Biogeography Of The Pacific Islands And Oceanic Archaeology

Question 1

Winds and Currents: Tradewinds

Answer 1

1. Equator boundary between two bodies of air
2. For most part East to West
3. Occasional switches are quite rare but do happen
4. Ocean currents swirl around (Southern hemisphere counterclockwise; Northern clockwise) (At equator nothing is happening (Doldrums (will just sit there)))

Question 2

Winds and Currents: El Niño reversals

Answer 2

1. Happens every 8-10 years and currents will bleed across doldrums and go to South America
2. Works like climate pendulum
3. Hot waters have Avenue to bleed across

Question 3

Winds and Currents: Other

Answer 3

1. North/South Pacific gyre
2. Planet rotates so clouds go in specific direction

Question 4

Winds and Currents: East to West

Answer 4

1. Forces going west less abundant because force changing them
2. Different animals as go east to west

Question 5

Islands Biogeography: Plants

Answer 5

1. Floated seeds (Plant (coconut) leaning towards/over water because wants seeds to drop into waters; Has a sense for knowing where the water is; Needs the ocean to disperse seeds; Husk of coconut can float and withstand saltwater and will wash up on shore and sprout and grow; If currents flowing in one direction only go that way so change in currents over eons disperse them far)
2. Bird/bat deposited seeds (Eat fruit, poop out whole seed cause not digest it)
3. More Asia/Australia derived genera
4. Declines from West to East
5. Wind disperses very few seeds (Ones that are very light and small)

Question 6

Island Biogeography: Ancient Land Animals

Answer 6

1. Marooned on Continental Relict Islands (New Caledonia found nowhere else; Ancient Australian species)
2. Extinct Crocodiles (Crocodile of Fiji)
3. Extinct Tortoises (Vanuatu Tortoise)
   2.5/3.5. People did eat the crocodiles and tortoises so quickly collected and eaten because they didn’t know that the humans are bad or scary (Found bones and though they were pig bones (cause big and chunky) but recently found that they were large tortoise bones)
4. Floated or Swam? (Not sure how some animals got to the islands they are found) (Solomon Island Crocodiles related to Australian ones so probably swam (Can swim great distances (Scary cause so big)))
5. Iguanas (Fijian Iguana (Nobody knows how they got there because from the Americas))
6. Frogs (Swept out to sea)
7. Geckos (Swept out to sea)
8. Australian derived salt-water crocodiles (Solomon Island Crocodiles)

Question 7

Island Biogeography: Birds (overall)

Answer 7

1. Birds are most diverse out on different islands because they can fly great distances (Most numerous)
2. Declines from West to East (Each Island has own unique birds pretty much)

Question 8

Island Biogeography: Birds (Seabirds)

Answer 8

1. Immense colonies (Lots gone because people ate them; Biggest colonies on more remote islands)
2. Most important to island ecosystems because most adapt to islands
3. Albatross (Size of Canadian goose; Oldest (Bird in general) 50 and still laying eggs; Naive because not scared of humans and can just pick up to eat)

Question 9

Island Biogeography: Birds (Forest birds)

Answer 9

1. Descended from Asian and American birds (Must have gotten blown off course and became own species)
2. Fijian dove (Descended from dove or pigeon)

Question 10

Island Biogeography: Birds (Flightless birds)

Answer 10

1. Descended from Asian and American birds
2. From birds that could fly and when got to islands with no predators quit flying because didn’t need to
3. When humans got to islands much more species of flightless birds but now less because people ate them

Question 11

Island Biogeography: Marsupials and Mammals

Answer 11

1. More rare because can’t swim (Some can but not great distances so can’t go island to island)
2. Possums (Only on New Guinea and nearby archipelagos; Bismarck kuskus (Naive to humans so when need to have feast can pick them up and eat them))
3. Fruit bats (Only on the western islands; Samoan fruit bat)
4. Insect bats (Only on the western islands, Hawaii; Eat mosquitoes and make ticking noise; Some still rarely seen

Question 12

Islands Biogeography: Insects

Answer 12

1. Several large insect groups
   1.1 Stick bugs (non aggressive)
   1.2 Beetles (Grubs (Edible; can be quite large))
   1.3 Cicadas (Lay eggs in ground and wait many years and then they all come out after being larvae
   1.3 Millipeded
   1.4 Centipedes (Completely vicious because they are blind) (Foraging is to bite everything) (Maybe came on boat)
2. No predator will grow to large proportions
3. Big food group for people on islands

Question 13

Island Biogeography: Marine Life

Answer 13

1. Most abundant of animals (1/2 of our planet; Deep depths; Things can come and go)
2. Pelagic species (deep ocean)
3. Inshore species

Question 14

Island Biogeography: Marine Life: Pelagic Species

Answer 14

1. Wide ranging, migrating (Some do come near shore; Mainly to eat/catch need to be able to go out to sea (boat) to catch them
2. Fish, sharks, sea turtles, whales, dolphins (Tuna (Larval stage floats like plankton until able to grow large enough) (Caught most of them))

Question 15

Island Biogeography: Marine Life: Inshore Species

Answer 15

1. Reef fish, mollusks, crustaceans (Sea turtles and tangs (Tangs eat algae/parasites off of sea turtles (Cleaning stations)) (Sea turtles can go out to sea but eat seaweed and go to cleaning stations inshore)) (Reef fish have lots of ways to hide so need special ways to catch them)
2. Declines from West to East (Smaller as go east and fewer in numbers)