A wide variety of fishing methods is used to harvest coral-reef fishes worldwide, with increasing concerns regarding long-term sustainability. As such, there is a need to determine the degree to which specific fishing methods influence coral-reef fish resources. In 2004 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands instituted restrictions on use of gill, drag, and surround nets, limiting use to special exemption for annual fiestas. Historical creel survey data and data from net-use exemptions were reviewed and underwater visual census surveys conducted in southern Saipan Lagoon to assess changes in abundance and biomass from 2004 to 2011. Generalized linear modeling results showed numerical increases in four reef fish families, including Labridae, Scaridae, Mullidae, and the primary target of exempted net-fishing events, Lethrinidae. In addition, mean increases in total reef fish biomass were observed from 2004 to 2011. Positive changes in abundance and biomass of certain coral-reef fish families suggest that decreased fishing mortality via gear restrictions on use of nets can be a useful tool toward the goal of reef fish sustainability in coral-reef ecosystems.

Variation in dorsal fin morphology was assessed in five common bottlenose dolphin populations from the Southeast Pacific. We hypothesized that habitat specialization between coastal and offshore ecotypes would lead to differences in dorsal fin morphology. Photographs and direct measurements of dorsal fins were used to calculate three indexes: height/length base (h/b), width at half height/length base (a/b), and overhang of the dorsal fin tip/length base (falcateness) (s/b). The sample included 163 individuals (129 coastal and 34 offshore) from Ecuador, 60 individuals (nine coastal and 51 offshore) from Peru, and 25 individuals of an inshore community occurring in north-central Chile (Pod-R). Ontogenetic variation was found in coastal dolphins from Ecuador, where sex and age classes were best represented. A statistically significant difference was found in the a/b index between coastal specimens from Ecuador and Peru and among the three offshore groups. When offshore and Pod-R data were pooled and compared with data from coastal specimens from Ecuador and Peru, a significant difference was found in the s/b index. Overall, dorsal fins of offshore dolphins are relatively higher than fins of coastal individuals. However, the most consistent difference between ecotypes was the strong falcateness (high s/b) in offshore forms versus a more triangular shape (low s/b) in coastal forms. We propose that dorsal fin falcateness is a reliable criterion to visually distinguish between bottlenose dolphin ecotypes in this region. Proper identification in the field greatly facilitates research and helps focus management needs of the different bottlenose dolphin populations.

Invasive mammals are implicated in the decline or extinction of numerous insular vertebrate species worldwide, yet rediscoveries of supposedly extinct vertebrates occur regularly. In particular, recent records of secretive amphibian and reptile taxa in the Fiji Islands show that earlier claimed extirpations of Fijian wildlife were erroneous. We add to this growing body of evidence by documenting the Fiji barred treeskink Emoia trossula (Squamata: Scincidae) from Vanua Levu island, Fiji, where it was widely considered extirpated. Regional literature, coupled with this new record, emphasizes the conservation importance of remote forest blocks in Fiji as refugia against nonnative predatory mammals. Moreover, a clear need exists for additional survey work in Fiji to document the contemporary distribution of endemic and endangered herpetofaunal species across the archipelago.

The achatinellid Pacificella variabilis Odhner, 1922, is reported for the first time since its original description from its type locality, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), South Pacific Ocean, Chile. Specimens were found living on the bark of a lemon tree in Hanga Roa town and among the endemic grass Paspalum forsterianum on Motu Nui Islet. A redescription of the shell based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is provided. This represents the first report of the habitat of the species on Easter Island.

Nonnative rodents pose a grave threat to many species on islands where they have been introduced. We surveyed accumulated food contents of husking stations, sheltered areas that rats use to process their collected food items, to gain insight into diets of invasive rodents and their potential effects on plant communities on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu. We examined 59 husking stations in four forests across the island in the summer of 2015. Camera traps documented only black rats (Rattus rattus) using the stations. A combination of vegetation surveys and seed rain traps was used to compare abundance of plant species in husking stations with their abundance in the forest. Overall, we identified 13,007 potential food items, including seeds or husks from 15 plant species, plus the remains of snails, arthropods, and other invertebrates. The only native plant species was the tree Nestegis sandwicensis (Oleaceae). We found almost no evidence of successful germination, indicating that rodents, at least in the context of items brought to husking stations, are acting primarily as seed predators in this system.

