Baker Island, USA Photograph by US Fish & Wildlife Service   Swain Reef, Howland and Baker Islands (USA), Phoenix Islands (Kiribati), Tokelau (New Zealand), and Ellice Islands (Tuvalu) Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   50 square miles (100 square kilometers) -- about the size of Washington DC Critical/Endangered

· Seabird Sanctuary
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Seabird Sanctuary

You can't find places much more remote than the islands of the Western Polynesian Tropical Moist Forest ecoregion. Located more than 2,485 miles (4,000 km) from Australia, these islands have had relatively little disturbance from people. Incredibly large populations of seabirds have taken advantage of their remote, undisturbed setting, especially on Kiribati's Phoenix Islands.

Special Features

Three different island archipelagos make up this ecoregion. All of them were formed over millions of years as limestone accumulated over subsiding volcanoes. The climate is tropical throughout the islands, but rainfall varies considerably. Howland Island, Baker Island, and most of the Phoenix Islands receive less than 40 inches (100 cm) of rainfall each year, with regular dry periods and frequent long droughts. Much more rain--about 60 to 120 inches (150 to 300 cm) annually--falls on the islands of Tokealau and Tuvalu. As a result, these two islands are covered mostly with moist forest, whereas the drier islands support sparse grasslands with scattered shrubs.

	The Phoenix Islands are home to more than one million seabirds and have been declared wildlife sanctuaries under Kiribati law.

Wild Side

Most of the animals found on these islands are found throughout the Pacific. Pacific pigeons, migratory long-tailed cuckoos, and the recently colonizing banded rails are the islands' only forest birds. Ten land crab species inhabit the forests, along with at least 150 species of insects. The most notable animals on the islands are seabirds. McKean Island is home to the world's largest population of lesser frigatebirds (up to 85,000 birds!). Other resident seabirds of the ecoregion include black noddies and sooty terns.

Cause for Concern

The original vegetation on most of the Tuvalu and Tokelau Islands has been replaced by coconut plantations, although in some places these have been abandoned and scrubby forest is present. Phosphate mining and sparse settlement last century also disturbed the native vegetation on the Howland and Baker Islands and some of the Phoenix Islands, but these islands are largely uninhabited now. The biggest current threat to the ecoregion is introduced species. Rats, cats, pigs, and other introduced species have all taken a toll on birds and land crabs. The greatest future threat to the islands is rising sea levels caused by global warming. Rising seas may completely submerge these low islands, or force local human communities to move into currently uninhabited areas.

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