Tryon Island
Encyclopedia
Tryon Island is a coral
cay
located in the southern Great Barrier Reef
, 86 km northeast of Gladstone
, Queensland
, Australia
, and 465 km north of the state capital Brisbane
. The island is a protected area and forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park
. It is part of the Capricornia Cays Important Bird Area
. The cay covers an area of 0.45 square kilometres and is surrounded by a coral reef
that is partially exposed at low-tide.
The Capricorn and Bunker Cays form part of a distinct geomorphic province at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The cay
s and their reefs lie on the western marginal shelf, and are separated from the mainland by the Curtis Channel. The cays are not generally visible from the mainland, although Masthead Island may be viewed from Mount Larcom on a clear day.
Geologically, the cays are young, having developed during the Holocene
period, they are mostly around 5000 years old. The sea level was much lower during the last Ice Age
(at the end of the Pleistocene
period) and the coastal plane on which today’s reefs and cays developed was completely exposed. Early in the Holocene (around 10,000 years ago), the sea level
began to rise until it stabilised at its present level around 6000 years ago. Once the sea level stabilised, it was possible for reef flats to expand and provide potential sites for the formation of cays.
Tryon Island is a vegetated sand cay placed atop of a platform reef.
of the whaling ship Albion was the first European to discover the region and gave his name to the southern group.
During a second whaling voyage from England in the Albion, he discovered the Bunker Islands
off the Queensland
coast.
The Albion weighed 362 tons and registered in London, the ship was fitted with 10 guns, and a crew of 26; she was built in Deptfordand, Britain ownered by, Messrs. Champion; and used for general cargo
The southern cays and reefs were first chartered between 1819 and 1821 by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King RN initially in the Mermaid and later in the Bathurst. The main charting exercise for all the islands and reefs was carried out in 1843 under the command of Captain Francis Blackwood in HMS Fly, which was accompanied by the Bramble. The naturalist, Professor J. Beete Jukes, was on board the Fly and his published journal provides valuable information on some of the cays.
from 1898 to 1900, but it has been suggested that those operations must have been small, since few indications of mining remain in the landscape compared with some of the other islands within the group Fairfax Islands
, Lady Elliot Island
and North West Island
.
in Canberra
, organised a trip to Tryon Island and discovered that sea birds on the Great Barrier Reef are riddled with influenza virus
es. He collected sera from 201 shearwater
s, tested them on the spot, and to his surprise, he discovered some birds had antibodies against antigens of Influenzavirus A
and some of these avian antibodies are inhibitory to specific viral neuraminidase
s. Live viruses were also harvested from these birds on Tryon Island and a novel N9 neuraminidase was identified. Crystals of this neuraminidase were later prepared for X-ray diffraction analysis to elucidate the enzyme's three-dimensional structure, yielding information useful to many pharmaceuticals, such as Gilead Sciences
, Hoffmann La Roche, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
, GlaxoWellcome
, Eli Lilly and Company
, Abbott
Labs., ZymeTx Corporation and Pfizer
Ltd. in the design
and synthesis of novel neuraminidase inhibitor
s which these companies hoped to market as anti-influenza drugs. In particular, Gilead Sciences
in the United States developed a carbocyclic, orally bioavailable neuraminidase inhibitor currently marketed under the name Tamiflu.
in 1994, an outbreak of the scale insect Pulvinaria urbicola was detected on the island’s pisonia forest. At this time, Tryon’s pisonia covered nearly half the island.
This was the first known scale outbreak in a pisonia forest of the Capricornia Cays, and one of the world’s earliest records. Expectations were that natural predators, such as ladybirds and parasitic wasps, would bring the outbreak under control. At various points the forests appeared to be recovering, with previously affected trees showing new growth. Ultimately the repeated scale infestations killed many pisonia, taking 7–8 years before scale numbers subsided.
Even after the outbreak had ended, the forest did not regenerate as might have been expected. Today, 90 percent of Tryon Island’s original pisonia forest has gone.
Once it became clear that the forest could not recover naturally, Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service began a revegetation program, with trial plantings in 2004 and 2005 and then a more comprehensive trial in July 2006. A successful ant-baiting program has also significantly reduced Tryon Island’s introduced ant population, with no visible effects on native species.
