Ecology of Indonesian Papua Part One. Andrew J. Marshall
others after World War II, and a series index by P. van Royen appeared in 1983.
WESTERN ALLIES CONTRIBUTORS
As with the Japanese, Allied servicemen made relatively few contributions in vertebrate zoology; for both, there were naturally considerable obstacles. The Harvard zoologist and biogeographer P. J. Darlington, Jr., collected many carabid beetles, ants, frogs, and other animals, primarily at Dobodura near Buna (Oro Province, PNG) but also—as military operations progressed—at Milne Bay, Aitape, and Sansapor (in the Vogelkop). He also collected on the slopes of Mt Wilhelm (Simbu Province, PNG) while on leave after being mauled by a crocodile in the lowlands (MCZ). J. Frank Cassel collected birds and herps (amphibians and reptiles) at Finschhafen in 1944 (Cornell). L. W. Jarcho, C. W. Moren, W. M. Beek, G. H. Penn, A. M. Keefe, and W. H. Stickel collected amphibians and reptiles along the north coast, mostly in 1944 (MCZ, USNM); and by Melvin Kurz (AMNH). The contributions of Harry Hoogstraal as well as W. V. King et al. are mentioned below in the context of entomological work, while those of D. F. Grether appear in connection with the activities of plant collectors.
Entomological contributions—particularly from the United States and Australia—were extensive, often with results of lasting value through publication, either by themselves or by others. Early papers came particularly from J. N. Belkin, R. M. Bohart, Joanna Bonne-Wepster, Robert Domrow, D. S. Farner, J. L. Gressitt, D. J. Lee, Elizabeth Marks, C. B. Philip, Alan Stone, F. H. Taylor, and Herbert Womersley. Many others appeared in subsequent decades.
Among servicemen from North America, K. V. Krombein collected Hymenoptera and other insects, primarily at Nadzab, Markham Valley, 1944 (USNM). E. S. Ross and S. G. Jewett collected all groups of insects at Finschhafen, Hollandia, Maffin Bay, or elsewhere, mostly in 1944 (CAS). Borys Malkin collected mostly beetles, from several areas (USNM). Harry Hoogstraal collected generally as well as mosquitoes and ectoparasites in the Cyclops Mts (right up to the summit) and elsewhere, 1944–1945 (CAS, FMNH, USNM); unfortunately, much of his collection was lost. Willard V. King, W. E. Brewer, H. W. Cook, J. Forbes, W. R. Fullen, D. P. Furman, Donald R. Johnson, W. T. Nailon, George H. Penn (see above), L. W. Saylor, C. J. Steinhauer, and J. P. Toffaleti collected many mosquitoes along north coast, 1944 (USNM and CSIRO). Carl Mohr and W. D. Fitzwater collected mites, ticks, and other medical arthropods in the Buna-Gona area, and at Owi Island and Sansapor in 1944–1945 (USNM). Glen Kohls and Cornelius B. Philip collected chiggers (ticks) and other arthropods, etc., at Dobodura, Purdy Island, or elsewhere, 1943–1944 (USNM). Kenneth L. Knight and Lloyd E. Rozeboom collected mosquitoes in several northern coastal areas and islands, 1944–1945 (USNM). Grether collected butterflies with W. H. Wagner, Jr. (USNM), but their main work was in the Bismarck Archipelago (see below).
Many Australian and New Zealand servicemen also made insect and other invertebrate collections. Mosquitoes, chiggers (ticks), and other arthropods of medical interest were collected in northeastern Papua (PNG) and elsewhere from 1943 through 1945 by Frank H. Taylor (who also was stationed at Wewak), Anthony R. Woodhill, Carl Gunther, Ian M. Mackerras (later an author in, and editor of, the definitive Insects of Australia), D. O. Atherton, D. A. C. Cameron, F. Chippendale, D. H. Colless, H. A. Grandall, R. N. McCullock, M. H. Wallace, and R. Harry Wharton (Queensland Museum, Brisbane; Macleay Museum (Sydney University); and the Division of Entomology, CSIRO, Canberra). Another contemporary collector was Carl Gunther, who collected mites, etc., at Bulolo both before and after World War II (Queensland Museum).
