This book represents the edited papers and proceedings of the first of two workshops on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity in the Tropical Island Pacific Region held in November 1994 at the East-West Center. It includes taxonomic status reviews for groups of important plants and animals occupying nearshore and coastal tropical ecosystems in the insular Pacific--marine algae, seagrasses, mangroves, corals, sponges, polychaetes, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, inshore Hawaiian fish fauna, Pacific reef and shore fishes, and marine ecosystem. Papers on various biodiversity database and information management systems potentially applicable to the tropical island Pacific include UNEP-IOC (UNESCO)-ASPEI-IUCN Global Task Team on the implications of climate change on coral reefs, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre on handling global biodiversity data, the United States Coral Reef Initiative, ReefBase, CoralBase, FishBase, the Hawaii Biological Survey, the Hawaii Natural Heritage Program natural diversity database, and marine biosystematic/biodiversity priorities. Also included is an outline for an action plan bridging species taxonomy/systematics and information management priorities for use in the conservation and sustainable use of nearshore marine and coastal resources in the region developed during the workshop.

At the base of a steep cliff towering some 500 feet above the coast of the remote Nā Pali district on the island of Kaua'i, lies the spectacular historical and archaeological site at Nu'alolo Kai. First excavated by Bishop Museum archaeologists between 1958 and 1964, the site contained the well-preserved remains of one of the largest and most diverse arrays of traditional and historic artifacts ever found in Hawai'i. The house sites that constitute the focus of Abundance and Resilience were built over five centuries of occupation and contained deeply buried, stratified deposits extending more than nine feet beneath the surface. The essays in this volume detail the work of archaeologists associated with the University of Hawai'i who have been compiling and studying the animal remains recovered from the excavations. The contributors discuss the range of foods eaten by Hawaiians, the ways in which particular species were captured and harvested, and how these practices might have evolved through changes in the climate and natural environment. Adding to this are analyses of a sophisticated material culture—how ancient Hawaiians fashioned animal remains into artifacts such as ornaments made of shell, pointed bird bone "pickers," sea urchin and coral files and abraders, turtle shell combs, and bone handles for kāhili (feathered standards) used by Hawaiian royalty. For researchers, Nu'alolo Kai opened up the world of everyday life of indigenous Hawaiians between AD 1400 and 1900. More importantly, we learn how their procurement and utilization of animals—wild marine organisms and birds, as well as domesticated dogs and pigs—affected local resources. Demonstrating that an increased preference for introduced animals, such as dogs and pigs, effectively limited negative impacts on wild animal resources, the essays in Abundance and Resilience collectively argue that the Hawaiian community of Nu'alolo Kai practiced a sustainable form of animal resource procurement and management for five centuries.