Table of Contents 



Page 



Foreword iii 



Protocol of the First Joint US-USSR Central Pacific Ocean Expedition on the R/V Akademik Korolev viii 



Acknowledgments xi 



Frontispiece xiv 



Chapter 1 : ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF A CORAL ATOLL IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC .. 1 



Chapter 1 Frontispiece 3 



1.1 Ecological Studies of Caroline Atoll. Republic of Kiribati. South-central Pacific Ocean : 



Part 1. History, Physiography, Botany, and Islet Descriptions 5 



Introduction 5 



Geography 6 



History of Caroline Atoll 6 



Pre-European History: Tuamotuan Period 6 



Post-European History: 17th to 19th Centuries 6 



The Late 19th and 20th Centuries 8 



Methods 9 



Naming Caroline's Motus 9 



Structure and Topography 10 



General Account 10 



Reef Flats 10 



Beaches 11 



Lagoon 12 



Substrata 13 



Hydrology 13 



Climate 14 



Vegetation: Vascular Plants and Floristics 15 



Botanical History 15 



Vascular Plants of Caroline Atoll 15 



Floristics and Ecology of the Motus 21 



Ecological Succession 23 



Basic Serai Stages 23 



Ecological Succession on Motus of Different Size Classes 23 



Species-Area Relationships 25 



Plant Communities 26 



General Account 26 



Natural Herb Mat 26 



Beach Scrub with Suriana 27 



Pandanus Forest 27 



Tournefortia Scrub and Forest 27 



Cordia Forest 29 



Pisonia Forest 29 



Coconut Woodlands 32 



Absent Plant Communities 34 



Description and Ecology of the Motus 34 



Nake Island 35 



Long Island 36 



Windward Islets 37 



South Nake Islets 42 



Central Leeward Islets 44 



Southern Leeward Islets 47 



Conclusion 44 



fables 51 



Figures 63 



