Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 80° Today's Paper


Hawaii News

Palmyra atoll turns into trove of research vital to Hawaii’s future

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COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
“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.”
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COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
The atoll’s waters and reefs, part of a 13 million-acre Marine National Monument, comprise one of the last intact coral reef ecosystems on Earth.
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COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
About 44 percent of the fish around the atoll are sharks, providing a window into the role that these predators play in shaping the ecosystem.
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COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
Palmyra, which receives more than 175 inches of rain annually, is home to one of the last surviving stands of Pisonia beach forest in U.S. Pacific.
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COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
The atoll is home to more than 1 million nesting seabirds, such as the black noddy, the red-footed booby, the great frigate bird and the sooty tern.