Niue Research Articles

A new model for the origin of the anomalous radioactivity in Niue Island (South Pacific) soils — Reply

A new model for the origin of the anomalous radioactivity in Niue Island (South Pacific) soils — Reply

The elemental content of Niue Island soils as an indicator of their origin

Abstract The major and trace element contents of 241 Niue Island lateritic soils were determined, mainly by X‐ray fluorescence, to deduce soil origins. The analyses showed very low SiO2 content, and a high content of Mg, P, V, Cr, Sr, Y, Hg, and α‐counts, compared with other laterites worldwide. The distribution patterns are consistent with derivation by weathering from calcite and dolomite rather than from deposited volcanic ash. Weathering is a particularly novel explanation for the origin of the relatively high content of P in these soils. The soils contain a negative Ce anomaly, consistent with an origin from seawater or coral, but not volcanic ash. If recent results showing in situ formation of magnetite in soils are applicable, the soil mineralogy is wholly consistent with an origin from calcite/dolomite. An origin from calcite is also consistent with the relative lack of volcanic ash on the seabed nearby, and very low deposition of aeolian dust. The radioactivity content is consistent neither with ...

On the road to health? Road traffic accidents in Pacific societies: The case of Niue Island, western Polynesia

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Pacific societies in general are examined and a case study presented. There is a paucity of data on Pacific RTAs. Available data are generally poor in quality and specificity, with few adequate measures of risk. Despite this, it is clear that motor vehicle accidents are responsible for considerable mortality and morbidity throughout the Pacific. Most Pacific societies are in a state of low motorization and are experiencing high vehicle fatality rates but low population fatality rates. When motorization reaches a higher level, however, RTA deaths and injuries begin to have an impact on population structure and on societal as well as family economies. Using archival and ethnographic evidence, examination is made of the sociocultural context of motor vehicle use, roaduser behavior, and RTA occurrence on Niue Island, a nation with a high degree of motorization. Motorcycles are the preferred mode of transport on Niue. Cultural values and behaviors that affect motor vehicle accident rates include exaggerated risk-taking, especially by young adult males. Alcohol plays a significant role in driving and other risky behaviors. Such behavior appears not just on Niue but in other Pacific nations also. It is vital to effectively monitor motor vehicle collisions and the effects of road and traffic development in these small scale societies. Culturally appropriate "road rules" and driver education campaigns, enforcement of traffic ordinances, highway improvement, and the development of safe public transport systems will be needed in order to reduce both short-term and long-term consequences of continued motorization and RTAs. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

An Economic Analysis of Catamaran Fishing on Niue Island

The economics of small-scale commercial fishing on Niue Island is appraised through estimation of a production function for catch and effort. The analysis is baaed on data from fishing trip log sheets of an alia catamaran. As expected_ effort has a significant effect on catch, although a given change in effort produces less than a proportional change in catch, assuming all other factors remain constant. From a private sector perspective, increased fishing effort may be profitable as effort seems to be underutilized on an average month of fishing on the alia catamaran. Provided that all of the fish caught are sold, increased effort may be lucrative, while the potential for profit exists, creating an alternative mechanism for the distribution of wealth throughout the island community. Social obligations for the distribution of fish may render commercial fishing uneconomic. However, given the local demand for fresh fish, it is feasible for Niuean fishers to earn a good income through fishing.

A new model for the origin of the anomalous radioactivity in Niue Island (South Pacific) soils

The anomalous natural radioactivity of Niue Island is due to large excesses of both 230Th and 231Pa compared with their parent radionuclides. It is suggested that material in Niue Island soils, consisting mainly of goethite and gibbsite partially trapped within porous calcite, was exposed to seawater a few hundred thousand years B.P. and the U content of the seawater adsorbed onto the soil minerals. The island then rose and remained essentially above sea-level until present. The daughter products of the U isotopes grew into radioactive equilibrium with the U parents, but then the U parents were leached away some time in the span 100-70 ka B.P., leaving large amounts of orphan daughters in the soils without supporting parents.

