Cheloniid turtles are characterised by a complicated life history: their eggs are laid on warm beaches; hatchling sex is determined temperature dependent sex determination during
embryonic development; lack of parental care; hatchlings are imprinted to the natal area; hatchlings disperse to feed on plankton in the pelagic environments followed by inshore
recruitment to feed on benthic organisms; immature turtles have slow growth and delayed maturation; adults migrate to breed in their respective natal area; they lay multiple clutches in
This report is the project preparation document (PPD) for the S.P.B.C.P. It revises the draft PPD prepared in July 1994 The object of the project is to assist the landowners to protect the biodiversity values of the Big Bay Forests,on the island of Santo, and to generate income by forming enterprises which enable the forest to be protected. The concept is for the Environment Unit to form a partnership with the landowners and village residents to provide technical support, training and funding assistance to assist them to develop a land use plan to protect their forest as a C.A.
Williamson and Sabath (1982) have demonstrated a significant relationship between modern population size and environment by examining atoll area and rainfall in the Marshall Islands. The present work seeks to extend that argument into prehistory by examining the relationship of ancient habitation sites and size of aroid pit agricultural systems to atoll land area and rainfall regime along the 1,500-3,500 mm precipitation gradient in the Marshall Islands.
Henderson island, a World Heritage Site in the Pitcairn group, south-central Pacific Ocean, has often been thought to have a pristine vegetation. Our archaeological investigations and field observations in 1991-1992, supported by recent observations in
1997, suggest the occurrence of former areas of Polynesian cultivation near to the North and East Beaches, and indicate that about 17 non-native vascular plant taxa have occurred.
French Polynesian Decapoda, restricted to shrimps, and Stomatopuda are inventoried from literature and unpublished fields collections. Number of species is 205 for the shrimps and 26 for the Stomatopoda. Within the shrimps, Caridea dominate with 170 species, mainly Alpheidae (57 species), Palaemonidae (46 species), and Pandalidae (29 species). Full literature and distribution in French Polynesia are indicated for each species.
The study of dispersal processes of small mammals, and especially of rodents, has a wide range of applications and until recent years there were few publications discussing the
colonisation of 'oceanic' islands by small mammals (cf. Crowell, 1986; Diamond, 1987; Hanski, 1986;Heany, 1986; Lomolino, 1986).
What are the decapod crustacea known from French Polynesia? The answer to this, apparently simple question, would be very helpful for determinating the species collected during ecological studies. Moreover, from a biogeographical point of view, a check list of the species reaching this area, at the eastern limit of the Indo-West Pacific province, would be very interesting.
Fruit bats of the genus Pteropus are considered to be strong fliers (Kingdon, 1974; Nowak and Paradiso, 1983), with some species commuting distances of 10-50 km between day roosts and feeding areas (Breadon, 1932; Ferrar, 1934; Hall, 1983; Lim,
1966; McWilliam, 1985-1986; Ratcliffe, 1932; Taylor, 1934; Walton and Trowbridge, 1983). Longer seasonal movements of > 100 km are known for several species of Australian Pteropus, which change roosting sites in response to shifting patterns in the
The vertebrate fauna of Rotuma consists of over 425
fish species, no amphibians, 11 terrestrial reptiles, 15
land birds and two native mammals. The zoogeographic
affinity of the Rotuman fish fauna is with the Pacific
plate fauna; in contrast, the affinity of the reptile fauna
is with the Fijian fauna. A species list of Rotuman
occurrence is provided for each of the four vertebrate
groups as well as brief descriptions of the marine and
terrestrial habitats.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Masayoshi Okabe visited the Palau and Yap Islands to study the local medicinal plants and diseases treated through their use. He made reports of his findings (1941a, 1943a) in Japanese. In this paper the authors present for the first time in the English language a published record of Okabe's findings.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 26 p.
Several large regions of the world are plagued by
conservation problems shaped around a particular inherent
set of geographical, biological and human conditions which
have been operational for varying periods of time. Typical
of situations facing Latin America are the progress of
economic development in Amazonia with its attendant loss of
rainforest biodiversity, and the Central American
"hamburger connection" involving conversion of forests to
grazing land to support the export of cheap beef to the
The Gilbert Islands are a north-south chain of low coral islands, lying across the equator at about 172°-177° E longitude. The atolls, from north to south are Little Makin, Butaritari, Marakei, Abaiang, Tarawa, Maiana, Kuria, Aranuka, Abemama, Nonouti, Tabiteuea, Onotoa, Beru, Nikunau, Tamana, and Arorai. They are densely populated, and were under British Colonial Government until 1979, when they were granted independence, and now are the principal archipelago in the new republic of Kiribati.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
The island was first mentioned by Roggeveen in 1722
(JOURDAIN 1970), but visits became regular only during the
XlXth century. An evangelist, of the "London Missionary
Society" settled down in 1829 (NEWBURY 1986), which supposes
that exchanges with the outside were regular at that time.
This probably explains the presence of bird specimens
collected outside the Scientific Expeditions (e.g. description of Ptilinopus purpuratus chalcurus in 1859 by GRAY).
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Island ecosystems have proven to be particularly sensitive to
human disturbances (Bourne 1975; Byrne 1980; Jarvis 1979). This was first noted by Charles Darwin in the explanation of his theory of natural selection (Byrne 1980). Since then, qualities of insular species have been examined by various authors in an attempt to understand the basis for island vulnerability.
Available online
Call Number: [EL],VF 2783
Physical Description: 34 p.
The Tokelau Islands consist of three atolls (Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo) approximately 500 km north of Western Samoa. Their numerous islets are formed mainly of coral sand and rubble with no standing freshwater. Sixty-one plant species have been recorded, 13 of these being introduced and 10 being adventives. There are three vegetation zones, the beach, the beach-crest, and the interior coconut/fern zone with the physiognomy of a humid tropical forest. Marine invertebrates have not been studied.
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.
Available online
Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 42 p.
At the time of the POBSP visit, cats (Felis domestica), dogs
The sites at Sandfly in Gela, Central Province were established over a three year period (three sites in 2004, two sites in 2005 and one site in 2007) after a series of workshops on good governance and marine resource awareness raising under the coral gardens project which was implemented by SIDT, ECANSI and Fisheries Division of the Solomon Islands government with funding from SPREP through FSPI. The sites are all community owned although two of them are owned and operated by resort owners who are indigenous residents of Gela
Available online
In June/July 2002 an eradication programme to remove Pacific rats from Maninita Island in the Vava'u group of the Kingdom of Tonga was initiated. The techniques used were similar to those
used in successful rat eradications in New Zealand, in that Pestoff 20R pellets and a network of bait stations were used.
Conditions on the island were not what was expected, the forest having been adversely affected by cyclone Waka and subsequent defoliation by caterpillars, resulting in an open forest canopy. Rats were found to be present on the island in high numbers and were breeding.
Nearly all land in Fiji is communally owned and permission was needed to survey it. Permission to visit the site was