During October and November of 1961, the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in cooperation with the British Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, sponsored a series of geophysical measurements on Christmas Island. Continuous recordings of the earth's magnetic field were made simultaneously at various points on the island under the direction of Ronald G. Mason and John Northrop of the Marine Physical Laboratory of the University of California, San Diego.
Satawal is a small flat coral island in the west central Caroline Islands about 1050 km east-south-east of Yap Island, at latitude 7'21' N, longitude 147'02' E. Although its surface is locally somewhat irregular, its greatest height is not more than about 4 meters above mean low water. Its long axis is about east-west and its area is 1.3 square km. It is surrounded by a fringing reef upward of 100 meters wide. It has no lagoon, so would be classified according to Tayama's scheme as a table reef. From the viewpoint of land ecology it is an atoll.
On the 21 small islands located within the northern bays and reef systems of Tongatapu, Tonga, species of terrestrial flora present were identified, and vegetation units and gemorphological features surveyed on 12 that were previously unmapped. A species/ area plot of the data shows that rock islands are consistently more diverse than sand islands. Size of flora is also a function of frequency of human use of islands,
Most of the 96 national monuments designated under U.S. law
are on land. The majority are managed by the National Park
Service, though some are administered by the Bureau of Land
Management and other agencies. At this point neither the
name of the proposed Mariana Trench Marine National Monu-
ment (MTMNM) nor the management structure has been de-
termined. For guidance one could review the process of the
recently designated Papahanaumokuakea Marine National
Monument (PMNM), which is placed within the purview of the
The recorded flora of the raised phosphatic limestone island of Nauru in the equatorial Pacific Ocean consists of approximately 493 species. Only 59 are possibly indigenous, none of which are endemic. The balance is composed of ornamentals, weedy exotics, food plants, and a limited number of other useful cultigens. Twelve of the recorded species are either extinct or were never successfully established on Nauru.
This review was prepared on very short notice, to
provide a summary of what is known to the reviewer at the
time, June 1988, about the natural phenomena of the Marshall
Islands. This was for the use of the members of the survay
team sent to the Marshalls by the Environment and Policy
Institute of the East-West Center, Honolulu. Their mission
was to investigate the remaining relatively natural areas
and the extent of biodiversity in the new Republic of the
Marshall Islands.
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Call Number: [EL]
Nukutipipi atoll (5 km2), of volcanic origin 16-17 million years old on the Pitcairn (hot spot) Hereheretue line, presents a land flora and fauna of low diversity but with a Pisonia forest and hundreds of resident red-tailed tropic birds. Nukutipipi suffered from the 1983 hurricanes : destruction of vegetation and motu as well as sand lagoon mollusc populations. The north and south rims present original geomorphological structures.
The purpose of the present study is to: 1/ list the presently known heterodont bivalve fauna of the Cook Islands, 2/ document the habitat specificity of the species involved in as much detail as possible, and 3/ investigate the correlation between a species' habitat specificity and its distribution among the various islands. While several studies have been done on the molluscan fauna of inner reef environments on Pacific islands (though bivalves are often neglected), there has been little work on the fauna of the outer reef slope.
Fish communities in the lagoon of the Tikehau atoll were studied by only a few researchers. Harmelin-Vivien (1984) studied the distribution of the main herbivorous families (Scaridae and Acanthuridae) in the lagoon and on the outer slope to 30 m in depth. The total fish community of the outer slope was studied by Galzin (1985, 1987) at 12 m in depth. These studies were carried out in the southwestern part of the atoll. Spatial organization of coral associated fish community was studied throughout the lagoon by Morize et al. (1990). Most of the other
Mauke, Mitiaro and Atiu are deeply eroded volcanic islands in the southern Cook Islands, south Pacific, each surrounded by a rim of elevated Cenozoic reef limestone (makatea). This paper presents the results of instrumental topographic surveys of each
The coral reefs offshore of Saipan and Tinian are most abundant on the islands' western shores. Off Saipan, the combination of fringing and barrier reefs offers the most diverse coral habitats in the Commonwealth. Rota is surrounded by fringing reefs, and newer reefs are located off the northwest and southwest coasts (30). The extent of coral reef habitat surrounding Rota, Saipan, and Tinian is presented.
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Physical Description: 6 Pages
Samoa's National Environmental Capacity Strategy (NECS) is drawn on the assessment and analysis of priority thematic and cross-cutting capacity needs. These needs have identified priority actions for capacity development and opportunities to promote synergies across the 3 Conventions which are highlighted as project profiles in the NECS. Strategies to implement these
project profiles including means of monitoring and evaluation of outcomes are also highlighted in the NECS.
Available online
Call Number: 333.72 MIN [EL]
This paper lists the vascular flora of the three atolls (Canton, Gardner, Hull) and five small islands (Birnie, Enderbury, McKean, Phoenix, Sydney) of the Phoenix Group,
located in the arid equatorial belt of the Central Pacific, based on extensive collections made in 1973 and 1975 and on previous records and collections. The flora includes 87
species in 36 families. Only 28 of the species (32%) are considered native. A further 60 species have been recorded in the literature, many of them deliberate introductions which
Jonathan Sauer (1961) remarked, in his Coastal Plant Geography of Mauritius, that the chance to study the coastal vegetation there was like being "admitted to a field worker's paradise"
and stressed that "most tropical coasts are beautiful and exciting, particularly to people concerned with natural processes . . .." The same can certainly be said for the tropical coasts of the often Edenized islands of the Pacific Ocean. Their "beauty and excitement" is considerably enhanced,
During the period 1958-1964, the authors undertook soil and vegetation studies in the northern Marshall Islands as part of the University of Washington Radiation Biology Laboratory surveillance team. This team was responsible for monitoring levels of radiation in various components of the island environment and any effects on plant and animal life. The authors of this report were charged with the soils and vegetation components but assisted with collections in the aquatic ecosystems and some food plant materials.
Species-numbers relationships in the McKean Island assemblage
of reef-building corals were investigated to discover how they changed along environmental gradients of the reef. For the purposes of the study, two gradients were identified a complex depth gradient and a wave exposure gradient.
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Physical Description: 42 p.
This monograph sheds light on the status of secondary plant cover, heretofore little known, on slopes between sea level and about 750m in the Marquesas Islands, a remote tropical Polynesian archipelago of high islands of volcanic origin situated in the dry tradewind zone of the South Pacific. Plant cover types are described and assigned to xerotropical, transitional and pluviotropical floristic zones determined in part by comparison with similar zones previously devised for Oahu Island, Hawaii.
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The process by which individuals, groups, organisations, institutions and societies increase their abilities to:
Perform core functions, solve problems, define and achieve objectives
Understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner.
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Physical Description: 129 p.
Agroforestry, the planting and protection of trees and tree like plants as integral components of a polycultural agricultural system, has always been central to the
During the period February 13 to 20, 1973, a visit was made to Canton Island for the purpose of conducting a preliminary survey of marine turtle nesting populations. Although previous investigators have described the sea birds (Buddle, 1938; Murphy G., 1954), insects (Van Zwaluwenburg, 1943, 1955), and vegetation (Hatheway, 1955), very little is known about the marine environment of Canton or the other seven atolls (Enderbury, Birnie, Phoenix, Sydney, Hull, Gardner and McKean) which comprise the Phoenix group.