Baker Island, USA Photograph by USFWS   Oceania Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   200 square miles (500 square kilometers) -- about thrice the size of Washington DC Critical/Endangered

· The Minute Marshall Islands
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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The Minute Marshall Islands

If you were to visit the Marshall Islands, you'd head to a part of the Pacific Ocean located about halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. You'd need to visit more than 1,000 islands and 30 atolls to see the entire extent of this ecoregion. And you'd have to travel about 780 miles (1,300 km) from east to west and about 690 miles (1,150 km) from north to south. But amazingly enough, in your entire journey, you'd cover a land area only about as big as Washington, D.C.!

Special Features

Two chains make up this archipelago. The western Ralik, or "sunset," chain extends from Eniwetok to Ebon Islands, and the eastern Ratak, or "sunrise," chain goes from Taongi and Rongelap to Mili. All of these islands are low coral atolls or sand islands. Low- to medium-sized trees cover much of the islands, providing a natural windbreak that's especially important in typhoon season. Periodic typhoons, salt spray, and other environmental stresses are partly responsible for the low biodiversity of the islands.

	The fourteen uninhabited islets of Taongi are the least-disturbed islands in the ecoregion, and they contain only nine species of vascular plants!

Wild Side

Many of the forests on these islands are composed of just a few species of plants, with a single dominant tree species. If you visit the islands, you'll find 38 species of land and freshwater birds, including an endangered native forest bird called the Radak Micronesian pigeon. Another native forest bird, the crimson-crowned fruit dove, is most likely extinct. The islands are extremely important rookeries for seabirds, such as great frigate birds, brown boobies, red-footed boobies, wedge-tailed shearwaters, red-tailed tropic birds, sooty terns, white terns, and brown noddies. Several species of skinks and geckos scuttle along the forest floor.

Cause for Concern

Coconut, taro, and sugarcane plantations have replaced much of the native vegetation on these islands. The small amount of mixed broadleaf forest that remains was spared because of its value as a windbreak. U.S. military weapons testing and introduced species also threaten parts of the ecoregion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.