Ecology of Manana Island, Hawaii — Tomich et al. 
353 
initiated, and poisoning and shooting were 
carried out on several occasions. For lack of man- 
power and at the request of interested parties the 
program was discontinued in 1964. 
The purposes of this paper are to review the 
biological history of Manana, to present some 
new data on its plant-animal relationships, and 
to outline a possible course for determining what 
management practices, if any, should be applied 
to the island — specifically, whether or not the 
program of rabbit extermination should be re- 
newed. Principal objections to a policy of rab- 
bit extermination at this time are that little if 
any evidence is available to show that bird- 
rabbit relationships are other than harmonious, 
and that the rabbit in many generations of 
survival under restrictive conditions has earned 
a place in the Hawaiian fauna as a resource of 
importance to science (Tomich, 1965). 
As a first step in the project, the authors were 
permitted to join an expedition to Manana on 
February 29-March 1, 1964 led by D. H. 
Woodside of the State Division of Fish and 
Game. This brief trip allowed some insight into 
the present status of the vegetation, the verte- 
brate fauna and certain parasitic elements of 
Manana ecology. Additional data were gathered 
on trips to the island by Lamoureux in October 
1953 and March 1955, and by Wilson in July 
1963, and from interviews with D. H. Wood- 
side and others. 
HISTORICAL ASPECTS 
Manana is an ancient tuff cone, 2 5 -ha in 
area (Fig. 1). In the northwest sector of the 
island is a shallow crater whose broad floor is 
some 20 meters above sea level. The crater rim 
is low on the northwest side but rises to a peak 
of 110 meters on the southeast side. In the 
northeast sector a remnant of a second crater 
opens to the sea on the east side. Its bottom 
contains a series of tide pools. Seaward slopes 
of Manana vary from low beach terraces to 
Fig. 1 . Manana Island as seen from the east. Coconut palms (Cocos nucifera ) and low vegetation are 
visible in the main crater at right. (Photo by U. S. Marine Corps, January 1966.) 
