scholarly journals Evaluating establishment success of non-native fishes introduced to inland aquatic habitats of tropical Pacific islands

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Walsh ◽  
Leo G. Nico ◽  
Mark W. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Aquatic Habitats ◽  
Establishment Success ◽  
Native Fishes

Growing Coconut Palms in the Pacific Islands: Colliding Knowledge and Values

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Coconut Oil ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
The West ◽  
Passive Resistance ◽  
The People ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

Coconuts provided commodities for the West in the form of coconut oil and copra. Once colonial governments established control of the tropical Pacific Islands, they needed revenue so urged European settlers to establish coconut plantations. For some decades most copra came from Indigenous growers. Administrations constantly urged the people to thin old groves and plant new ones like plantations, in grid patterns, regularly spaced and weeded. Local growers were instructed to collect all fallen coconuts for copra from their groves. For half a century, the administrations’ requirements met with Indigenous passive resistance. This paper examines the underlying reasons for this, elucidating Indigenous ecological and social values, based on experiential knowledge, knowledge that clashed with Western scientific values.

scholarly journals A standardized database of Marine Isotopic Stage 5e sea-level proxies on tropical Pacific Islands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Hallmann ◽  
Gilbert Camoin ◽  
Jody M. Webster ◽  
Marc Humblet
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Federal States ◽  
Mis 5E ◽  
Holocene Sea Level

Abstract. Marine isotope stage 5 deposits have been reported on many tropical Pacific islands. This paper presents a database compiled through the review of MIS 5e (Last Interglacial – LIG) coral reef records from islands belonging to French Polynesia (Anaa, Niau, Makatea, Moruroa, Takapoto, Bora Bora), the Hawaiian Islands (Oahu, Lana'i, Midway Atoll), Tuvalu, Kiribati (Christmas Island, Tarawa), the Cook Islands (Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, Rarotonga), Tonga, Samoa, the Federal States of Micronesia, the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands (Enewetak, Bikini), New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and Niue. Studies reporting other sea-level indicators dated to other Pleistocene interglacials and Holocene sea-level indicators were not inserted in the database, but are included in this data description paper for completeness. Overall, about 300 studies concerning Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level indicators have been reviewed, and finally 284 data points from 35 studies on the MIS 5e have been inserted in the database. The main sea-level indicators include emerged coral reef terraces, but also reef units recovered in drill cores from a few islands, thus reflecting the diversity of tectonic settings and sampling approaches. Future research should be directed towards better constrained relative sea-level (RSL) reconstructions, including more precise chronological data, more accurate elevation measurements as well as a better refinement of the palaeo-water depth significance of coralgal assemblages. The database for Tropical Pacific Islands is available open-access at this link: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3991672 (Hallmann and Camoin, 2020).

Modern Use and Environmental Impact of the Kava Plant in Remote Oceania

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Merlin ◽  
William Raynor
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Herbal Product ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Piper Methysticum ◽  
Traditional Use ◽  
The Past ◽  
Kava Kava ◽  
Consumption Rates

The kava plant, Piper methysticum Forst. f., is an attractive shrub in the pepper family, Piperaceae (figure 12.1). Known by various names in tropical Pacific, such as yagona, kava, kava kava, ’awa, seka, and sakau, it is propagated vegetatively, as are most of the traditional crops in the region. Kava has been used for many centuries to produce psychoactive preparations. Its active principles, several lipidlike substances known as kavalactones, are concentrated in the rootstock and roots. These psychoactive chemicals are ingested traditionally by Pacific islanders as cold-water infusions of chewed, ground, pounded, or otherwise macerated kava stumps and roots. Mind-altering kava preparations are, or once were, imbibed in a wide range of Pacific Ocean societies. These include peoples living in some lowland areas on the large Melanesian island of New Guinea in the western Pacific to very isolated islands such as those in Polynesian Hawai’i, 7,000 kilometers to the northeast (figure 12.2). Beyond this widespread local use in the tropical Pacific, utilization of kava in parts of Europe as a plant source for medicinal preparations has a relatively lengthy history. In Europe it has been used as a sedative, tranquilizer, muscle relaxant, relief from menopausal symptoms, and treatment for urinary tract and bladder ailments (Lebot et al. 1999). Over the past decade, there has been rapidly increasing interest in kava well beyond the areas of traditional use among Pacific Islanders (figure 12.3). This includes a huge surge in the use of kava products in Europe, North America, Australia, and elsewhere. Within the past 3 to 5 years there has been widespread recognition of its potential to emerge as a mainstream herbal product. Modern cultivation and use of kava in the Pacific has significantly expanded in some traditional use areas such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Pohnpei. There are also significant signs of rejuvenated interest in kava cultivation in some traditional areas of use where it had been abandoned because of depopulation, political prohibition, or zealous missionary denunciation. Increasing use and cultivation of kava on these Pacific islands has been stimulated by local consumption rates and rising demand for commercial export.

Molecular and morphological evolution in the south-central Pacific skink Emoia tongana (Reptilia : Squamata): uniformity and human-mediated dispersal

1999 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Austin ◽  
George R. Zug
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
South Central ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Minimal Research

Human-mediated and waif dispersal are both responsible for the distribution of lizards on tropical Pacific islands. The component of each of these dispersal modes to the Pacific herpetofauna, however, is unclear. Morphological conservatism of Pacific lizards, the poor paleontological record on tropical Pacific islands, and minimal research effort in the Pacific (compared with other island systems) has hampered our understanding of waif versus human-mediated patterns. We examine morphological and genetic variation of Emoia concolor and E. tongana (formerly E. murphyi), two scincid lizards, from the south-central Pacific, to assess modes of dispersal and population structure. Emoia tongana from Tonga and Samoa is genetically uniform, suggesting that these are synanthropic populations recently introduced, presumably from Fiji. Relatively large genetic divergence is evident for populations of E. concolor within the Fijian archipelago, suggesting prehuman intra-archipelago dispersal and isolation.

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