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.

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.

The Board-Room

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Trollope
Keyword(s):  
The South ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
South Central ◽  
Board Room

On Friday, the 21st June,* the Board of the South Central Pacific and Mexican Railway sat in its own room behind the Exchange, as was the Board’s custom every Friday. On this occasion all the members were there, as it had been...

Kava : A Challenge to Alcohol?

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-53
Author(s):  
J.E. Cawte
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
The South ◽  
Aboriginal Communities ◽  
North East ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Arnhem Land

Kava has been introduced into Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia. Persons from Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land visiting the South Pacific region on study tours have been impressed by their welcome in Kava bowl ceremonies, and some of them hoped that the Aborigines might use Kava instead of alcohol.In 1983 many Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land used Kava, and much more was used in 1984. By 1985 it became a social epidemic or ‘craze’ in many communities. Rings of people of both sexes and of all ages often sit together under trees around Kava bowls for many hours. They may drink up to a hundred times the amount normally drunk in the Pacific Islands by the same number of people in the same time.

scholarly journals Using Microwave Satellite Data to Assess Changes in Storminess over the Pacific Ocean

2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (8) ◽  
pp. 3214-3229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Kruk ◽  
Kyle Hilburn ◽  
John J. Marra
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Rain Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Increasing Trends

Abstract This study analyzes 25 years of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) retrievals of rain rate and wind speed to assess changes in storminess over the open water of the Pacific Ocean. Changes in storminess are characterized by combining trends in both the statistically derived 95th percentile exceedance frequencies of rain rate and wind speed (i.e., extremes). Storminess is computed annually and seasonally, with further partitioning done by phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index and the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) index. Overall, rain-rate exceedance frequencies of 6–8 mm h−1 cover most of the western and central tropical Pacific, with higher values present around the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, and the northwest coast of Australia. Wind speed exceedance frequencies are a strong function of latitude, with values less (greater) than 12 m s−1 equatorward (poleward) of 30°N/S. Statistically significant increasing trends in rain rate were found in the western tropical Pacific near the Caroline Islands and the Solomon Islands, and in the extratropics from the Aleutian Islands down the coast along British Columbia and Washington State. Statistically significant increasing trends in wind speed are present in the equatorial central Pacific near Kiribati and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and in the extratropics along the west coast of the United States and Canada. Thus, while extreme rain and winds are both increasing across large areas of the Pacific, these areas are modulated according to the phase of ENSO and the PDO, and their intersection takes aim at specific locations.

The Pacific Islands Press

1974 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-477
Author(s):  
Jim Richstad ◽  
Michael McMillan
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Area

“Pacific-style journalism” seems to be emerging from the news-papers published in the diverse and widely scattered societies of the South Pacific area.

scholarly journals REVIEW: An unusual, insightful Pacific book

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-181
Author(s):  
Ian Boden
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
The Public ◽  
Practical Guide ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
On Line

Review of The Pacific Journalism: A Practical Guide, edited by David Robie. Suva: University of South Pacific Journalism Programme/ USP Book Centre, and South Pacific Books. Very rarely does a book appear in the South Pacific that is generated within the region and intended for those working here. Even more unusually does a book address itself to the need of Pacific Islands journalism, to the rights of the public to be informed, and to the responsibilities and obligations of journalists. Add to that an attempt to cover not only the print media, but to address television, radio and on-line news dissemination and you have a book with the potential to become a landmark publication. 

scholarly journals Predicting bycatch hotspots for endangered leatherback turtles on longlines in the Pacific Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1777) ◽  
pp. 20132559 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Roe ◽  
Stephen J. Morreale ◽  
Frank V. Paladino ◽  
George L. Shillinger ◽  
Scott R. Benson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Fishing Effort ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Leatherback Turtles ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Fisheries Bycatch ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Nesting Beaches

Fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea . We integrated use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles with longline fishing effort to estimate predicted bycatch risk over space and time in the Pacific Ocean. Areas of predicted bycatch risk did not overlap for eastern and western Pacific nesting populations, warranting their consideration as distinct management units with respect to fisheries bycatch. For western Pacific nesting populations, we identified several areas of high risk in the north and central Pacific, but greatest risk was adjacent to primary nesting beaches in tropical seas of Indo-Pacific islands, largely confined to several exclusive economic zones under the jurisdiction of national authorities. For eastern Pacific nesting populations, we identified moderate risk associated with migrations to nesting beaches, but the greatest risk was in the South Pacific Gyre, a broad pelagic zone outside national waters where management is currently lacking and may prove difficult to implement. Efforts should focus on these predicted hotspots to develop more targeted management approaches to alleviate leatherback bycatch.

Intraseasonal Variability Associated with Summer Precipitation over South America Simulated by 14 IPCC AR4 Coupled GCMs

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (9) ◽  
pp. 2931-2954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Lin Lin ◽  
Toshiaki Shinoda ◽  
Brant Liebmann ◽  
Taotao Qian ◽  
Weiqing Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Intraseasonal Variability ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Convergence Zone ◽  
The South ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
South Central ◽  
Northward Propagation

Abstract This study evaluates the intraseasonal variability associated with summer precipitation over South America in 14 coupled general circulation models (GCMs) participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Eight years of each model’s twentieth-century climate simulation are analyzed. Two dominant intraseasonal bands associated with summer precipitation over South America are focused on: the 40- and the 22-day band. The results show that in the southern summer (November–April), most of the models underestimate seasonal mean precipitation over central-east Brazil, northeast Brazil, and the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ), while the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is shifted southward of its observed position. Most of the models capture both the 40- and 22-day band around Uruguay, but with less frequent active episodes than observed. The models also tend to underestimate the total intraseasonal (10–90 day), the 40-, and the 22-day band variances. For the 40-day band, 10 of the 14 models simulate to some extent the 3-cell pattern around South America, and 6 models reproduce its teleconnection with precipitation in the south-central Pacific, but only 1 model simulates the teleconnection with the MJO in the equatorial Pacific, and only 3 models capture its northward propagation from 50° to 32°S. For the 7 models with three-dimensional data available, only 1 model reproduces well the deep baroclinic vertical structure of the 40-day band. For the 22-day band, only 6 of the 14 models capture its northward propagation from the SACZ to the Atlantic ITCZ. It is found that models with some form of moisture convective trigger tend to produce large variances for the intraseasonal bands.

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