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 left:ISS014-E-5379 Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov Starbuck Island This island was formerly known by the name Volunteer Island. It is about 9 km long and 3,5 km wide. The island shows a bowl-shaped profile, the island's inner part lies deeper than the outer part, which rises up to 5 m above sea level. Between 1870 and 1893 the guano deposits on the island were more or less completely mined, this caused the island's bowl-shaped form. In the west are several ruins from that time, overgrown with Te Ruku (Ipomoea pes-caprae ssp. brasiliensis). The vegetation consists of only some eight species, of which obviously one, the Starbuck Island Daisy (Bidens kiribatensis) is endemic. All resident plant species here are adapted to the island's dry and hot climate. In the south east part of the island are some small saline pools, which regularly dry out completely. Starbuck Island is the breeding ground for several seabird species. The local colony of Sooty Terns (Sterna fuscata oahuensis) with 800000 birds is one of the largest in the Pacific. |
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| above: The vegetation on Starbuck Island suggests a desert-like character, it consists particularly of scanty shrubs, well adapted to the dry and hot climate. Apart from several introduced Coconut Palms (Cocos nucifera) and some Te Kanawa Shrubs (Cordia subcordata), probably also introduced, most plants reach not even 1 m in height. Photo: Angela K. Keppler; y courtesy of Angela K. Keppler http://www.pbif.org |
| Flora of Starbuck
Island (almost complete) (fat = endemic; green = pictures) Bidens kiribatiensis, Boerhavia albiflora, Boerhavia repens, Cordia subcordata, Digitaria pacifica, Ipomoea macrantha, Ipomoea pes-carprae ssp. brasiliensis, Lepturus repens, Pisonia grandis, Portulaca lutea, Sida fallax, Tribulus cistoides |
| References: - Dieter Mueller-Dombois; Francis Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands. Springer, 1997 - Cynthia Sayre: A new species of Bidens (Asteraceae: Heliantheae) from Starbuck Island provides evidence for a second colonization of Pacific islands by the genus. The University of British Columbia 2001 |