Arthropod community response to forest realignment on an equatorial Pacific Atoll

Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Remote Island National Monument is an uninhabited island at the forefront of understanding species network responses to invasive species. The introduced black rat was removed from the atoll in 2011, and resulted in an exponential increase in exotic Cocos nucifera coconut palms. Seeing the impacts of Cocos monocultures on endemic forests, island managers began removing Cocos trees in 2019, with over one million trees removed to date. We sought to understand how these large management interventions affect the terrestrial community by surveying in fall of 2022 across three distinct forest canopies; mature Cocos, mature native, and recently realigned forests. The abundance of most major species (seven crabs, three spiders, and two geckos) in the island's simplified species network was documented, and tissue samples were collected from these animals for Carbon and Nitrogen stable isotope analysis to see how species populations as well as species trophic niches are impacted by the differing forest canopies.