Pacific Science Volume 41, Numbers 1-4, 1987

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Pacific Science is a quarterly publication devoted to the biological and physical sciences of the Pacific Region.

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    41: Index - Pacific Science
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987)
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    41:1-4 Table of Contents - Pacific Science
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987)
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    Characteristics of Water Quality in Anchialine Ponds of Kona, Hawaii Coast
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Brock, Richard E. ; Norris, James E. ; Ziemann, David A. ; Lee, Michael T.
    A study of the water quality characteristics of anchialine ponds of the Kona, Hawaii, coast suggests that groundwater is a major source of dissolved nutrients for these systems. These groundwater sources apparently show high spatial and temporal variability with respect to dissolved nutrients. Changes are apparent in the water quality characteristics of one anchialine pond system that has been subjected to considerable surrounding development. These changes are within the range of natural variability suggesting that this perturbation, at least over the short term (ca. 9 years), is not damaging since these nutrients frequently occur naturally in excess of concentrations which would control biological processes. Within an anchialine pond system that we have studied, spatial variability in water quality may be explained by a simple model of groundwater dilution with proximity to the sea.
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    Stunted Cloud-forest in Taveuni, Fiji
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Ash, J.
    The vegetation and microclimate of a stunted ridge-top cloudforest on Mt. Koroturanga (l210m), Taveuni, Fiji (Lat. l7 °S, Long. 180°) is described. Canopy heights decreased from about 30m at sea level to 10m at 1140m altitude and to 3-7m on the ridge and upper windward slopes. The stunted trees were of low height for their stem diameter, and had abundant epiphytic bryophytes. The upper windward slopes and ridge were usually cloud enveloped and had low temperature (c 17°C), high relative humidity (c94%) and high wind speed (c 5m S-1 at 15m height). Canopy height was closely correlated with estimated rates of leaf transpiration. The cloud-forest had abundant Freycinetia urvilleana in the upper canopy and included species restricted to this environment on a few peaks in Fiji, e.g. Ascarina swamyana and Medinilla waterhousei.
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    Nodule Biomass of the Nitrogen-fixing Alien Myrica faya Ait. in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Turner, Douglas R. ; Vitousek, Peter M.
    Myricafaya forms a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis in which fixation takes place in specialized root nodules. The biomass of these nodules was greater in open-grown than shaded individuals of Myricafaya, and was greater in large than small individuals. All Myricafaya examined, including seedlings and those growing epiphytically, had active nodules. Nitrogen fixation by invading Myrica faya could alter patterns of primary succession in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
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    Pacific Island Mangroves: Distribution and Environmental Settings
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Woodroffe, Colin D.
    Mangroves, absent from many small, "low" islands and from most of Polynesia, do not cover large areas on Pacific islands, and show rapid decrease in species diversity and stature across the Pacific. Preliminary data indicate that where they do occur they may be as productive, particularly in terms of detritus per unit area, as more luxuriant mangrove forests elsewhere. Oscillations of sea level during the Quaternary have disrupted the distribution of mangroves and present mangrove swamps are shown to have developed and extended substantially during the late Holocene in each of four environmental settings: i) deltaic/estuarine mangroves, ii) mangroves of embayments/harbors/lagoons, iii) mangroves of reef flats, iv) inland mangroves and mangrove depressions. These are ranked in order from i) to iv), from highest to lowest, in terms of landform and mangrove habitat diversity, rates of sedimentation, opportunities for freshwater nutrient input and enhanced productivity, and, it is argued, potential for organic carbon flux and trophic diversity. Structure and functioning of the mangrove ecosystem differs between settings. Restricted stands of mangroves, such as those inland on "low" islands or atolls, are unlikely to export quantities of organic carbon, but nevertheless are productive and support resources which can play an important role in the subsistence economy of the local inhabitants.
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    The Fish Communities of a Coral Reef Transect
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Galzin, Rene ; Legendre, Pierre
    As a contribution to the discussion on the causes of the high fish species diversity found on coral reefs, a coast-to-sea transect has been studied in the lagoon of Moorea Island (French Polynesia) in order to uncover the spatial scales at which recurrent assemblages (i.e., communities) can be identified. The transect was divided into 22 stations where fishes were sampled. According to the null hypothesis (chaos), the fish species should be distributed at random along the transect. This was tested first by a method of constrained clustering that performs a statistical test of cluster fusion, based on a null hypothesis that corresponds to chaos. Groups of stations were found with, at most, a 5% chance of resulting from a random distribution of species among the groups. The distribution of species among the stations pro vided a second test of the null hypothesis; the observed number of ubiquitous species was found to be significantly smaller than expected under the hypothesis of chaos and, in the same way, the species limited to a single group of stations were found to be significantly more numerous than expected under chaos. Both patterns are consistent with reports from other reefs of the Indo-Pacific.
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    The Status of Fruit Bats on Guam
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Wiles, Gary J.
    Two species of fruit bats are known from Guam in the southern Mariana Islands. Pteropus mariannus mariannus has declined greatly in abundance since the early 1900s. Its numbers decreased from an estimated 3,000 animals in 1958 to fewer than 50 individuals in 1978. However, by 1982, the population of this species increased to about 850 to 1,000 bats, probably through immigration of fruit bats to Guam from the island of Rota. Since then , P. m. mariannus appears to be declining once again with only 425 to 500 counted during a February-April 1984 census . A second smaller species, P. tokudae, has always been rare since it was first discovered in the early 1930s. It has not been recorded since 1968 and now is thought to be extinct. Overhunting of Pteropus for use as a delicacy is the main cause for their decline on Guam. Forest clearing and predation by brown tree snakes may be other contributing factors. Both species of Pteropus were listed as endangered on Guam by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August 1984.
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    New Decapod Records from the Hawaiian Islands (Crustacea, Decapoda)
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Titgen, Richard H.
    Twenty-two new decapod species records, nine new generic records, and two new familial records are reported for the Hawaiian Islands. Most represent widely distributed Pacific or Indo-Pacific species, though one is an undescribed species of gnathophyllid shrimp and three are also known to occur in the Atlantic Ocean.
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    Euraphia eastropacensis (Cirripedia, Chthamalodea), a New Species of Barnacle from the Tropical Eastern Pacific: Morphological and Electrophoretic Comparisons with Euraphia rhizophorae (deOliveira) from the Tropical Eastern Atlantic and Molecular Evolutionary Implications
    (University of Hawaii Press, 1987) Laguna, Jorge E.
    Euraphia eastropacensis sp. nov., of the tropical Eastern Pacific, is distinguished from its tropical Western Atlantic congener, E. rhizophorae, by morphological and electrophoretic evidence. Because of the apparent recent radiation of high intertidal chthamaloids and the recent closure of the Isthmus of Panama, one would expect that these two species of Euraphia were geminates. However, utilizing electrophoretic data, a large genetic distance value (0.95) was found, and this creates difficulties when explaining speciation between the two in terms of the molecular clock. A molecular evolutionary interpretation of the data suggests that the two species may have speciated before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, probably as early as the Upper Miocene.
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