The main lesson was that like a wildfire, once underway, outbreaks of this kind apparently will not subside before most, if not all, of the island’s pisonia is gone.
The area also has many visits by both passing vessels cruising the Queensland cost and day trippers in fast jet catamarans (typically Lady Musgrave Island).
The area is also of significances as a fishery particularly for king prawns.
(both Birdcatcher Pisonia
and Pisonia grandis
) vegetation while Screwpine tree
, Velvet Soldierbush and she-oaks
are found around the island fringes.
, a small bird endemic to the southern Great Barrier Reef, is found on the island.
is associated with all outbreaks, whereas in the Coral Sea it is the guinea ant Tetramorium bicarinatum.
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
located in the southern Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
, 86 km northeast of Gladstone
Gladstone, Queensland
- Education :Gladstone has several primary schools, three high schools, and one university campus, Central Queensland University. It is also home to CQIT Gladstone Campus.- Recreation :...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and 465 km north of the state capital Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The island is a protected area and forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park
Capricornia Cays National Park
Capricornia Cays is both a national park and a scientific national park in Queensland , located 486 km and 472 km north of the state capital Brisbane respectively. Collectively they comprise 241 ha of coral cays....
. It is part of the Capricornia Cays Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
. The cay covers an area of 0.45 square kilometres and is surrounded by a coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
that is partially exposed at low-tide.
Geomorphology and landscape
On Tryon Island, there is beach rock along the north western and south eastern beaches. The cay has in the past been covered with dense vegetation.The Capricorn and Bunker Cays form part of a distinct geomorphic province at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
s and their reefs lie on the western marginal shelf, and are separated from the mainland by the Curtis Channel. The cays are not generally visible from the mainland, although Masthead Island may be viewed from Mount Larcom on a clear day.
Geologically, the cays are young, having developed during the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
period, they are mostly around 5000 years old. The sea level was much lower during the last Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
(at the end of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
period) and the coastal plane on which today’s reefs and cays developed was completely exposed. Early in the Holocene (around 10,000 years ago), the sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
began to rise until it stabilised at its present level around 6000 years ago. Once the sea level stabilised, it was possible for reef flats to expand and provide potential sites for the formation of cays.
Tryon Island is a vegetated sand cay placed atop of a platform reef.
Discovery
In 1799, the new ship Albion, owned by Messrs Champion, spent the two winters whaling, first off the Australian and then the New Zealand coasts. In 1803 Captain Eber BunkerEber Bunker
Eber Bunker was a sea captain and pastoralist, born on 7 March 1761 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. His parents were James Bunker and his wife Hannah, née Shurtleff.-1776-1786: Background:...
of the whaling ship Albion was the first European to discover the region and gave his name to the southern group.
During a second whaling voyage from England in the Albion, he discovered the Bunker Islands
Capricorn and Bunker Group
The islands and reefs of the Capricorn and Bunker Group are situated astride the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 80 kilometres east of Gladstone, which is situated on the central coast of Queensland....
off the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
coast.
The Albion weighed 362 tons and registered in London, the ship was fitted with 10 guns, and a crew of 26; she was built in Deptfordand, Britain ownered by, Messrs. Champion; and used for general cargo
The southern cays and reefs were first chartered between 1819 and 1821 by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King RN initially in the Mermaid and later in the Bathurst. The main charting exercise for all the islands and reefs was carried out in 1843 under the command of Captain Francis Blackwood in HMS Fly, which was accompanied by the Bramble. The naturalist, Professor J. Beete Jukes, was on board the Fly and his published journal provides valuable information on some of the cays.
Guano Mining 1890–1900s
Tryon Island was probably mined for guanoGuano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
from 1898 to 1900, but it has been suggested that those operations must have been small, since few indications of mining remain in the landscape compared with some of the other islands within the group Fairfax Islands
Fairfax Islands
Fairfax Islands is a pair of small coral cays, both of which have been used as a bombing range. They are located near the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 113 km due east of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, and 405 km north of the state capital Brisbane.The island...
, Lady Elliot Island
Lady Elliot Island
Lady Elliot Island is the southern-most coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately . The island is home to a small eco resort and an airstrip, which is serviced daily by flights from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay,...
and North West Island
North West Island
North West Island is a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef, located 75 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. North West Island forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park and with an area of 1.05 km², the island is the second largest coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef...
