Samoa Vegetation

Samoan rainforest: Guidebook to the vegetation of the Samoan archipelago - W. Arthur Whistler

Samoan rainforest is the result of many of the author's recent trips to Samoa over the last thirty years to explore the vegetation of Samoa. While most vegetation surveys are not related to vegetation, every attempt is made in this publication to link the Samoa vegetation with the wild.

It is intended for those who wish to explore the vegetation of the island's islands. It' intended as a start to give an overview of the vegetation and the associated types.

The EBA comprises the vulcanic isles of Savai'i and Upolu and their off-shore islets ('the West Samoa policy unit'), as well as the more eastern ones of Tutuila and Manu'a (which form American Samoa, a US-dependent area).

The EBA comprises the vulcanic isles of Savai'i and Upolu and their off-shore islets ('the West Samoa policy unit'), as well as the more eastern ones of Tutuila and Manu'a (which form American Samoa, a US-dependent area). Indigenous vegetation is largely made up of rainforest, which can be divided into lowlands and mountains, with disrupted woods as a result of the devastating effect of hurricanes.

The cloud forests lie about 1,200 metres on the Savai'i (which at Mt. Silisili reach a peak height of 1,848 metres), and the bush vegetation on the crests. There are also mangrove trees and they are particularly well cultivated on the southern shore of Upolu (see Whistler 1992, 1993). They are all limited birds found in forests, but also in orchards and orchards.

The use of man-made habitats can be important for the livelihoods of some endemic fishes, as human activity and hurricanes cause significant habitats losses (see "Threats and Protection", below; Evans et al. 1992b). However, some types, above all Didunculus strigirostris und Dymnomyza Samoensis, are reliant on residual areas of virginity.

Even though many types are found in high mountain forests, they may not be their favourite uplands. Spreading pattern of endemic MSDs varies (see chart "Distribution pattern"), whereas 10 limited spread area specimens (now) only occur in Western Samoa. There are two limited to Savai'i: Zosterop's veloensis, which is particularly rare in the Mt Silisili cloudforest and mountain bushes, and Gallinula Paulfica, which was last photographed in 1873 and is therefore often considered to have died out, but two possible surveys in 1987 in the high forests westward of Mt Elietoga (Bellingham and Davis 1988) indicate that it could still surviv.

Galicolumba Staircasei also has a very limited reach within this EBA, as it was not found on Savai'i and'Upolu during a recent lowlands investigation and can now be limited to the small Aleipata Islands off the coast (which are important breeding grounds for many seabirds ) (D. J. Butler in Ill. 1993), while in American Samoa it is only known from Ofu, where a lone birds was spotted in 1993 (P. W. Trail in Ill. 1995).

Some of the more common limited distribution areas are divided with the Fiji Islands EBA (202) and/or are more common in secondary areas of central Polynesia (s12-s131). Manu'a Fiji Shrikebill in the Manu'a Islands in American Samoa is the most characteristic of the many varieties of this common Polyynesian birds and a good contender for the survey on specie state.

Most of the primeval lowlands forests in Western Samoa have been cut down for farming or logging, with perhaps only five areas left to penetrate intoland. After grubbing-up, often only one or two consecutive cultures are cultivated before the country is given up, leading to severe soil degradation and the development of thick weed dominant second vegetation (Davis et al. 1986, Taulealo 1993, WWF/IUCN 1994-1995; see also Paulson 1994).

In Samoa, about two third of the indigenous vegetation was destroyed or grubbed up for settlement or farming (Davis et al. 1986). The Samoan Islands.