Variation in leaf micromorphology can aid delimitation of taxonomically difficult groups. The woody genus Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) dominates Hawai‘i’s native forests and comprises striking, predominantly infraspecific, macromorphological variation, including many forms unrecognized in current taxonomic treatments. On taxonomically rich O‘ahu, 10 taxa (varieties or unnamed morphotypes of M. polymorpha and other species) occur in a predictable sequence with overlapping ranges from low to high elevation along the numerous leeward ridges of the Ko‘olau Range. We used scanning electron and light microscopy to examine mature, nonsenescing sun leaves from each of these 10 taxa. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used to compare stomatal complex (SC) traits and those of a newly described secretory structure (SS) across taxa. Correlations among traits and discriminant analyses were also done. Density and length of SCs were inversely related overall, and both measures varied significantly across taxa. Although abaxial SSs were consistently present only in the two highest-elevation glabrous taxa, adaxial SSs were present in all 10 taxa. Length and density of adaxial SSs and density of abaxial SSs varied across taxa, and densities of both SCs and SSs were greatest at high elevation. Combined, the SC and SS traits differentiated 100% of four glabrous varieties and two of three pubescent varieties of M. polymorpha. Variation in leaf micromorphology, including presence and density of a newly described SS, aids delimitation of closely related Hawaiian Metrosideros taxa and may reflect differential local adaptation across a heterogeneous landscape.

Recent work on species composition, taxonomy, and diversity of plant-parasitic algae in the genus Cephaleuros in Thailand has provided additional knowledge of the parasitic algae in the country. The seven previously reported species, Cephaleuros diffusus, C. expansa, C. karstenii, C. parasiticus, C. pilosa, C. solutus, and C. virescens, are shown to cause algal leaf spot on several host plants in Thailand. Four new records are reported, namely Cephaleuros druetii, C. henningsii, C. lagerheimii, and C. tumidae-setae, resulting in a total of 11 Cephaleuros species recorded from Thailand.

Seven species of Odonata are recorded from among the numerous atolls and midocean reef islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). They include two Zygoptera (damselflies: Tanymecosticta sp. and Ischnura aurora) and five Anisoptera (true dragonflies: Anax guttatus, Diplacodes bipunctata, Pantala flavescens, Tholymis tillarga, and Tramea transmarina). The damselfly Tanymecosticta sp. is known only from a single World War II–era extralimital record reported here for the first time. Breeding is confirmed for the six other species, which are widely distributed in the Pacific and often further afield. The frequently cited record of Pantala flavescens as being the first odonate and one of the first insects to colonize Bikini Atoll after cessation of nuclear testing requires verification. Additional surveys on many of the Marshall Islands not yet sampled for odonates will doubtless result in many new locality records. However, small island size, limited habitat diversity and water resources for breeding, and large distances from potential source populations contribute to an impoverished odonate fauna, and few, if any, species are likely to be added to the list. The six species known to inhabit the Marshall Islands make up the entire known odonate faunas of many other low, coralline islands in the West-central Pacific.

Twenty-one specimens of the scincid lizard Emoia physicae from Papua New Guinea were examined for gastrointestinal helminths. Found were two species of Cestoda, Cylindrotaenia hickmani and Ophiotaenia greeri, and five species of Nematoda: Skrjabinodon derooijae, Skrjabinodon sheai, Abbreviata sp., Porrocaecum sp., and Rictulariidae gen. sp. Rictulariidae had the highest prevalence (29%) and Porrocaecum sp. had the greatest mean intensity (21.5 ± 9.2). Emoia physicae are infected by generalist helminths that also infect other species. Three helminth species are endemic to Papua New Guinea (O. greeri, S. derooijae, S. sheai); one is known from Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Oceania (C. hickmani); and three are paratenic larvae belonging to widely distributed groups (Abbreviata sp., Porrocaecum sp., Rictulariidae). All are new host records for E. physicae.