This island sits in the remote North Line Islands of the Pacific Ocean and served as a military base during World War II. But the islands have otherwise escaped human interference.

RESEARCH STATION

A small dock, used by researchers for lagoon boats and by visiting yacht "cruisers" who receive permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to disembark at the Palmyra Atoll Research Station....[More]

RESEARCH STATION

A small dock, used by researchers for lagoon boats and by visiting yacht "cruisers" who receive permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to disembark at the Palmyra Atoll Research Station. Behind the dock, a kiosk displays a map and regulations for the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, and behind that an old military tent is used to store dive gear. Nearly all islets of Palmyra Atoll and all surrounding waters out to 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers), with the principal exception of the TNC-managed island that hosts the research station, are part of the FWS-controlled Refuge. Waters out to 50 nautical miles (93 kilometers) are also part of the new Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

DIVE SCIENCE

Researchers Kate Holmes and Eleanor Sterling from the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation use a tape measure to document the spread of an invasive corallimorph ( Rhodactis howesii ) that can create a carpet that smothers other reef organisms....[More]

DIVE SCIENCE

Researchers Kate Holmes and Eleanor Sterling from the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation use a tape measure to document the spread of an invasive corallimorph (Rhodactis howesii) that can create a carpet that smothers other reef organisms. Corallimorphs are related to corals but lack a hard skeleton. On Palmyra, the corallimorph seems to have been introduced via the hull of a boat that wrecked on part of the reef in 1991. Since then, the population has exploded and the species now covers nearly one square mile (2.5 square kilometers).  [Less] [Link to this slide]

CORAL TILES

A researcher, Dan Brumbaugh from the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, replaces a screw after removing a settlement tile in order to bring it back into the laboratory for study....[More]

CORAL TILES

A researcher, Dan Brumbaugh from the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, replaces a screw after removing a settlement tile in order to bring it back into the laboratory for study. Settlement tiles provide a useful, nondestructive technique for studying the small, cryptic communities on coral reefs.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Brumbaugh examines a settlement tile brought in from the reef under a microscope in the lab at the Palmyra Atoll Research Station. After photo and microscope surveys of each batch of tiles are completed, the researchers will redeploy the tiles for up to a year before again surveying them to continue their observations of the changes playing out on the top and bottom surfaces of the tiles....[More]

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Brumbaugh examines a settlement tile brought in from the reef under a microscope in the lab at the Palmyra Atoll Research Station. After photo and microscope surveys of each batch of tiles are completed, the researchers will redeploy the tiles for up to a year before again surveying them to continue their observations of the changes playing out on the top and bottom surfaces of the tiles.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

PORE CORAL

The abundance of these pristine coral reefs, like the encrusting pore and acropora coral pictured here at Jarvis Island, is part of what inspired President George W....[More]

PORE CORAL

The abundance of these pristine coral reefs, like the encrusting pore and acropora coral pictured here at Jarvis Island, is part of what inspired President George W. Bush to protect them as marine monuments.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

The pristine coral support an abundance of sea life, such as the school of brilliant yellow goatfish pictured here.