The Impact of School Social Bonds

Students' experiences in the school environment are not limited to purely academic activities, responsibilities, and relationships. Their complete educational experience encompasses social ties, commitment centered on stakes in conformity, beliefs about rules and regulations, and involvement in pursuits that are indirectly tied to their scholastic performance. Using CNMI Youth Survey data, this chapter explores these social bonds in the school setting and examines their impact on indigenous and indigenous high school students in the Northern Mariana Islands. The relative importance of these social bonds is compared to the influence of social bonds outside the school environment. The findings highlight the importance of teacher attachment and the belief in the validity and fairness of school rules on the risk-behavior for both indigenous and non-indigenous youth, with non-indigenous youths experiencing teacher attachment as a relatively stronger protective factor.

Indigenous Rights

This chapter focuses on the mental health factors that impact student success for Indigenous youth within the higher education landscape in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). It emphasizes the need to address these mental health factors by strengthening cultural identity to support the success of students in higher education. The authors explain how Indigenous rights can be used to address legacies of genocidal colonialism and how implementing Indigenous-based curriculum for effective student learning may provide pathways to improve academic and mental health outcomes. Several programs in Saipan that underscore the significance of reinforcing cultural identity to help mitigate and alleviate these negative outcomes are discussed. The authors conclude by providing examples of how cultural identity can be strengthened through the implementation of Indigenous rights-based legislation, thereby simultaneously safeguarding mental health and academic success for Indigenous youth in the CNMI.

Deep-Sea Fish Fauna on the Seamounts of Southern Japan with Taxonomic Notes on the Observed Species

Several volcanic islands and submarine volcanoes exist in the sea connecting the Izu-Bonin Islands with the Mariana Islands, with trenches and islands formed by the submergence of the Pacific Plate under the Philippine Sea Plate. Although designated as a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in December 2020, the seamounts’ biodiversity has not been sufficiently researched. Therefore, direct observations and specimen sampling were conducted on four seamounts in this area using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), and baited cameras (BCs). The ROV survey was conducted for 2–4 days on each seamount and divided into shallow and deep areas. During the expedition, 20 orders and 51 families of 81 deep-sea fish species were observed, including several potentially undescribed species, new genus or species records from Japanese waters, new depth records, new ecological information, and several rare fishes. The fish fauna and biodiversity abundance clearly differed among the seamounts; the seamount with a hydrothermal vent had the lowest diversity among the four seamounts. In shallow water, 23, 7, and 12 species were recorded only by ROV, AUV, and BC, respectively, indicating that combining these methods is beneficial for understanding the fish fauna of seamounts.

Studies in Canarium urceus (Linné, 1758) Part 5: a New Species from the Northern Pacific Ocean (Gastropoda: Neostromboidae: Strombidae)

This part of the Canarium (Canarium) urceus (Linné, 1758) revision after Abbott (1960) revision examines the northwest Pacific specimens, which are currently synonymised under Canarium (Canarium) urceus (Linné, 1758). Canarium (Canarium) nipponium n. sp. is known from the Ryukyuan Subprovince, Mariana Islands and Palau. The new species differs from others in lacking the fine sculpture on the early whorls and triangulate from. Given the propensity for species of Strombidae to disperse widely, to show a high degree of variability across their ranges, and to hybridise, it is expected that traits of this new species will be present in populations of neighbouring species, particularly within the Canarium (Canarium) complex.

Range eclipse leads to tenuous survival of a rare lizard species on a barrier atoll

Rediscovery of living populations of a species that was presumed to be extirpated can generate new narratives for conservation in areas suffering from losses in biodiversity. We used field observations and DNA sequence data to verify the rediscovery of the Critically Endangered scincid lizard Emoia slevini on Dåno′, an islet off the coast of Guam in the southern Mariana Islands, where for > 20 years it had been considered possibly extirpated. Endemic to the Marianas, E. slevini has declined throughout its range and no longer occurs on as many as five islands from which it was historically known, most likely because of interactions with invasive species and loss of native forest. Our results show that individuals from Dåno′, the type locality for E. slevini, are genetically similar but not identical to E. slevini on Sarigan and Alamagan to the north, and that E. slevini is a close evolutionary relative to another congener in the southern Marianas that is currently recognized as Emoia atrocostata but probably represents an undescribed species in this archipelago. We also show that other, more broadly distributed species of Emoia occurring on Dåno′ are distant relatives to E. slevini and the Mariana lineage of E. atrocostata, providing further evidence of the distinctiveness of these taxa. The rediscovery of E. slevini on Dåno′ following rodent eradication and culling of a population of monitor lizards suggests that management of invasive species is key to the recovery of this skink in the Mariana Islands, and that a range eclipse on the larger neighbouring island of Guam best explains why the rediscovery took place at the periphery of the species’ historic range. A Chamorro abstract can be found in the supplementary material.

