Landmark wildlife survey on Asuncion island finished

Scientists with the Commonwealth’s Division of Fish and Wildlife have just completed the first quantitative biological survey ever of Asuncion, one of the region’s most remote ecosystems.

Previous studies of Asuncion—an uninhabited island dominated by a towering dormant volcano to the north of Saipan—collected only limited data on the health of its wildlife population, but the new survey will be the first to provide key figures on the environment there that biologists can use to track changes over time.

“It’s the first survey like it of flora and fauna on Asuncion,” said division wildlife biologist Laura Williams. “It’s history-making.”

Data on the island’s fish, birds and animals is still being analyzed, Williams added, meaning complete figures likely will be unavailable until next year.

However, it appears that some species threatened elsewhere in the Commonwealth are thriving on Asuncion and the island’s ecosystem, despite a relatively low rate of species diversity, is prospering, Williams said.

Division scientists have already surveyed the other islands in the Commonwealth, yet rough waters around Asuncion have largely prevented many expeditions there.

To conduct the survey, Williams and a team of scientists journeyed to Asuncion May 16 and camped on the island for 10 days. The team had to carve small trails through the island’s forest, dominated by Kafu and tropical almond plants, to conduct the survey, which found a variety of birds and animals.

The data gathered on the island will provide a “baseline for people to come back later on and redo what we did to compare how the ecosystem is doing,” much like the surveys conducted on the Commonwealth’s other islands, Williams said.

Wildlife technician Paul Lisua said the Asuncion’s bird population is “multiplying” because the island is rarely visited by humans and fish are “abundant.” One surprise, he said, was finding a fish species known as the black jack, which are uncommon in the waters around more populated islands like Saipan.

Among the avian species the survey found on the island are forest birds like the Micronesian honeyeater, the Micronesian starling, the collard kingfisher, and the Micronesian megapode, which is a federally listed endangered species. Sea birds like brown boobies, black noddies and terns can also be found there.