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One Tree Island Research Station is OFF LIMITS to most people – but we’re Expedition Drenched! We go where no other tourists have gone before!
The issue of marine conservation is very dear to the hearts of all the Expedition Drenched crew, past and present. It’s what drives us to explore, learn, and document the oceans for all to see. We hope that through our expeditions and our social media channels, we can spread our love of the seas to more and more people and grow the size of the grassroots movement that’s fighting to protect these vital environments.
This is why when we got the opportunity to visit One Tree Island Research Station in the southern Great Barrier Reef, we simply HAD to set sail to the small cay to see where the world’s top marine scientists are attempting to crack the biggest marine conservation issues. And since the island is off-limits to tourists and the general public, this was a huge opportunity for us to get you, our followers, inside this heavily restricted natural space.
One Tree Island is a tiny coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef that sits about 100km off the coast of Gladstone in Queensland, and 20km east of Heron Island. The island and the surrounding reef are heavily protected and human impacts are kept to a very minimum. Because of these heavy restrictions, the marine life around One Tree Island is virtually pristine and perfect for teaching and research.
One Tree Island became a station in 1965 when the Australian Museum began some research based on the island. The site has been under the management of the University of Sydney since 1974 and since that time has become a world-renowned research location with a list of over 400 published science titles.
The facilities may be a bit rustic because of the University of Sydney’s commitment to having as little impact on the surrounding environment as possible, but the station itself is well-equipped to help marine scientists tackle the important marine conservation issues of the day.
One Tree Island Research Station has three different laboratory setups available to visiting scientists: a dry lab, a wet lab, and a biological lab. These three types of labs, combined with the fully-stocked SCUBA and snorkelling shed and 9 different multi-purpose vessels, make One Tree Island the perfect spot to conduct marine research.
The dry lab is an air-conditioned research space with a variety of available pieces of scientific equipment like a centrifuge, top pan balances, and high-quality microscopes.
The wet lab is a covered outdoor space that overlooks the lagoon. This proximity to the ocean allows for the setup of sea tables that have continual saltwater flow input. This lab also contains a UV sterilization system and a filtration system that can produce water perfect for larval research. At the rear of the covered space, there are even two rooms where microscopic observations can take place in a dark or light environment.
The last part of the One Tree Island lab puzzle is the on-site biological lab. This is a fully indoor building with air conditioning and basic lab equipment like electronic balances and a fume hood.
You might be thinking – hey that doesn’t sound like enough equipment to do in-depth marine research! You’re not wrong. One Tree Island Research Station provides the laboratory basics that all visiting research teams would need. Since the station hosts teams that are researching a huge variety of topics requiring a vast selection of specialized equipment, research teams usually bring what they need with them to the island.
Just like many places around the world, One Tree Island got its name from the team of explorers that originally discovered the tropical cay. The southern cays of the Great Barrier Reef were first discovered between 1819 and 1821 by Lieutenant Philip Parker King but the first actual charting of the area and its reefs was conducted in 1843 under the command of Captain Francis Price Blackwood.
On January 10, 1843, Blackwood and his crew aboard the HMS Fly arrived at One Tree Island after mapping Lady Elliot Island just 3 days prior. The crew of the Fly actually landed on the island for the first time the day after their arrival. The crew of the HMS Fly gave the island the One Tree Island name because it was (and still is) home to a small cluster of pandanus trees that look like a single tree from the water.
One Tree Island is a location where humans have very little impact on the environment in the immediate area. The island is off-limits to tourists and the general public so that the reefs and countless varieties of sea life can exist in a pristine environment. The point of keeping the environment pristine, however, is so that marine research can be conducted in near-perfect conditions.
Humans conduct research but humans also use resources and produce waste. That’s why One Tree Island Research Station was built and is maintained with a strong eco-friendly focus. The goal of the station is to conduct cutting-edge science with as little an environmental footprint as possible. The station allows for a maximum capacity of 34 people at any one time. Those people are housed in two accommodation blocks that each contain a kitchen stocked with all the amenities that visiting research teams may need.
