Interface habitats, areas where aquatic and terrestrial habitats intersect, play important functional roles. Interface habitats mediate the exchange of resources (e.g.. energy,
nutrients, water), alter abiotic gradients (e.g.. temperature, salinity, pH. sedimentation, nutrients), insulate abutting habitats from disturbances, and serve as critical habitat in
Although ornithological observations have not been the main object of any pliase of our work on the Northern Marshall Islands, numerous notes on birds have accumulated which are here placed on record, The birds were identified by use of Ernst Mayr's "Birds of the Southwest Pacific!' and the names used here are mostly those accepted by Mayr in that work. UnIortunately it was impractical to document these records with specin?ens. The sight observations presented should therefore be acceprcd with some reservations.
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Call Number: [EL]
Landing on Swains Island is made on the west side at Taulaga, the only village on the island. Besides a small number of thatched, Samoan- style huts ("fale"), Taulaga has a small white church and a large, barn- like copra shed. Leading from the copra shed to the nearby beach are old railway tracks which were once used to transport copra from the shed to the beach for transfer to cargo vessels. Nearby is a large cleared area that may one day be made into an airport runway to link Swains Island by air to Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa.
This report has benefited from the inputs of hundreds of individuals, a list far too numerous to include in its entirety. These individuals volunteered their time to support this effort, and to that we are deeply indebted. We want to thank them all knowing full well that this task is not feasible..
Call Number: [EL]
ISBN/ISSN: 978-2-8317-1030-3
Physical Description: 43 p. ; 29 cm
Fais (Tromelin) is an elevated coral island, surrounded by interrupted cliffs 15-20 meters high, lying some 140 miles east of Yap Island, at latitude 9'46' N, longitude 140'31' E in the western Caroline Islands. It has an area of 2.8 square km, and has a population of about 300 people, Micronesians, speaking a dialect of the Ulithi-Woleai tongue. As with many such raised coral islands, valuable calcium phosphate deposits occur on Fais, the greater portion of which was removed and exported during the period of Japanese rule (1914-1945).
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This paper describes the channels known as hoa which are characteristic of atoll land rims and of some islands on barrier reefs, where they often dissect previously more continuous reef-top sediment accumulations and conglomerate platforms. They are
This report includes an introductory section on the geography and vegetation, and a main portion listing the species of vascular plants known to occur, or to have occurred, on the island, with detailed descriptions of those of which time permitted a careful study, and brief descriptions of the remaining native species. Those suspected to have been brought by Polynesians in pre-European time are also described and discussed in some detail.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands requested a natural and cultural biodiversity survey of 6 northern atolls (Bok-ak, Pikaar, Toke, Wotto, Rondik, Adkup) and one reef island (Jemo) which was accomplished over 17 days in September 1988. This report covers the results of the survey of the reefs and corals during the expedition. Ninety-five marine sites were snorkeled and the shorelines of all island were surveyed during the
The Northern Line Islands consists of four atolls aligned on
an an axis which runs from south east to north west. The three southern islands Christmas (Kiritiraati), Fanning (Tabuaeran) and Washington (Teraina) have permanent populations and are part of the Republic of Kiribati. The fourth island, Palmyra, on the north end of the chain, is an unoccupied U.S. possession.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 39 p.
The Gilbert Islands are a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Crown Colony of Great Britain. They lie in the Pacific Ocean directly southeast of the Ilarshall Islands and are located between the parallels of g045' S. and 3'30' N. latitude, and the meridians of 1720301 E. and 177 15' E. longitude. All of the islands in this groui3 are low islands related to atolls. They are inhabited by Micronesian and Melanesian people who are greatly dependent on materials from the sea for food.
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Call Number: [EL]
Today, May 10th, in addition to being SIDS Day, coincides with the release, in Nairobi, Kenya, of the third
edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3). This major new assessment of the current state of
biodiversity and the implications of its continued loss for human well-being was produced by the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the broadest international treaty for the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits from the utilization of genetic
This brochure demonstrates how measures and policies can be shaped to simultaneously address climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty. It identifies opportunities for synergies and mutual enhancement of the objectives of international agreements, particularly the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as decisions taken by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly following the recommendations of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF).
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Call Number: [EL],550 SOP
Physical Description: various pagings ; 29 cm
Papua New Guinea (PNG) hosts some of the world's largest and
last remaining intact forest landscapes. While these forests have always been a haven for biodiversity and provided a livelihood for the millions of people who live in them, it is only in recent years that their importance for carbon storage has come to be fully appreciated.
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Call Number: [EL]
Physical Description: 32 p.
More than 20 cetacean species are known to exist in the
Pacific Islands Region, which encompasses the U.S. Exclusive
Economic Zone, or EEZ (waters out to 370 km from shore) around
the entire Hawaiian Archipelago. Johnston Atoll. Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll. Baker and Howland Islands. Jarvis Island. American Samoa. Wake Island, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, totaling some 5.8 million km2 of ocean.
Many of the species present are poorly studied throughout their
The Department of the Navy (DoN) is committed to demonstrating environmental stewardship while executing its national defense mission. The United States (U.S.) Navy (Navy) is responsible for
The biodiversity of the Pacific region is recognised as being globally significant. The Solomon Islands was recently included into the famous "Coral Triangle", the area of ocean considered to have the highest marine biodiversity in the world. This includes the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Solomon Islands Rainforest Ecoregion is recognised as "one of the world's great Centres of Plant Diversity"
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.
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).