Island and McDonald Islands contains outstanding examples of physical and biological processes continuing in an essentially undisturbed environment, particularly physical processes which provide an understanding of the role of crustal plates in the formation of ocean basins and continents and of atmospheric and oceanic warming, and biological processes including colonisation and speciation. The World Heritage values include:
- an active example of plume volcanism, and direct geological evidence of the action of the longest operational plume system known (plumes are the unseen, upward movements of relatively warm parts of the earth's mantle);
- geological evidence of plume interaction with overlying crustal plates;
- a uniquely wide range of isotopic compositions of elements in volcanic rocks, providing insight into mantle plume composition;
- the only known continuously active volcano on a subantarctic island;
- fast-flowing glaciers that retreat and advance quickly in response to changes in temperature and precipitation;
- evidence of dramatic fluctuation in glacier extent in recent decades, and consequent changes in the total glaciated area; and
- formation of newly deglaciated areas.
Outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.
Heard Island and McDonald Islands, the only subantarctic islands free of introduced species and with negligible modification by humans, provide a classic example of a subantarctic island group with low species diversity and large populations of certain species. The World Heritage values include:
- the unmodified status of the Islands and intact ecosystems, providing opportunities for ecological research investigating population dynamics, species interactions, propagule immigration, plant colonisation, species recolonisation, and monitoring of the health and stability of the larger Southern Ocean ecosystem;
- crucial habitat and breeding grounds for large numbers of marine birds and mammals;
- areas of newly deglaciated land providing habitat for plants and animals and an outstanding location for researching plant colonisation;
- ice-free areas of land isolated from each other by glaciers which provide unparalleled opportunities for study of dispersal and establishment of plants;
- absence of human disturbance, providing unique opportunities for research into population dynamics of plant and animal species;
- important breeding location for burrowing birds due to the absence of introduced mammals;
- large breeding populations of flying birds and penguins;
- species of conservation significance (such as the endemic Heard shag Phalacrocorax nivalis and the endemic sub-species Heard Island sheathbill Chionis minor nasicornis);
- bird predator populations unaffected by the presence of introduced predators;
- populations of invertebrate species, some endemic to Heard and McDonald Islands, and some endemic to the Heard and McDonald Islands/Kerguelen region;
- populations of seal species, including breeding southern elephant seals, Antarctic fur seals, and subantarctic fur seals; and
- the diversity of plant and animal species.
Heritage values
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