In the major islands to the east and northeast of New Guinea—essentially a single theatre of war—L. J. Dumbleton collected mosquitoes, etc. on Nissan Island (CSIRO and Nelson), while in 1945 Marshall Laird studied mosquitoes and parasites at Jacquinot Bay, New Britain (Nelson). In the Solomon Islands George E. Bohart, J. M. Fritts, Ashley B. Gurney, Paul Hurd, L. A. Posekany, Barnard V. Travis, and George W. Wharton (USNM), E. Eldon Beck, E. Reimschüssel, Harry P. Chandler, and Dorald Taylor (BYU), and others collected—with some of them (including Gurney) also active on Bougainville Island and on Reimschüssel in the Admiralty Islands. The Admiralty Islands (especially Manus, with its great naval base) became notable particularly for the work of W. H. Wagner, Jr., and D. F. Grether in pteridophytes (UC), with Grether also collecting butterflies (USNM). Both of them (as well as A. H. Dark) subsequently reported on their collections.
Botanical work by servicemen was understandably impeded by the bulkiness of vascular plant collections, and major contributions—apart from the "New Guinea Forces" series described below—were few. Perhaps the most considerable contribution among North Americans was, as already noted, that of Wagner (with Grether) in the Admiralty Islands. Other significant lots—largely comprising grasses—came from Lee Burcham (USNM) and John R. Reeder (A). In 1942–1943 Carl de Zeeuw (later at the College of Forestry at Syracuse University, New York) collected plants (particularly large forest trees) in various parts of Papua, with a particular interest in their wood (vouchers in MEL). The Australian botanist N. A. Wakefield (from Victoria) collected plants (principally pteridophytes) in various parts of eastern New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, 1943–1945 (MEL, BMNH). H. S. McKee (originally from Northern Ireland, but later at Sydney University and ultimately resident in New Caledonia) collected plants in 1944–1945 in various parts of northeastern New Guinea (Brisbane).
These generally small individual contributions were, however, offset for forest trees by a fortunate combination of place and people. The effective re-occupation of Lae, Nadzab, and other airfields in present-day Morobe Province provided a mainland base for subsequent military and other operations (including relief of the isolated Highlands, which had remained under Australian administration). Early on C. T. White and J. B. McAdam (both with considerable pre-war experience—see under the section covering the years between World War I and World War II, above) convinced the authorities of the need for a better understanding of the tree flora and the uses and properties of individual species, which was at that time still quite patchy. In 1944 the New Guinea Forces (NGF) series of collections was begun at Butibum near Lae under the Australian Forces forestry unit directed by McAdam. Over 2,000 numbers of collections were made before cessation of operations in the latter part of 1945 (BRI, with replicates in LAE and elsewhere). In 1946 the series was resumed by the Department of Forests, Territory of Papua New Guinea (TPNG; see section on the Flora of Eastern New Guinea, below). A number of novelties would in the ensuing years be described from these 1944– 1945 collections.
The Post–World War II Era (since 1945)
INTEGRATED EXPEDITIONS AND SURVEYS (SINCE 1945)
The disruptions to most developed countries as a result of World War II were such that it would be several years before substantial expeditions again entered the field. Conditions on the ground in most of New Guinea were also difficult—the war had destroyed or severely damaged infrastructure in most coastal settlements. Papua was also affected by political changes in the Dutch Indies, including the emergence of Indonesia as a state. In the settlement of 1949 the Dutch contrived to retain control of Papua. In the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG)—created in 1945 with a unified administration at Port Moresby—Australia retained control, but reconstruction was at first slow.
Developments in the sciences also tended towards greater specialization; at the same time—particularly in the first quarter-century after the war—the sciences enjoyed considerable political favor, with state funds relatively forthcoming. But such expansion could not continue indefinitely; in more recent decades financing has been much harder to obtain, and then only for more targeted, short-term work. Political, economic, and social developments have also been major factors. All this has also had an effect on recruitment into the sciences, including the maintenance of taxonomic expertise, as several recent reports have indicated.
Western New Guinea (West Irian, Irian Jaya, Papua)
In what is now Papua, the Dutch also had to be seen to be doing something—even though costs outweighed the (not particularly high) level of return. Economic development in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG) was also at first relatively slow but, in the 1960s and with greater external pressure, a firmer political commitment by Australia on the polity’s future had to be made.
Before the establishment of Netherlands New Guinea as a separate territory there was one expedition that took in the Raja Ampat Islands as well as the Vogel-kop Peninsula. In 1948–1949