The station allows for a maximum capacity of 34 people at any one time. Those people are housed in two accommodation blocks that each contains a kitchen stocked with all the amenities that visiting research teams may need.
The living and working arrangements at the station all run in a completely sustainable and eco-friendly way. All the power that the station uses is produced using solar panels, fresh water for drinking and cooking is provided by collecting rainwater, human waste is collected in composting toilets, and all showers are actually just buckets hoisted high to limit personal water consumption.
One Tree Research Station is still a research location in the modern world, so despite its remote and sometimes rugged nature, the island still has high-speed internet so that researchers can stay connected with their institutions and upload data in real-time.
One Tree Island Research Station is located in one of two orange zones within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Orange zone areas are off-limits to the general public and are meant for research use only. Human interaction and impact in these two orange zones are tightly controlled.
The entire marine park is divided into 9 different types of protection zones with different restrictions and allowances assigned to each. The idea behind the zones is simply to protect and conserve the Great Barrier Reef as well as possible, while still allowing for tourism and research activities.
Obviously, the research conducted at the One Tree Island Research Station is marine-based research and not research on polar bears. Any research team that has the proper research permit and institutional approval can apply for a stay on One Tree Island. While the process and waiting line can be long, the research station is the perfect place to conduct tropical marine research. Research teams that get the approval to visit One Tree Island are usually focused on the effects of climate change on the oceans, coral bleaching, the ecology of reef systems, geology, and sedimentation issues.
One Tree Research Station is a highly sought-after location to conduct marine research. It’s so popular that it attracts researchers from all over the planet and has been the central location behind over 400 marine research papers. The facilities keep a database of publications and temperature data for the lagoon area too. If you’re interested in reading about some of the research that has been done at the station, email the station manager to get copies for yourself.
Yeah, they do. In addition to the small cluster of pandanus trees that landed the island its name, the island is also home to a species of tree that seems to actively hunts animals, namely birds.
Pisonia trees, also known as Bird-catchers or Grand devil’s-claw, have broad but thin leaves and smooth bark. Over the years, it’s developed an ingenious way of spreading its seeds near and far – it produces barbed seeds that get stuck in the feathers or fur of any creature that gets too close to the tree. Those creatures then scatter the seeds further than the tree would be capable of doing on its own.
One type of Pisonia tree, pisonia grandis, found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, has taken this seed dispersal technique a little bit too far, however. Its long seeds are coated with both a glue-like mucus and small barbs so that they stick to everything that touches them. If too many of these seeds build up on an animal, the seeds can weigh the animal down and eventually stop it from moving altogether. Many creatures simply die at the foot of the offending tree.
One Tree Island serves as a refuge for up to eight different types of seabirds. Twice a year, at times that conveniently coincide with peak seabird traffic, the Pistonia tree flowers and starts producing seeds. The seabirds use the killer trees to nest and raise their young and the result can sometimes look like a scene from a horror movie with the corpses of birds covering the ground and sometimes even hanging from branches like evil Christmas ornaments.
The oceans provide over half of the oxygen we breathe, every day. Eighty per cent of all life on earth is found in the oceans and they absorb about half of the world’s carbon dioxide. Their importance cannot be overstated. If the oceans die, humans will not be far behind. The research that the One Tree Island Research Station supports is exceptionally vital to growing our understanding of how the oceans work and how we can protect them for future generations.
The Expedition Drenched crew want to thank the station managers and authority figures for generously letting our group of rag-tag sailors access this incredibly important area of the Great Barrier Reef. We are all grateful for the glimpse into a world-changing research facility that’s actively working to protect the waters we love so much.
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Expedition drenched is a U.S. based marine educational non profit 501c3 made possible by our donors and patrons. If you love scuba, sailing, travel, adventure, exploration, conservation, and all things aquatic, we really hope you will continue to follow us on our journey. Our goal in making these videos is to show the world all the amazing, beautiful, and strange inhabitants of the ocean in the hopes that we will all be inspired to protect it.
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