Inter-Situ” Restoration on Kaua`I, Hawai`I

REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS 483 Paleoecology and “inter-situ” restoration on Kauaì, Hawaiì David A Burney1* and Lida Pigott Burney2 Paleoecological studies from tropical islands around the globe show that human colonization has been devastating for these remote biotic communities. Island histories reveal that human predation and human-mediated landscape change have each played a key role, but many island extinctions following human arrival are strongly associated with introduced predators, herbivores, weeds, and diseases. On the Hawaiian Island of Kauaì, human-caused extinctions are currently occurring in a microcosm of island endemics. Recent studies of endangered plants suggest that conventional in-situ and ex-situ conservation strategies are losing the battle here. Paleoecological findings sup- port the idea that creating new populations in formerly much larger, late prehistoric and early historical ranges of declining species may provide a reliable and cost-effective hedge against extinction. On Kauaì, several paleoecological sites have played key roles in planning and implementing ecological and cultural restoration projects. Front Ecol Environ 2007; 5(9): 483–490, doi 10.1890/070051 iotic collapse appears, without exception, to follow documented in the later cases, including the Mascarene Bhuman arrival to remote tropical islands around the and Galapagos Islands, where initial human colonization world. Although debate continues regarding the causes of has been a phenomenon of recent centuries (Martin and late Quaternary extinctions on continents, there is Steadman 1999; Burney and Flannery 2005). almost universal agreement in the scientific community Perhaps no case of “tropical paradise lost” is more familiar that humans have been transforming remote tropical than that of the Hawaiian Islands, first colonized by oceanic islands at a rapid pace ever since the onset of Polynesians one to two millennia ago. Recent research local human colonization (Steadman 1995; Burney and employing accelerator mass spectrometer 14C dating of Flannery 2005). materials least likely to be contaminated with old carbon, Direct human predation and deforestation have each such as plant macrofossils and purified bone collagen, sup- been frequently invoked to explain the changes, port the later arrival scenarios, hardly more than 1000 years although both prehistoric evidence and historical records ago (Athens et al. 2002; Burney and Burney 2003). also document indirect effects of humans, including Casualties in the wake of human arrival included large, introduced predators, herbivores, alien competitors, and flightless waterfowl and other ground-nesting birds, and diseases. Human disruption of island biota probably perhaps others (Olson and James 1984). Following Captain began more than 50 000 years ago in New Guinea, and Cook’s two voyages in 1778–79 and subsequent European spread prehistorically to other islands, in the wake of colonization, finches, land snails, and plants figured among their discovery. The process was directly observed and the major losses on these mid-Pacific volcanic islands. A complex web of causation can be imagined. Various human impacts interacted with natural variations in cli- In a nutshell: mate, demography, and ecological dynamics to drive • Conservation on remote tropical islands demands innovative extreme extinction events, in which many groups were strategies, as conventional approaches have proved inadequate greatly affected or completely eliminated on these and in many cases other islands (eg Burney et al. 2002; Burney and Flannery • Paleoecology and other historical techniques may hold solu- tions for reversing the decline of some endangered species 2005). Certain events, such as the introduction of rats • These techniques show that many rare species may formerly (Athens et al. 2002), may have had disproportionate have had much wider ranges effects. In addition, some groups (eg flightless birds) may • The fossil record has been used on Kauaì, for instance, as a have been hardest hit, eliminating hundreds or perhaps strong justification for creating new populations at sites where thousands of species globally (Steadman 1995). intensive management is feasible • Makauwahi Cave Reserve, a collaboration with Grove Farm Kauaì, the oldest and northernmost of the major Company, has served as a prototype for this approach, defined Hawaiian Islands, is an interesting case for scientists here as “inter-situ restoration” studying human-mediated extinction. The losses have been substantial on Kauaì, and they are continuing (Burney et al. 2001); the extinction catastrophe has not 1National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kalaheo, HI 96741 *(dburney@ yet finished running its course. An often-cited pair of sta- ntbg.org); 