Nikumaroro

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left: ISS018-E-10750 Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov Nikumaroro The atoll, formerly known as Gardner Island, has a size of about 4,1 km². There have been many attempts to settle on this atoll. but up to the present they all failed. Because there are no naturally freshwater-deposits on Nikumaroro, also there are some periods of drought from time to time. In the year 1937 Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Frederick Noonan, dissapeared without a trace during an attempt to fly around the world. In the year 1940 on Gardner Island metallic parts from an aircraft were found as well as thirteen human bones, which could be assigned to a woman of european origin, a womans shoe etc.. Investigations referring to this are still in progress today but slow-moving, so that most likely more rumours than results exist.

left: at the beach Photo: Angela K. Keppler; by courtesy of Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org

Flora of Nikumaroro (almost complete) (green = pictures) Boerhavia albiflora, Boerhavia tetrandra, Cordia subcordata, Digitaria pacifica, Fimbristylis cymosa, Guettarda speciosa, Heliotropium foertherianum, Ipomoea macrantha, Laportea ruderalis, Lepturus repens, Pandanus tectorius, Pemphis acidula (?), Pisonia grandis, Portulaca lutea, Ruppia maritima, Scaevola taccada, Sesuvium portulacastrum, Sida fallax, Terminalia samoensis, Tribulus cistoides, Triumfetta procumbens

References: - David R. Stoddart; F. Raymond Fosberg: Flora of the Phoenix Islands, Central Pacific. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Atoll Res. Bull. 393: 1-60. 1994 - R. J. Pierce; T. Etei; V. Kerr; E. Saul; A. Teatata; M. Thorsen; G. Wragg: Phoenix Islands Conservation Survey and Assessment of restoration feasibility: Kiribati. Pacific Invasives Initiative, CEPF and Conservation International, Samoa. 2006