ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on specific evidence obtained from two Polynesian localities: Tikopia and Hawaii. The investigation of man's role in modifying tropical and sub-tropical Polynesian ecosystems would appear to be of value not only for prehistory, but for the study of island evolution and biogeography as well. Direct archaeological evidence of domestic animals has long been available from a number of early Polynesian sites. The barrier of isolation having been breached by man, the largely endemic and vulnerable biotas of the Polynesian islands was placed in competition with a host of new adventives. For the myriad tropical and sub-tropical islands of Polynesia, there has been relatively little intensive research on prehistoric man's role in altering indigenous biota and landscapes. Once the barrier of isolation was broken by seafaring Polynesians, it was possible for drastic transformations of biota and of landscape to occur, on a time scale measurable in centuries rather than millennia.