2Makauwahi Cave Reserve, Kalaheo, HI 96741 tistics is that the Hawaiian Islands together represent © The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org Restoration on Kauaì DA Burney and L Pigott Burney 484 only 0.2% of US land area, but contain 43% of the plants tions, and private holdings has proven to be expensive and on the endangered species list. Of all the islands, Kauaì difficult to maintain for so many species at once, in the face holds the dubious distinction of having the largest num- of major challenges from feral ungulates, introduced preda- ber of listed species, including many single-island tors, invasive plants and invertebrates, and diseases – all endemics with total populations in the 1–50 range. exacerbated by the ravages of hurricanes, landslides, pollu- Paleoecological studies based on fossils recovered from tion, and development. Ex-situ conservation in botanical ancient caves and marshes on this 1430-km2 island have gardens, native-plant nurseries, arboreta, and seed banks yielded a detailed picture of biotic changes before, during, has shown progress, but the extent to which public and pri- and after human arrival (Olson and James 1982, 1984, vate institutions can address the challenge is limited by the 1991, 1997; James and Olson 1991; Burney et al. 2001; costs of labor, greenhouse and garden space, genetic con- Burney 2002; Burney and Burney 2003; Burney and straints, hybridization, and the absence or scarcity of nat- Kikuchi 2006). In an unusual development, however, stud- ural recruitment. Ex-situ strategies have benefited from new ies of past environmental cataclysms have become a more ecological and horticultural techniques, but the entire direct part of contemporary conservation activity than is effort is at risk of being swamped by the sheer number of customary. Although paleoecological insights have led to species in decline, the rapidity of their decline, and regula- some interesting and controversial “Pleistocene rewilding” tory hurdles (Holling and Meffe 1996). One study suggests proposals in the North American conservation community that 590 of the 1209 species of native Hawaiian plants are and elsewhere (eg Martin 2005; Donlan et al. 2005, 2006; already extinct or at risk of extinction (Wagner et al. 1999). Donlan 2007; Caro 2007), Kauaì hosts numerous ecologi- Formal status reviews of each listed endangered species are cal restorations that have, with only minor controversy, just beginning for the long list of Hawaiian plants, but results drawn their inspiration and part of their scientific justifica- from 21 species evaluated by the Conservation Department tion directly from the findings of avian paleontologists, of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in palynologists, archaeologists, and ethnohistorians. An early 2006, under contract from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and spectacular example was the reintroduction of the show the magnitude of the challenge in microcosm: all these Nene, or Hawaiian goose (Branta sandwicensis), to other species, save perhaps one or two, have declined since their islands, including Kauaì, from a tiny historical population official listing under the Endangered Species Act, most not known exclusively from the Big Island. only in total number, but in number of populations as well (WebTable 1). These species were selected on the basis of Surfing the extinction wave administrative considerations (their turn on a 5-year update cycle), not because they were perceived to be at greater risk The Hawaiian Islands are ripe for new conservation ideas than others on the list. In nearly all cases, the cause of for several reasons. First, the situation there is dire. The decline is not known with certainty, but the observed or lowlands of Kauaì, for instance, are almost entirely lacking inferred negative influences are the usual litany – the same in native vegetation and suitable habitat for endangered factors indicated in the fossil record of island extinctions in animals. Exotic vegetation blankets the landscape up to ele- the human period (WebTable 1). vations of 1000 m or more in many areas, with some notable, but highly threatened exceptions. Thousands of Restoration paleoecology hectares are covered with invasive alien plants; some, such as ratberry (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa), Guinea grass (Panicum The community of conservation professionals and dedi- maximum), and haole koa (Leucaena leucocephala), form cated volunteers in the state of Hawaiì is sizeable, and essentially mono-dominant stands that successfully exclude many energetic projects are underway. Leading conserva- most natives and even many other alien invasives. No tionists have recently called not only for a greater effort, native passerine birds are

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