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Rat eradication has become a common conservation intervention in island ecosystems and its effectiveness in protecting native vertebrates is increasingly well documented. Yet, the impacts of rat eradication on plant communities remain poorly understood. Here we compare native and non-native tree and palm seedling abundance before and after eradication of invasive rats (Rattus Rattus) from Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands, Central Pacific Ocean. Overall, seedling recruitment increased for five of the six native trees species examined. While pre-eradication monitoring found no seedlings of Pisonia grandis, a dominant tree species that is important throughout the Pacific region, post-eradication monitoring documented a notable recruitment event immediately following eradication, with up to 688 individual P. grandis seedlings per 100m2 recorded one month post-eradication. Two other locally rare native trees with no observed recruitment in pre-eradication surveys had recruitment post-rat eradication. However, we also found, by five years post-eradication, a 13-fold increase in recruitment of the naturalized and range-expanding coconut palm Cocos nucifera. Our results emphasize the strong effects that a rat eradication can have on tree recruitment with expected long-term effects on canopy composition. Rat eradication released nonnative C. nucifera, likely with long-term implications for community composition, potentially necessitating future management interventions. Eradication, nevertheless, greatly benefited recruitment of native tree species. If this pattern persists over time, we expect long-term benefits for flora and fauna dependent on these native species.

Before you leave Samoa, stop and think... Could you be breaking wildlife laws? Souvenirs and handicrafts can sometimes include plant and animal products that are protected under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Before you leave Samoa, stop and think... Could you be breaking wildlife laws? Souvenirs and handicrafts can sometimes include plant and animal products that are protected under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Samoa is home to many threatened species including corals, marine turtles, whales, dolphins and more. The survival of these species is further endangered by the global trade in plants, animals and products that may be made from them.

Samoa's National Environmental Capacity Strategy (NECS) is drawn on the assessment and analysis of priority thematic and cross-cutting capacity needs. These needs have identified priority actions for capacity development and opportunities to promote synergies across the 3 Conventions which are highlighted as project profiles in the NECS. Strategies to implement these project profiles including means of monitoring and evaluation of outcomes are also highlighted in the NECS.

Protecting a species is an aspect of conservation which many organizations and individuals have put effort into so that the balance within the ecosystem can be maintained. Protection implement when factors of threats have been identify. Factors of pressure or predatory that may lead to competition and results in extinction. These are the sequence our world works since the beginning

The community based conservation (CBC)paradigm predicts that sustainable biodiversity can only be achieved if local people perceive benefits from conservation. Through interviews, the situation in Samoa portrays that the CBC of mangroves was received with apprehension because the mangrove biodiversity was more significant than sustaining the livelihood of the local communities. In contrast, Iriomote Island residents were able to achieve maximum socio-economic benefits but to the extent that they were over commercializing the mangrove ecosystem. More research is imperative to find out how biodiversity conservation can be married with sustainable development objectives to sustain the local communities' livelihood.

Merremia peltata, disturbance ecology, tropical cyclones and Samoa. The biology and ecology of Merremia peltata are not well understood. While some regard the species as an exotic invader of Pacific Island ecosystems (Meyer. 2000). others identify the plant as a native species likely to be harmful to native ecosystems (Whistler, 1995a. 2002) or as either native or ancient Polynesian introduction behaving invasively (Space and Flynn.(2002). In Samoa, this species occurs up to an elevation of around 300 meters (Whistler 1995a). and thus only affects lowland ecosystems. This species increases its distribution and abundance in two ways, either vegetatively. by sprawling into neighboring areas and rooting from its nodes or by seeds, although early research in the Solomons observed a low seed viability rate, and creeping may thus be its primary means of reproduction (Bacon. 1982). M. peltata has apparently been in the Pacific for hundreds of years (Whistler, pers. com.) but has only become invasive in the years following tropical cyclones Ofa (1990) and Val (1991) according to comments from local government officials. Disturbance thus appears to be an ecological contributing factor to this invasion.

Stranding of a cetacean (whales & dolphins) refers to an animal that has run aground or left in a helpless position on shore. Stranding can include: Live animal(s) that have run aground and are unable to return unassisted to and in the water or to its natural habitat Dead animal(s) that have been washed up on the beach, shore or is still floating in the water.