Geology

The super continent Gondwana began to divide, following continental drift, at the beginning of the Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago. Subsequently, South America, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic came into existence. The Seychelles, an exceptional case granitic island on the planet, also originated from Gondwana, breaking away from Southern Africa together with Madagascar.

The palms are one of the most ancient Angiospermae. Fossils date their origins to at least 85 million years ago. The genus most closely related to the Cocos is Jubaeopsis BECC. from South East Africa. (A) I propose that, when the Seychelles broke away from Africa, the Jubaeopsis genus was isolated on the islands and following natural selection, the coconut palm originated. The palm would then have been diffused by sea to all the tropical coasts. Given the fact that no fossil evidence has been found, if I can successfully demonstrate that it is indeed possible that coconuts can float (remaining vital) from the Seychelles to the coasts of India and even further field, I could provide proof of my hypothesis.

Other points in favour of my hypothesis are the following. (B) Darwin noted that the coconut crab, whose existence is linked to the coconut palm, is a native of the Indian Ocean and is found in the Seychelles. (C) 500 years ago, the fruits of the Lodoicea maldivica PERS. (the biggest in the world weighing 10-25 kg.) were the subject of some marvellous stories. They occasionally arrived in the Maldives or in India, carried by sea currents. However, they could not provide information on the trees which produced them by germinating and producing other trees since they all arrived dead. The most wide-spread belief was that they must have been produced by a tree which grew below the surface of the sea. These fruits were therefore named “coco de mer”. Only in 1744 were the Seychelles discovered, together with the palm which produces these fruits, which was indigenous to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse. Since, unlike coconuts, lodoicea fruits are full of hard pulp, they do not float. Consequently, salt water kills them. Moreover, it is a dioecious plant (separate sexes) and therefore – for both the above-mentioned reasons – it has remained localised in its place of origin. This has supposedly not been the case with the coconut palm.

(D) The Equatorial currents have a speed of 12 to 24 miles per day, pushing from West to East. The coconut loses a lot of this speed because of its volume: the acceleration potential provided by the wind is effective for only a short period of the year, while for the rest of the time it is non-existent or conditions may even be adverse. In the Spring the coconuts probably float north following the Somalia current to arrive on the coasts of India. The seeds can resist in the sea for up to 8 months, which is the time needed to reach the Malabar coasts. Most biogeographers agree that the coconut palm reached the coral islands by random dispersal across the oceans. The planet Earth is not fit in its primitive state for the expansion of our species. This is even truer for an atoll: a coral island and what remains of an ancient volcanic island, in tropical seas, enclosing a lagoon of a few thousand metres, at times stretching up to 100-170 km across. Around it the ocean extends as far as the eye can see. Standing there on the low-lying strips emerging from the sea, you are dumbfounded. You realise that the word “land” is alien to these islands. In the Pacific Ocean alone there are at least 10,000 atolls. The emergent area is of a solid material, formed by coral, an infertile and hard material on which only the coconut palm grows. In order to plant a breadfruit tree on the Taumoto Islands in Polynesia, the inhabitants have to cross the ocean to Tahiti to fill sacks of soil and bring them back to the atoll. In the distant past, the coconut palms arrived on the atoll transported by the sea currents, and immediately installed themselves there. Within 5-6 years the atoll was transformed into a small earthly paradise covered by a dense forest of palms. Thus humans too could settle in the islands and find abundant supplies of food and materials for constructing dwellings and making utensils and clothing. Thanks to this “human-friendly” plant, the islands were no longer condemned to remain devoid of life.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Coconuts monitoring

Given the wide geographical distribution of the coconut palm, phytogeographers maintain that the floating displacements of coconuts across the open sea must take place fairly frequently. Since no exact information is available, the Author proposes in his research to carry out a scientific examination which will lead back to the place of origin of the C. nucifera, attempting to discover by which paths and in what times the fruits cross the Indian Ocean.

I. Radio-satellite

 location

The methodology proposed, which has for a while been employed in ethology, would be truly innovative if applied to plant biology. The Author proposes to follow the coconut’s movements across the ocean by satellite mapping. In order to carry out this satellite monitoring, a small transmitter will be attached to a fruit of the coconut palm, which will then be set adrift in the ocean. It is supposed that this monitoring period will last from two to eight months, eight months being the maximum amount of time the coconut palm seed can remain vital in salt water. In real time and at pre-programmed intervals (at least every twelve hours in order to save the lithium batteries and lighten the weight on the coconut), the transmitter will send a radio signal to communications satellite constellations (in use today and relatively inexpensive) which will then unload the data collected to a control station.

The system could be backed up with a small telemetric unit (KTU) equipped with sensors which collect data and make them available via radio, such as the V-tdr (Velocity Time Depth Recorder): this is a recent and refined technology, consisting of radio sensors which can calculate depth and speed of the displacements of biological entities in the sea, as well as other environmental parameters such as temperature and wind speed which, in the open sea and in extreme conditions, blows violently and contributes in a significant manner to the transportation of an object onto the shore with the help of surface currents.

The equipment, which must not measure more than 8-10 x 10-12 cm and be no heavier than 100-120 g, will be attached to the larger and heavier coconuts (the largest, 30-35 cm long and 20-25 cm in diameter, can weigh as much as 1.5-1.8 kg), since the ratio body weight - buoyant force for volume increases with the cube from which results, geometrically, the displacement of the immersed entity. In this case the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic impact of the equipment will be accurately evaluated: considering the fact that it will be carried adrift, it will be necessary to use an as evasive container as possible, and which assures a minimum displacement of the centre of gravity of the fruit since, especially for the smaller ones, the drift coefficient inferred by a foreign body may be significant and could annul the scientific validity of the data collected.

In this way the coconut’s displacements across the Indian Ocean can be integrated and followed on a computer screen thousands of miles away, with the use of a software for the analysis of the information.

At the same time, a series of hydrographical measurements will be carried out in order to determine sea current conditions and all the surface movements of the water, as well as precise assessments which will allow us to estimate to what extent the fruit’s journey is influenced by atmospheric conditions, temperature, wind force etc.

Since all systems of biological monitoring have a story of trial and error behind them, we are currently considering as an alternative the use of a system Gps (Global Positioning System) satellite transmitter, mode 2D or 3D, in order to automatically establish the position of the biological entity minute by minute, and the surface motility, including speed and acceleration, classics of the Gps.

When the countermark is applied to the fruit, various environmental factors at the moment of departure are recorded (temperature, the height of the tide, wind speed and direction etc.), as well as the characteristics of each fruit (weight, dimensions, specific gravity, maturity etc.), which is assigned a reference number.

II. Mathematical model

analysis

This is undoubtedly an area in which research is extremely difficult, and perhaps years will pass before the results are obtained. It can be proposed that the coconuts reached their destination on the tropical coasts in a completely accidental manner without any interference from man, who is often considered to be responsible for the dispersal of this important plant from one island to another. In fact, it could be supposed that coconuts arrived on all the tropical coasts because such vast quantities of them are produced that no matter which way they were steered, sufficient quantities of them always ended up reaching areas with an ecological environment suited to them. A mathematical model is being elaborated to accommodate the data of the experience, and to demonstrate that the number of coconut palms in the world does indeed correspond to what could be expected, on the basis of experience, from a given cycle of generations of fruits which randomly cross the ocean.