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Climate change and community resilience in Samoa
Climate Change Resilience
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Binns, Tony

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Latai‐Niusulu, Anita

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Nel, Etienne

2019
Being resilent in the face of climate change seems especially important for island societies, which face the effects of rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, changing wind patterns and sea level rise. To date, most studies of adaptation and resilience among Pacific island communities have used indicators and methods rooted in Western science and neo-classical economics. These have been criticized as being locally irrelevant and inadequate to appreciate the dynamic nature and social structures of island communities and their capacity to adapt. This paper challenges the paradigm that defines resilience as a return to equilibrium, by using a non-equilibrium, cultural ecological lens. The non-equilibrium view of resilience sees the social systems of island nations as highly dynamic and undergoing persistent adaptation in the face of changing environmental factors. Field-based research undertaken in eight villages in Samoa found that , through constant exposure to environmental change over extended periods of time, communities have become resilient and are in a position to adapt to future changes. In developing future policy in relation to climate change, Pacific island government need to develop a more nuanced understanding of islanders' perceptions and historical actions in the context of both their physical locations and their dynamic socio-cultural systems
Population assessment of a novel island invasive: tegu (Salvator merianae) of Fernando de Noronha
Island and Ocean Ecosystems, BRB
Available Online

Abrahão, C.R.

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Dias, R.A.

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Ferreira, F.

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Russell, J.C.

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Silva, J.C.R.

2019
Fernando de Noronha is an oceanic archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, 345 km off shore from the Brazilian coast. It comprises 21 islands and islets, of which the main island (FN) is 17 km2 with a rapidly growing tourism industry in the last decades. Despite being a protected area and bearing Ramsar and UNESCO World Heritage site status, it is threatened by multiple terrestrial invasive species since its colonisation in the early 16th century. Invasive species and the increasing tourism contributes to a list of at least 15 endangered or critically endangered species according to IUCN criteria. The black and white tegu (Salvator merianae) is the largest lizard in South America, occurring in most of the Brazilian territory and reaching up to 8 kg and 1.6 m from head to tail. As an omnivorous and opportunistic lizard, it feeds on a variety of available items, including smaller vertebrates and eggs. The introduction of the tegu to FN as well as its immediate impact on local fauna were not recorded; however, its ongoing impact is expected to be high. We captured and marked 103 tegu in FN during the months of February and November of 2015 and 2016. We also counted animals by line-transect census in a sparsely inhabited and an uninhabited area of FN. Body size affected the capture probabilities, while season and sex had little or no effect. Densities estimated by capture-recapture in the sparsely inhabited area varied from 2.29 to 8.28 animals/ha according to sampling season. Line transect census in the same area revealed a density of 3.98 (±1.1) animals/ha and in the uninhabited area 13.83 (±3.9) animals/ha. Home range was 10.54 ha, ranging from 7.36 to 15.33 hectares. Tegu activity decreased in the months of July and August of 2015. Results from this study can assist conservation managers and decision makers to implement a science-based tegu management programme in the future.