Biodiversity research at Palmyra involves characterizing the compositions, distribution, and interactions of marine biodiversity. This effort includes comprehensive biological surveys along with biophysical, biogeochemical, and ecological analyses designed to understand the importance of organisms, ranging from microbes to top predators, to ecosystem function.
In most of the world’s oceans, marine ecologists cannot control for human effects to reef ecosystems. The reefs and lagoons of Palmyra Atoll are home to abundant predator populations providing unparalleled opportunities to investigate the importance of predators in marine environments. Top predator research at Palmyra Atoll seeks to increase our understanding of the role that predators play in shaping marine ecosystems by documenting in detail the ecological linkages and dynamics affected by predation.
The U.S. military substantially modified the atoll’s inner lagoons and islets during an intense phase of occupation during World War II. These alterations are breaking down naturally. Sediment is being redistributed via natural processes and lagoon circulation is being re-established. Lagoon research at Palmyra includes characterizing and quantifying the dynamics of these ecosystems in terms of hydrology, sediment supply and transport, and biology.
Conservation research at Palmyra is focusing on understanding the current invasive species problems on the atoll and instigating mitigation and restorations efforts, as well as monitoring ongoing physical and biological changes in the lagoon ecosystems.
Climate and Biogeography research at Palmyra Atoll and nearby Kingman Reef will help us understand the changing climate and oceanographic regime in a key region of the global ocean. We hope to develop a greater understanding of the impact of changing ocean temperatures and chemistry on atoll ecology and assess the short-term and long-term effects for similar island systems.