A new model for the origin of the anomalous radioactivity in Niue Island (South Pacific) soils

The anomalous natural radioactivity of Niue Island is due to large excesses of both 230Th and 231Pa compared with their parent radionuclides. It is suggested that material in Niue Island soils, consisting mainly of goethite and gibbsite partially trapped within porous calcite, was exposed to seawater a few hundred thousand years B.P. and the U content of the seawater adsorbed onto the soil minerals. The island then rose and remained essentially above sea-level until present. The daughter products of the U isotopes grew into radioactive equilibrium with the U parents, but then the U parents were leached away some time in the span 100-70 ka B.P., leaving large amounts of orphan daughters in the soils without supporting porents.

Anomalous Hg contents in soils of Niue Island, South Pacific.

Niue Island, a raised coralline atoll in the South Pacific, has soils that have long been known to have strongly anomalous radioactivity. We now show that there is also a highly anomalous Hg content in the soils. It is associated with the radioactivity and the goethite/gibbsite content and the values are as high as those in soils over known Hg-mineralisation in volcanic settings, though no mineralisation is known on Niue and such an occurrence on this coral island would be geochemically unusual.

Frits Jensen's Pacific Plant Collections

Summary. Specimens made by Samuel Whitmee's collector, Frits Jensen, are discussed. Those labelled Niue are not all from that island and some, e.g. a sheet of Dysoxylum bijugum, were collected on Lifou, Loyalty Is. Records for Niue attributable to Jensen alone, including Myopor- um niueanum St. John, based on such a specimen, which is referable to M. tenuifolium Forster f., are mostly based on material also collected on Lifou. INTRODUCTION: MELIACEAE OF NIUE According to the most recent account of the flora of Niue (Sykes 1970), the only truly native Niuean plant referable to Meliaceae is Dysoxylum mollissimum Blume sensu lato (D. forsteri of Sykes). However, during the preparation of a monograph of the genus Dysoxylum, specimens representing two species of the genus allegedly collected on Niue have been seen: they are preserved in the British Museum (Natural History), bear labels 'Niue or Savage Island, Friendly Islands', '1876' and were collected by Frits Jensen. One of them, numbered 47, is a specimen of D. mollissimum but the second, an unnumbered one, is referable to D. bijugum (Labill.) Seemann. If that specimen is accur- ately labelled, it represents a remarkable extension of the range of the species as D. bijugum is thought to be restricted to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands and Norfolk Island (Mabberley 1988), far to the west. FRITSJENSEN AND SAMUEL WHITMEE The answer to this riddle resides in the fact that Jensen was employed by Samuel Whitmee at the time. The Reverend Samuel J. Whitmee (1838 -1925) was an important figure in the history of the London Missionary Society's activities in Samoa and wrote books and papers on the western Pacific. In 1870, he visited Baron Ferdinand von Mueller in Australia and by 1872 was making a collection of herbarium material of Samoan plants for him, whilst sending seeds of palms, in which he took a deep interest, to Kew

Health and functional status of the elderly in a Polynesian population

A health survey was conducted on a random sample of the elderly living on Niue Island in the Southwest Pacific, an island experiencing both the demographic and epidemiological transitions predicted to become common throughout the Third World in the next decades. One-quarter of the respondents reported having no medical impairments and one-third experience no diminution in functional capacity. Visual and auditory losses were common as were respiratory conditions and chronic degenerative disorders. Mobility was a central aspect of functional status. Few striking differences in health and functional status exist between Niuean elderly and their counterparts in the United States. The small but significant proportion (16%) of Niuean elderly who are very frail represent a challenge to the organization and delivery of current health and welfare services.

The Occurrence of Percnon Affine (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) On Niue Island (Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsidae)

During the course of an investigation of the brachyuran collection of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch a previously unreported specimen o? Perc non affine (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) from Niue Island (19?S 170?W) was discovered. This record fills in a gap in our knowledge about the distribution of this species. In addition I take this opportunity of updating the list of crabs in the family Grapsidae which have been recorded from the vicinity of Niue Island.

Dolomitization of Atolls by Sea Water Convection Flow: Test of a Hypothesis at Niue, South Pacific

The core of the former atoll on Niue island, South Pacific, is extensively dolomitized. A detailed stable isotope study reveals that the dolomites are uniformly enriched in 18O and 13C(δ18O = 2.8‰ ± 0.5; δ13C = 2.0‰ ± 0.3) relative to their carbonate precursor. The Sr isotope ratios are equally constant with depth yielding 87Sr/86Sr values between 0.70912 and 0.70916. The observed isotopic compositions point to sea water as the dominant dolomitizing fluid. The "Sr age" of the dolomites is younger than the biostratigraphic age (Mid to Late Miocene) placing the dolomitization event at Plio-Pleistocene time. A model of sea water convection is proposed for atoll dolomitization on the basis of a thermal gradient between the atoll and the ambient ocean water. Sea water is drawn through the atoll margin and transferred upward by convective flow delivering Mg to the sites of dolomite precipitation. Transported with the sea water are volcano-derived metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn) as evidenced by the chemical gradient in the dolomite unit. It is suggested that the thermal convection model can find general application in atolls and other carbonate platforms containing dolomite where thermal instability exists.

Amphipoda from the South Pacific: Niue Island

Amphipoda from the South Pacific: Niue Island

Identification of an antigenic and genetic variant of dengue-4 virus from the Caribbean.

Twenty-one dengue (DEN) viruses isolated from the Caribbean (Dominica and Jamaica) during the 1981-1982 epidemic year were distinct serological and genetic variants of DEN-4 virus. These isolates were clearly identified as DEN-4 viruses using type-specific monoclonal antibodies in indirect immunofluorescence assays. However, they either were not neutralized, or were neutralized poorly using hyperimmune mouse ascitic fluids (HMAF) or rhesus monkey serum directed against the H-241 prototype strain of DEN-4 virus isolated in the Philippines in 1956. HMAF prepared against a representative Caribbean isolate, however, neutralized with similar effectiveness the homologous virus, the H-241 prototype strain, and virus strains isolated from the Pacific and Southeast Asian areas from 1973 to 1984. The Caribbean isolate exhibited no more than 30% and 16% oligonucleotide spot homology with the H-241 and Bangkok viruses, respectively, by RNA fingerprint analysis, while demonstrating 82% and 89% homology with the Gilbert and Niue Island isolates, respectively. The isolation of dengue viruses which are serologically and genetically distinct from the prototype virus emphasizes the need for continued dengue virus surveillance. The recognition of unique dengue isolates should allow the selection of reference strains and vaccine candidate strains which will induce antibodies that are equally effective in neutralizing viruses from all geographic areas.

The Chemistry of Carbonate Rocks of Niue Island, South Pacific

Niue Island is a former atoll whose reef and lagoon floor are now stranded above sea level. Thirty-five samples of limestones and dolostones, taken at 1.5 m intervals down a 52.4 m deep well, were analyzed for Mg, Na, K, Sr, Ba, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, and U. The sequence of carbonates down the well is aragonite + low-Mg calcite, dolomite ≫ low-Mg calcite, low Mg calcite > dolomite (=4.5 m thick dedolomitized zone), dolomite < low-Mg calcite. Concentrations of alkali and alkaline earth elements down the well are consistent with a history of progressive lithification and diagenesis of bioclastic limestones under normal saline or brackish water conditions: magnesium (0.5-19.4%) reflects the mineralogy at each stage of diagenesis; strontium, sodium, and potassium show a progressive reduction with increasing diagenesis-the alkali contents of the carbonate rocks can be shown not to be due to non-carbonate, solid impurities; barium has a limited range (10-46 µg/g) indicating that no major change has occurred in the bar...

Brown spot of passionfruit on Niue Island caused byAlternaria alternata

Abstract The fungus Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler is identified as the cause of brown spot disease of passionfruit on Niue Island (South Pacific). Symptoms are similar to the disease caused by A. passiflorae Simmonds elsewhere in the world. The organism is described together with notes on its pathogenicity and possible origin. Regular applications of the fungicides mancozeb or captafol are recommended for its control.

Fishing in transition on Niue

Cet article examine spécifiquement les changements dans le domaine de la pêche à Niué après les contacts européens. II est également une tentative de compréhension et d'analyse des transitions socio-économiques survenues à des sociétés traditionnelles, autres que Niué, dans des conditions historiques similaires. La première partie est un résumé des activités maritimes pendant la préhistoire, la deuxième et la troisième parties sont centrées sur l'étude de la pêche et ses adaptations après les contacts européens qui se divisent en 2 périodes de transition: celle qui correspond à l'arrivée des missionnaires vers le milieu du xixe siècle jusqu'à la seconde guerre mondiale et la seconde qui est marquée par une migration massive vers la Nouvelle-Zélande d'une part et des programmes de développement socio-économiques et de décolonisation politique de l'autre.

Wheezing bronchitis in children on a South Pacific Island.

Retrospective and prospective studies were done on children with wheezing bronchitis on the small Pacific island of Niue. Wheezing bronchitis was found to be a common cause of morbidity, but not mortality in these children. Episodes of the disease were most common in children under the age of 4 years and tended to disappear as they became older. A case-control study indicated smoking by the mother (P less than 0.0001), positive stool examination for parasites (P less than 0.001), mother with a history of wheezing bronchitis (P less than 0.01) and father smoking (P less than 0.05) were all correlated with wheezing bronchitis. Skin testing and serologic results indicated that hypersensitivity to house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus) and plantain (Plantago lanceolata) antigens were also associated with having wheezing bronchitis. This study demonstrates the multifactorial etiology of wheezing bronchitis on a Pacific island.

Siteroptes (Siteroptoides)species withPediculaster-like phoretomorphs (Acari: Tarsonemida: Pygmephoridae) from New Zealand and Polynesia

Abstract Six species of Siteroptes subgenus Siteroptoides—kneeboni (Wicht), mesembrinae (Canestrini), microsaniae n.sp., morelliae (Rack), muscarius n.sp., and portatus n.sp.—have been found in New Zealand. S. (S.) mesembrinae occurs on Niue Island also, and a further new species, pacificus, is recorded from Tonga. The phoretomorph females of all 7 species, the normal females of 4, the males of 3, and larvae of 2 are described and compared. The similarities and differences between normal and phoretomorph females are particularly noted. Besides kneeboni, 2 species described by Wicht but not occuring in New Zealand—athiasae and flechtmanni— are redescribed from type material and transferred to Siteroptes (Siteroptoides). Keys are given for normal females and Pediculaster-like phoretomorph females of Siteroptoides. Siteroptes mesembrinae subsimilis and S. ignotus altaicus are raised to species status. Diagnostically important measurements are given to help define the variation within and between species and ...

Ectoparasites from fruit bats and rats on Niue Island

Examination of 3 species of mammals from Niue Island revealed the following host/ectoparasite associations. Rattus rattus (L.) : the mites Androlaelaps casalis, Laelaps echidninus, L. nuttalli, Ornithonyssus bacoti, Listrophoroides cucullatus, and Dermatophagoides pteronys‐sinus; and the louse Polyplax spinulosa. Rattus exulans (Peale) : L. echidninus, L. nuttali, and L. cucullatus; and the louse Hoplopleura pacifica. Pteropus t. tonganus Quoy & Gaimard: the mite Meristaspis calcarata. These new records for the island are discussed in relation to existing records from the Pacific region.

Communication and the futures: An experiment in satellite education

This article discusses the design and execution of an experimental course utilizing satellite communication through PEACESAT which attempted to analyze the probable next developments of communication technology in the Pacific, an effort which involved approximately 20 students on the University of Hawaii campus and 25 students from Wellington, New Zealand; Lae, Papua New Guinea; Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Niue Island; Suva, Fiji; and Noumea, New Caledonia.