Phoenix island illustrates very well the importance of localized topo¬ 
graphical features in the distribution of the plant and animal life. In 
islands only a few feet above sea level the disposition and placement of 
the parent materials whether it be slab beach rock, sand, windblown sand pockets 
inner flat gravel or rock terraces, slopes of various degree with varietie^of 
surface and subsurface components, height of lagoon floor above sea level, 
presence or absence of raised heads in the lagoon with fossil marine material 
- all play a role in the present distribution of vegetation and animals on 
these islands. Certainly the exposure of these components to the sometimes 
violent action of wave and wind ( not to mention the more even, predictable 
action of these forces) anchthe equally unsettling action of man whether it 
b e/m^Ttaryexpe^iMi cy or^fe^ta^Lizer for the farms will determine to a large 
extent the distribution and sum total of living things to be found. Not to 
be disregarded are the slight earth tremors or high waves which might effect 
the height of the entire island or its parts and the deposition of new material 
on the peripheral part of the island or on the interior. 
