STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Hawaiian monk seals are distributed throughout the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) in six main reproductive subpopulations at French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway Atoll, and Kure Atoll. Small subpopulations also exist at Necker Island and Nihoa Island and a few seals are distributed throughout the main H...

Groundwater resources of small coral islands are threatened due to short-term and long-term changes in climate. A significant short-term threat is El Niño events, which typically induce a severe months-long drought for many atoll nations in the western and central Pacific regions that exhausts rainwater supply and necessitates the use of groundwater. This study quantifies fresh groundwater reso...

Dongsha Atoll (also known as Pratas) in Taiwan is the northernmost atoll in the South China Sea and a designated marine national park since 2007. The marine park's scope of protection covers the bio-resources of its waters in addition to uplands, so it is important to have data logging information and analyses of marine flora and fauna, including their physiology, ecology, and genetics. As part...

We report the discovery of a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) at 61.0±1.7 Hz with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer in the low-mass X-ray binary and persistently bright atoll source GX 13+1 (4U 1811–17). The QPO had an rms amplitude of 1.7±0.2% (2–13.0 keV) and a FWHM of 15.9±4.2 Hz. Its frequency increased with count rate and its amplitude increased with photon energy. In addition a peaked noise...

As a part of a multi-disciplinary study of the biological production in 12 Tuamotu atoll lagoons, we assessed phytoplankton and bacterioplankton biomass and production. The only consistently significant differences were those existing between lagoons, without any other spatial or seasonal signal. Compared with the surrounding oligotrophic ocean, lagoons displayed an increase in trophic status r...

The pigmentation of a cyanobacterial mat located in Rangiroa atoll (French Polynesia) was characterized using low-altitude (500 m) Compact Airborne Spectrometer Imager hyperspectral measurements. Peaks in second and fourth derivatives of the reflective absorptance can be explained by chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments, which were independently identified by high-pressure liquid chromatography....

The dynamic relationship between reefs and the people who utilize them at a subsistence level is poorly understood. This paper characterizes atoll-scale patterns in shallow coral reef habitat and fish community structure, and correlates these with environmental characteristics and anthropogenic factors, critical to conservation efforts for the reefs and the people who depend on them. Hierarchic...

Observations show global sea level is rising due to climate change, with the highest rates in the tropical Pacific Ocean where many of the world's low-lying atolls are located. Sea-level rise is particularly critical for low-lying carbonate reef-lined atoll islands; these islands have limited land and water available for human habitation, water and food sources, and ecosystems that are vulnerab...