Since the introduction of the Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) to Haleakalā volcano, Maui, three decades ago, subsequent reports have hinted at an expansion of this nascent population. We draw from a variety of data sources to learn about this pheasant's present status on Maui. First, forest bird surveys conducted every five years revealed that the frequency of Golden Pheasant detections has greatly increased, and the bird has both maintained its former distribution and expanded eastward into Haleakalā National Park (NP). Second, reports to eBird from The Nature Conservancy's Waikamoi Preserve, where Golden Pheasants first appeared on Maui, demonstrate that the frequency of observations has increased and is strongly seasonal, predominantly in the spring. Third, autonomous recording units monitoring endangered forest birds recorded pheasants too, adding new locations. Finally, trail cameras set to monitor mammals picked up pheasants as well, showing males of two color morphs: original “wild-type” and “dark-throated.” Trail cameras also documented a small juvenile at Waikamoi Preserve and both females and males in Haleakalā NP. By “connecting the dots” of mapped occurrences, we traced the pheasant's progression through a narrow band of subalpine cloud forest with open understory, extending from Waikamoi Preserve eastward to upper Kīpahulu Valley, a distance of 14 km. In summary, this body of evidence supports the claim that the Golden Pheasant has established a self-sustaining population on Maui, and we propose that the species' success there may be attributed to the minimal influence of predators and the absence of competing gallinaceous birds in its preferred habitat.

The Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl is most famous for his 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition, a journey performed on a balsa raft, drifting from South America to French Polynesia. However, his exploration of the Pacific to answer questions revolving around the colonization of isolated islands began earlier, in December 1936, when he and his wife, Liv, traveled to Fatu Hiva, one of the most remote locations of the Marquesas Islands. During their year-long stay, Thor Heyerdahl and Liv Torp-Heyerdahl collected ichthyological and herpetological material that has since remained without analysis for more than 80 yr at the Natural History Museum in Oslo. Here, we provide the first identifications of the collected material. Ninety-four specimens have been identified to the species level, three to the genus level, and six specimens remain at the family level or above. The collection comprises mostly fishes, with 66 reef fish specimens encompassing at least 14 species and 27 freshwater specimens covering at least 6 species. Ten specimens of reptiles were also collected by Thor Heyerdahl, including four species of both geckos (Gehyra insulensis and G. oceanica) and skinks (Emoia cyanura and Ornithuroscincus noctua). Many specimens are juveniles, making accurate identification challenging. Incorporating molecular data for species identification is a promising direction for future studies. The expedition marked a turning point in Heyerdahl's career, shifting his focus from zoology to anthropology and setting the stage for his later research on human migration and Pacific cultural connections.

Coastal human populations have increased interactions between humans and wildlife, often documented through social media. During an avian influenza outbreak, the stranding of marine birds and mammals in Peru and Chile provided an opportunity to assess human–sea lion interactions reported online, a particularly concerning situation due to the risk of zoonotic transmission to humans. The objectives of this study were (a) to classify human–sea lion interactions, (b) to identify latitudinal distribution patterns of stranded sea lions, and (c) to identify associations between strandings and sea surface temperature, human population density, and the distance between strandings and sea lion colonies. We analyzed videos and photos posted on X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok between November 2022 and February 2024. A total of 311 stranded sea lions were reported in 225 posts from Peru (69% and 71%) and Chile (31% and 29%). The most common interaction was human approach (74% of all interactions). Strandings were more abundant in Lima (12° S, Peru), which is densely populated and visited by tourists. In Chile, strandings were mainly distributed in Antofagasta (23° S). This study is the first assessment of human harassment of stranded pinnipeds in Latin America. It highlights that Chile has a legal framework to reduce the harassment of marine megafauna, and Peru is developing its own regulations. Understanding these interactions and their geographical distribution is essential to support government agencies in targeting enforcement, monitoring, and educational efforts.

Length-weight relationships (LWR) are valuable for fisheries stock assessments yet are often sparsely available for coral reef fishes. This study describes the LWR for 15 species of coral reef fish spanning seven families from the Northern Line Islands, a geographically remote and historically understudied area of the central Pacific. Specimens were collected across multiple field campaigns from 2006 to 2011, and the LWR were calculated using the linear regression of the log-transformed total length (TL, 0.1 cm precision) and weight (W, 0.01 g precision) data. Many of these species come from popular food fish families and contribute to large proportions of total reef fish biomass. We found that all but one of the Bayesian point estimates fell outside of the 95% confidence interval for our empirically derived LWR, which underscores the importance of studying under-sampled geographies.

The study of Māori agriculture in New Zealand has been hindered by a lack of plant remains. In the Auckland region, this is exacerbated by a lack of excavation sites due to urbanization. Here, we address this with plant microfossil analysis (pollen, phytoliths, and starch) of substrates following infrastructure upgrades at two of Auckland's volcanic cone pā, Mt Wellington and Three Kings. The microfossil and ¹⁴C results are similar to those found at other sites in the North Island, showing large-scale landscape disturbance by people and horticultural activity with the discovery of remains of the Ma -ori-introduced cultigens cf. Colocasia esculenta (taro), Cordyline cf. fruticosa (tī pore), cf. Dioscorea alata (uwhi, yam), and cf. Ipomoea batatas (kūmara, sweet potato). Results suggest that Auckland's cones, many of which are currently undeveloped, were partly cultivated from at least the A.D. 1500s and potentially provide direct evidence of Ma -ori horticulture. Given the highly variable production and preservation of different plant tissues, the study also highlights the value of combining the three different types of analyses for the study of ancient human activity. The addition of parasitological analysis, in this case identifying Toxocara canis, a dog (Canis familiaris) helminth parasite that could have affected local people as well as dogs, extends this approach to the realm of helminthiasis. The study adds new locations to the growing list of sites for the study of early zoonotic relationships and illustrates an additional or alternative method to morphological/osteological studies for tracking the Pacific-wide spread of domesticates and commensals.

Competition between crops and weeds is a huge challenge for eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) farmers in Fiji. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify weed species in major eggplant agroecosystems of Fiji, with a focus on their prevalence, distribution, and seasonal abundance to inform effective and sustainable weed management strategies. The weed population data were used to calculate frequency, abundance, density, relative values, importance value index per species per location, and similarity index of species against each location. In addition, principal component analysis was used to identify key factors influencing weed distribution and abundance. A total of 40 weed species from 18 families were identified across agroecosystems, comprising 24 annual species and 16 perennial species. Overall, weed species composition comprised 27.2% grasses, 25.4% sedges, and 47.4% broadleaves. The predominant weed species were found to be from the Poaceae family, specifically Cynodon dactylon L. Pers. (Couch grass), Echinochloa colona L. Link (Jungle rice), and Eleusine indica L. Gaertn. (Crows foot), while Cyperus rotundus L. (Purple nutsedge) was the major species from the Cyperaceae family. The first two principal components (dry zone PC1 and intermediate zone PC2) explain 55.8% of total variance, highlighting the dominance of sedges like C. rotundus in PC1 and the prevalence of grass species such as E. indica and E. colona in PC2.