ABSTRACT
Islands are ecosystems at a human scale and island societies are so integrated that scientists residing on islands are not just part of a community of scientist peers but part of the island community. This chapter provides an account of science mingled with the development of environmental efforts necessitated by islands’ increased commerce with the wider world, and global challenges. It follows a sequence of scientific and social responses to general challenges of population growth, economics, climate change, and efforts to safeguard biodiversity, toward a more specific focus on integrating traditional knowledge and modern scientific technology to maintain food security and biodiversity services on the islands of mainland Yap. Yap’s culture is tightly interrelated with the island’s natural environment and social relationships were, and to a large extent are, related to the allocation, sharing, and exchanging of natural resources. The entire land and seascape was utilized in a food production system developed to feed the dense population of the past.
