Johnston Atoll, Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument
In the winter of 2019 I spent six months working and living on Johnston Atoll, an uninhabited island in the Pacific ocean. Johnston is home to many critically important marine and avian species, including the world’s largest colony of red-tailed tropicbirds.
- Worked and lived on Johnston Atoll, an uninhabited island and seabird colony 720 nautical miles west-southwest of Honolulu and the nearest land to over 820,000 square miles of ocean
- Conducted Mean Incubation Counts (MICS) for Red-tailed tropicbirds, Red-footed boobies, and Great Frigatebirds including counting eggs and staging chicks
- Surveyed Red-tailed tropicbird reproduction plots for mortality and stage of development
- Performed binocular surveys of shorebirds to estimate populations of nine different species
- Banded over 50 Red-tailed tropicbirds
- Identified and counted individuals present from 124 different fish species on snorkel transects
- Utilized Trimbles and GIS to map nesting colonies of Sooty Terns
- Helped with the logistics of deploying a five person field crew for 6 months with no resupply including packing and inventorying all food, supplies, and scientific equipment
- Performed entomological surveys to monitor ant populations and check for the presence of Yellow Crazy Ant (YCA), Anoplolepis gracilipes
- Used microscopes and dichotomous keys to identify the species of thousands of ants
- Performed data entry and management with Excel, Access, and GIS
- Summarized data in biweekly reports to analyze population trends over previous ten years
More Information
For more information, visit the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge website