Café des Idées in Wellington - Sealife stories from the subantarctic

The next Café des Idées, organised by and , is honoured to host Wendy Nelson and Kevin Hackwell for a captivating discussion on the shared scientific and environmental connections between France and New Zealand in the subantarctic marine world.

Wendy will be talking about important marine collections made on French expeditions of discovery to the NZ subantarctic in the early 1800s that are housed in the Herbarium of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Wendy has been collaborating with Professor Line Le Gall (Departement Origines et Evolution) and for two weeks in October they worked to locate and document these important specimens - uncovering answers to some long held questions about the identity of species described over 180 years ago and not found subsequently.

In this talk she will take you into the Herbarium of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris - and highlight some of the remarkable treasures housed there.

(This work was supported by funding from the French Embassy in Wellington and the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi.)

Kevin will talk about the importance of the marine protected areas in the subantarctic and initiatives that have been taken to protect critical habitat for southern seabirds and connections between French and NZ in this critical work.

Wendy Nelson is a botanist and marine biologist, currently Senior Research Fellow Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira

Kevin Hackwell is an ecologist, formerly Chief Conservation Advisor for Forest & Bird, a sister organisation to LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux)

📅 Friday, 05 December 2025 - 5.30pm
📍 Alliance Française Wellington, 78 Victoria Street, Wellington
🎟️ Free entry, koha donation

Also check out other Nonprofit events in Wellington.