The 680-acre Palmyra Atoll, comprising about 50 isolated islets halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa, is best known as the site where a San Diego yachting couple met with foul play in the 1970s, a real-life murder mystery recounted in "And the Sea Will Tell," a best-selling book and TV miniseries.

But conservationists say it’s time the atoll, now a national marine monument, becomes known for its current role as a living laboratory that can unlock some of the environmental mysteries keeping scientists up at night. The science being done on the atoll, they say, holds valuable lessons for Hawaii, especially when it comes to understanding sharks, preserving coral reefs and combating invasive species.

"We started the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium around 2005. It took the consortium several years to learn the environment and appreciate the ways that it was surprisingly different," Eric Conklin, Palmyra marine science director for the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser. "I think we’re finally at a speed spot where recommendations are going to start coming out of our research."

Consortium members include universities, museums and conservation organizations that conduct research on the natural systems of Palmyra Atoll and the central Pacific.

The Nature Conservancy bought Palmyra from the Fullard-Leo family for about $30 million in 2000. Then, in 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bought a portion of the atoll for $10 million, establishing a wildlife refuge. The conservancy opened a scientific center.

A $5 million donation to the conservancy from an anonymous donor last month along with the start of an aggressive fundraising campaign is expected to increase the effectiveness of its Palmyra program, which has a $2 million annual operating budget. Palmyra Program Director Laurie Moore said another donor recently gave $500,000 toward the $1.08 million cost of converting the scientific center to photovoltaic energy.

As the consortium nears its first decade, Conklin said, it has finally reached the point where its data have practical applications. Conklin and others see Palmyra as a means of answering critical marine conservation issues facing Hawaii.

Except for the scientists and occasional visitors, the atoll is unpopulated. Since scientists on Palmyra don’t have to filter out much human influence, the atoll is seen as ideal for forecasting the types of change produced by rising sea level, ocean heating and acidification, and shifts in storm frequency and intensity.

Research being conducted on Palmyra now could help local resource managers answer important questions like what the state can do to make its own reefs more resilient, said Conklin, who made six trips to the remote outpost last year.

"Sea level and ocean temperatures are rising in Hawaii, but not as fast as other places," Conklin said. "We are fortunate that we haven’t been as affected. We can say, ‘sweet,’ and ignore it for the next few decades until it catches up to us, or we can learn from places like Palmyra so that when it occurs we can be better prepared. Climate change is a huge deal and will be the single most important challenge confronting coral reefs over the next decade."

Conservancy science specialist Kydd Pollock added, "Palmyra provides a base line that you can’t afford to lose. Your next base line might be Hawaii."

Conklin said University of Hawaii marine researcher Greta Aeby’s work into stopping the spread of coral disease ultimately could be used in Hawaii to stop outbreaks in Kaneohe Bay and areas off Kauai and Maui.

"Disease outbreaks threaten the underpinning of the whole system," he said, "but Greta has piloted some novel techniques on Palmyra like using epoxy to stop the spread of the disease. That technique is something to do when the disease happens, but it’s far better to understand why it occurred in the first place. That’s one of the things that we’ll be working on with Greta in the future." 

Research that looks at the role Palmyra’s sharks play in the health of the reef also can shed light on migration and behavior patterns — useful data for the Hawaiian Islands, which last year saw 14 shark attacks on humans. And projects like a 2-year-old eradication of rats, an invasive species on Palmyra, can provide insight into how Hawaii can manage its own invaders, such as the alien algae choking parts of Kaneohe Bay and waters off Wai­kiki.

Suzanne Case, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, said having a healthy reef and a balanced ecosystem are important to Hawaii since the state depends on them for tourism, sustenance and even to create its famous sand and surf.

"We know that reefs are important to us and that they’ve declined severely in the last 100 years. There’s also been a 75 percent decline in the quantity and size of fish," Case said.

An ongoing shark study will give the consortium a better understanding of how many sharks are in Palmyra and how they interact with the environment, said Pollock, who heads an apex-predator tagging project that began last year. Pollock said he doesn’t think sharks seek out humans, and that attacks are rare.

"How many people are in the water every day in Hawaii? Fourteen attacks is serious, but really the chances are very low. Sharks don’t have hands, so the only way that they can test something is to do a test bite," said Pollock, adding that most attacks, particularly if they occurred in murky water or in low visibility, could be cases of misidentification.

"As many as 73 million sharks a year are killed by shark finning," Case said. "We are terribly dangerous and devastating to sharks."

Another interesting shark question that Palmyra scientists are attempting to answer is why there are so many little fish given the volume of predators. "It seems intuitive if you have more sharks, then you’ll have fewer fish, but one of the surprising things on Palmyra is that more sharks seems to mean more of everything," Case said.

That doesn’t apply to people, however. Palmyra is open only to permitted visitors. "It’s mostly scientists," said project director Moore, who added that 32 people on the atoll at one time would be a busy day. "I’d say we only get half a dozen to 10 other visitors a year. When they come, our staff on the atoll and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service do a lot to expose them to the natural beauty of Palmyra."

Chuck Wick, a 71-year-old retired college ecology instructor from Ely, Minn., made the five-day sailing trip from Maui to Palmyra on a 51-foot boat in April.

"I’ve been in a lot of beautiful places, but I’ve never seen anything like the coral at Palmyra," Wick said. "It has to be one of the most undisturbed places that I’ve ever seen. Nothing compares to it, really. I know that we are going to learn a lot of lessons there."