.
Shell and coral collecting during the 1960s
In the 1963–1969, the eastern portion of the reef surrounding Tryon Island was used for coral collecting on a lease by Joyce Burnett & Sirian Hamilton Harlow. In 1968 Harold Frederick Manning was also given a lease for the below low water mark on the northwestern corner of Tryon reef.Tryon Island anti-influenza drugs 1969
At the end of 1969, Graeme Laver, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Australian National UniversityAustralian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, organised a trip to Tryon Island and discovered that sea birds on the Great Barrier Reef are riddled with influenza virus
Orthomyxoviridae
The Orthomyxoviridae are a family of RNA viruses that includes five genera: Influenzavirus A, Influenzavirus B, Influenzavirus C, Isavirus and Thogotovirus. A sixth has recently been described...
es. He collected sera from 201 shearwater
Shearwater
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds. There are more than 30 species of shearwaters, a few larger ones in the genus Calonectris and many smaller species in the genus Puffinus...
s, tested them on the spot, and to his surprise, he discovered some birds had antibodies against antigens of Influenzavirus A
Influenzavirus A
Influenza A virus causes influenza in birds and some mammals and is the only species of Influenzavirus A. Influenzavirus A is a genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses. Strains of all subtypes of influenza A virus have been isolated from wild birds, although disease is uncommon...
and some of these avian antibodies are inhibitory to specific viral neuraminidase
Neuraminidase
Neuraminidase enzymes are glycoside hydrolase enzymes that cleave the glycosidic linkages of neuraminic acids. Neuraminidase enzymes are a large family, found in a range of organisms. The most commonly known neuraminidase is the viral neuraminidase, a drug target for the prevention of the spread...
s. Live viruses were also harvested from these birds on Tryon Island and a novel N9 neuraminidase was identified. Crystals of this neuraminidase were later prepared for X-ray diffraction analysis to elucidate the enzyme's three-dimensional structure, yielding information useful to many pharmaceuticals, such as Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired two...
, Hoffmann La Roche, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company focuses on cancer, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections...
, GlaxoWellcome
GlaxoWellcome
GlaxoWellcome was a medicine wholeseller. It merged with SmithKline Beecham in 2000 to form GlaxoSmithKline.1978 - Through the acquisition of Meyer Laboratories Inc, Glaxo's business in the US is started, to become Glaxo Inc from 1980. The broad-spectrum injectable antibiotic Zinacef is...
, Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
, Abbott
Abbott Laboratories
Abbott Laboratories is an American-based global, diversified pharmaceuticals and health care products company. It has 90,000 employees and operates in over 130 countries. The company headquarters are in Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician, Dr....
Labs., ZymeTx Corporation and Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
Ltd. in the design
Drug design
Drug design, also sometimes referred to as rational drug design or structure-based drug design, is the inventive process of finding new medications based on the knowledge of the biological target...
and synthesis of novel neuraminidase inhibitor
Neuraminidase inhibitor
Neuraminidase inhibitors are a class of antiviral drugs targeted at the influenza virus, which work by blocking the function of the viral neuraminidase protein, thus preventing the virus from reproducing by budding from the host cell....
s which these companies hoped to market as anti-influenza drugs. In particular, Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired two...
in the United States developed a carbocyclic, orally bioavailable neuraminidase inhibitor currently marketed under the name Tamiflu.
Scale insect outbreak 1993
In August 1993, shortly before Tryon Island was incorporated into the Capricornia Cays National ParkCapricornia Cays National Park
Capricornia Cays is both a national park and a scientific national park in Queensland , located 486 km and 472 km north of the state capital Brisbane respectively. Collectively they comprise 241 ha of coral cays....
in 1994, an outbreak of the scale insect Pulvinaria urbicola was detected on the island’s pisonia forest. At this time, Tryon’s pisonia covered nearly half the island.
This was the first known scale outbreak in a pisonia forest of the Capricornia Cays, and one of the world’s earliest records. Expectations were that natural predators, such as ladybirds and parasitic wasps, would bring the outbreak under control. At various points the forests appeared to be recovering, with previously affected trees showing new growth. Ultimately the repeated scale infestations killed many pisonia, taking 7–8 years before scale numbers subsided.