694Metabolic conditions have high prevalence in CHamoru men in a hyperuricemia feasibility study in Guam

Background One-third of adults in the U.S. have metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors of chronic diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and gout. These diseases are a burden for ethnic minorities, including Pacific Island peoples. Here, the metabolic conditions were described for a group of Pacific Island people, the CHamorus or natives of Guam, a U.S. Territory in the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Guam from August 2019 to January 2020. A non-random sample of 152 adults, ≥18 years old, with CHamoru ancestry were recruited and consented. Information collected included socio-demographics, metabolic history, lifestyle behaviors, height and weight, blood pressure, and non-fasting blood and urine. Statistical analyses included frequencies of metabolic conditions and Pearson’s Chi-square test for gender differences, alpha=0.05. Results Of the 152 CHamorus, 49.3% were male, 50% were female, and 0.7% was transgender. The mean age was 43±15.1 years. Mean education was 14.4±3.6 years and hyperuricemia he majority (69.7%) pursued postsecondary studies. Self-reported metabolic conditions included: diabetes (19.7%), gout (28.9%), hypertension (34.9%), dyslipidemia (17.8%), and heart conditions (9.9%). Compared to females, more males reported gout (40.5% versus 18.7%; P=.003) and measured to be hypertensive (48% versus 21.1%; P<.0001), hyperuricemic (58.9% versus 31.6%; P=.001), and obese (77.3% versus 46.1%; P<.0001). Conclusion Metabolic conditions were common among CHamorus, though gout, hypertension, hyperuricemia, and obesity were predominant in the men. Key messages Strategies to reduce the burden of metabolic conditions may be targeted to CHamoru men in this community.

Global mapping of 10-day differences of temperature and salinity in the intermediate layer observed with Argo floats

The authors examine small-scale spatiotemporal variability of the layer nearly 2000-m depth, which is the “bottom” of the present Argo observation system, using all of available Argo float data. The 10-day change, ΔT10, is defined as the difference of temperature between two successive observations with an interval of nearly 10 days for each individual float at an isobaric surface. |ΔT10| is large along the western boundary currents at 1000 dbar, and becomes less remarkable with depth. At 1950 dbar, mean |ΔT10| is noticeable in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean (NEAO), the Argentine basin, and the northwestern Indian Ocean. In the Southern Ocean, large |ΔT10| is localized in some areas located over the ridges or leeward of the plateau. Basically, ΔT10 at isobaric surfaces is accounted for by the heave component, but the spiciness component is dominant or comparable to the other in the NEAO and the Argentine basin. ΔT10 decreases with depth monotonically most of the world, suggesting that wind energy input is attenuated with depth. In some areas in the Southern Ocean, however, the vertical profile of |ΔT10| implies enhanced bottom-induced turbulence. |ΔT10| peaks at 1300 dbar in the NEAO, corresponding to the spread of the Mediterranean Outflow Water. |ΔT10| is smaller in the Pacific Ocean compared with the other oceans, but is enhanced along the equator, the Kuroshio and its Extension, the Kuril, Aleutian, Hawaii, and Mariana Islands, and the Emperor Seamount Chain.

Aulacaspis yasumatsui. [Distribution map].

A new distribution map is provided for Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi. Hemiptera: Diaspididae. Hosts: cycads (Cycadales). Information is given on the geographical distribution in Africa (South Africa), Asia (China, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Java, Sulawesi, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam), Europe (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, United Kingdom, England), North America (Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Martinique, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, U.S. Virgin Islands, United States, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas), Oceania (Fiji, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau), South America (French Guiana).