ABSTRACT
The largest ocean in the world is far from empty. It has several thousand islands, large and small, low and tall, rising above its surface. Hundreds of them have hosted human populations for centuries, and all of them (except those recently formed) have supported other life forms for longer still. For most of Pacific history, the oceanic islands (as opposed to inshore islands) have had little to do with the Pacific Rim. Their ecologies and economies evolved in unusual isolation. Since Magellan’s voyages, however, the relative isolation of the Pacific islands has broken down. Increasingly reliable transport technology has brought these ecologies and economies into closer and closer touch with the wider world, and particularly with the vibrant economies of the Pacific Rim. This chapter considers the ecological consequences of this integration for the oceanic islands of the Pacific. They have been many and spectacular.