Even after the outbreak had ended, the forest did not regenerate as might have been expected. Today, 90 percent of Tryon Island’s original pisonia forest has gone.
Once it became clear that the forest could not recover naturally, Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service began a revegetation program, with trial plantings in 2004 and 2005 and then a more comprehensive trial in July 2006. A successful ant-baiting program has also significantly reduced Tryon Island’s introduced ant population, with no visible effects on native species.
The main lesson was that like a wildfire, once underway, outbreaks of this kind apparently will not subside before most, if not all, of the island’s pisonia is gone.
Current uses
Much of this area comes under the Capricornia Cays National Park with current usages including camping, permitted on four cays up to the following limits:- North West IslandNorth West IslandNorth West Island is a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef, located 75 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. North West Island forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park and with an area of 1.05 km², the island is the second largest coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef...
150 campers - Lady Musgrave IslandLady Musgrave IslandLady Musgrave Island is a coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef, with a surrounding reef. The island is the second island in the Great Barrier Reef chain of islands , and is most easily reached from the town of 1770, Queensland, located on approximately 5 hours north of Brisbane...
50 campers - Masthead IslandMasthead IslandMasthead Island is a coral cay located in the southern Great Barrier Reef, 60 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland. The island is a protected area and forms part of Capricornia Cays National Park. Masthead Island is one of the most undisturbed cays in the national park because human and...
60 campers (30 from October to March) - Tryon Island 30 campers. (currently closed)
The area also has many visits by both passing vessels cruising the Queensland cost and day trippers in fast jet catamarans (typically Lady Musgrave Island).
The area is also of significances as a fishery particularly for king prawns.
Flora
The centre of the island is dominated by a dense forest of PisoniaPisonia
Pisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso . Certain species in this genus are known as Catchbirdtrees because their sticky seeds reportedly trap small birds...
(both Birdcatcher Pisonia
Pisonia brunoniana
Pisonia brunoniana is a species of flowering tree in the Bougainvillea family, Nyctaginaceae, that is native to New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island and Hawaii. The common names in New Zealand are Parapara or Birdcatcher tree.-Habit:...
and Pisonia grandis
Pisonia grandis
Pisonia grandis is a species of flowering tree in the Bougainvillea family, Nyctaginaceae.-Description:The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling flowers that mature into sticky barbed seeds....
) vegetation while Screwpine tree
Pandanus
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...
, Velvet Soldierbush and she-oaks
Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics , Australia, and the Pacific Islands...
are found around the island fringes.
Fauna
The Capricorn SilvereyeCapricorn Silvereye
The Capricorn Silvereye , also known as the Capricorn White-eye or Green-headed White-eye, is a small greenish bird in the Zosteropidae or White-eye family...
, a small bird endemic to the southern Great Barrier Reef, is found on the island.
Introduced ants
Introduced ants have been found at Tryon Island and the site of other scale outbreaks in Australia and elsewhere. Their role in farming scale and interfering with natural parasites and predators may be central to maintaining an outbreak. In the Capricornia Cays, the African big-head ant Pheidole megacephalaPheidole megacephala
Pheidole megacephala is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. It is commonly known as the bigheaded ant in the USA and the coastal brown ant in Australia. It is a very successful invasive species and is considered a danger to native ants in Australia and other places...
is associated with all outbreaks, whereas in the Coral Sea it is the guinea ant Tetramorium bicarinatum.
Known Shipwrecks on the Reef
Agnes was a 2 mast wooden schooner 82 feet in length and 96 tons. Built in Singapore in 1875 was wrecked on North Reef or Tryon Island reef on a voyage from Sydney to Townsville with general cargo of wool on the 16th of September 1878External links
See also
- Capricorn and Bunker GroupCapricorn and Bunker GroupThe islands and reefs of the Capricorn and Bunker Group are situated astride the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 80 kilometres east of Gladstone, which is situated on the central coast of Queensland....
- Great Barrier ReefGreat Barrier ReefThe Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
- Capricornia Cays National ParkCapricornia Cays National ParkCapricornia Cays is both a national park and a scientific national park in Queensland , located 486 km and 472 km north of the state capital Brisbane respectively. Collectively they comprise 241 ha of coral cays....