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The suite of species taken by artisanal fisheries targeting tuna often includes species caught in the larger industrial tuna fisheries, leading to concerns that industrial fisheries may reduce local fish availability and consequently impact upon artisanal catch rates. This study provides supporting evidence that industrial purse seine fisheries may impact upon artisanal and subsistence fishers. A tagged population of skipjack and yellowfin tuna known size was monitored through time and the probability of recapture was used as a measure of interaction with the industrial purse seine fishing effort was higher.

The independent State of Samoa is committed to combating climate change, and to the success of the negotiations for a newly legally binding agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP 21 in Paris

The future of lw-lying reef islands has been in the subject of international concern, scientific debate, and media interest in the last decade. As a result of sea-level rise, atoll islands are expected to become increasingly unstable and to be susceptible to potential depopulation by the end of the 21st century.

Traditional knowledge of disasters has been found to save lives. On remote islands where telecommunications to the mainland are unreliable unless there are always working batteries in the radio, signs from the environment may be the only warning of an oncoming cyclone.

The Pacific Islands region is currently experiencing an intensification of interest in culture of an enabler, rather than an inhibitor of development.

This case study describes control to eradication of tradescantia (Tradescantia fluminensis, wandering jew) on Stephens Island (Takapourewa), Cook Strait. Control commenced in 1990 and most tradescantia was removed by May 1992, leaving only small isolated patches. Island caretakers attempted to control tradescantia along with their other tasks for the next 10 years. Tradescantia abundance increased over this period. Not until 2003 was the eradication goal made clear and a dedicated weed team assigned to implement it. Eradication of tradescantia from Stephens Island now appears imminent but remains elusive, with two small plant fragments having been found in the last 5 years. We discuss factors important to achieving eradication and suggest that systematic and persistent effort by highly motivated and dedicated people is critical to eradication success.

Novel forests (NFs)—forests that contain a combination of introduced and native species—are a consequence of intense anthropogenic disturbances and the natural resilience of disturbed ecosystems. The extent to which NFs have similar forest function as comparable native secondary forests is a matter of debate in the scientific community. Little is known about the performance of individual species in those forests. This study focuses on the functional attributes of Castilla elastica NFs in Puerto Rico and on the differences between introduced and native species growing side by side in these forests. Rates of processes measured here were later compared with data from literature about NSFs. I hypothesize that juvenile plants of C. elastica in NFs have higher survival rate than those of native species and that C. elastica trees have faster biomass fluxes than native trees. To test the hypotheses, I measured survival rates of juvenile plants and tree growth and characterized the aboveground litter fluxes and storage. Although juvenile plants of native species displayed higher survival rates than those of C. elastica (53% vs. 28%), the latter was dominant in the understory (96%). Stand biomass growth rate was 2.0 ± 0.4 (average ± one standard deviation) Mg_ha -1 .year -1 for the whole forest, and Guarea guidonia, a native species, exhibited the highest tree growth. Total litter fall was 9.6 ± 0.5 Mg_ha -1 .year-1, and mean litter standing stock was 4.4 ± 0.1 Mg.ha -1. Castilla elastica litter fall decomposed twice as fast as that of native species (5.8 ± 1.1 vs. 3.03 ± 1 k_year -1). Literature comparisons show that the present NFs differ in some rates of processes from NSFs. This study brings unique and detailed supporting data about the ecological dynamics under mature novel forest stands. Further comprehensive studies about NFs are important to strengthen the body of knowledge about the wide range of variation of emerging tropical ecosystems. Due to the large increase in the area covered by NFs, greater attention is needed to understand their functioning, delivery of ecological services and management requirements.

We assessed the prevalence of alien species as a driver of recent extinctions in five major taxa (plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), using data from the IUCN Red List. Our results show that alien species are the second most common threat associated with species that have gone completely extinct from these taxa since AD 1500. Aliens are the most common threat associated with extinctions in three of the five taxa analysed, and for vertebrate extinctions overall.

Corals and coral-associated species are highly vulnerable to the emerging effects of global climate change.

Outbreaks of the corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci (COTS) represent one of the greatest disturbances to coral reef ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific, affecting not only coral reefs but also the coastal communities which rely on their resources. While injection approaches are increasingly used in an attempt to control COTS densities, most of them display severe drawbacks including logistical challenges, high residual environmental impacts or low cost-effectiveness. We tested a new alternative control method based upon acidic injections of cheap, 100% natural products. We investigated the lethal doses, intraand inter-specific disease transmission and immune responses of COTS when injected with fresh lime juice (extracted from local Citrus arantifolia) and white spirit vinegar. High COTS mortality was achieved with small volumes: 10–20 ml per seastar induced death in 89%/ 97% of injected specimens after an average 34.3 h/29.8 h for lime juice and vinegar respectively. Highest efficiency was reached for both solutions with double shots of (2 × 10 ml) in two different areas on the body: 100% mortality occurred within 12–24 h, which is similar or faster compared with other current injection methods. Multiple immune measures suggested that death was very likely caused by pH stress from the acidic solutions rather than a bacterial infection. Contagion to either conspecifics or a variety of other reef species was not observed, even at COTS densities 15 times higher than the highest naturally reported. 10 to 20 l lime juice/vinegar could kill up to a thousand COTS at a cost of less than 0.05 USD per specimen; no permits or special handling procedures are required. We conclude that injections of lime juice and vinegar offer great advantages when compared to current best practises and constitute a cheap and natural option for all reefs affected by COTS