BIRD EXTINCTIONS IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC

The first wave of human colonists spread across the Pacific from 4000 to 1000 years ago. That they caused many extinctions is well known fro m fossil finds. We estimate how many fossil species were missed-the an swer is roughly half-and so estimate the true extinction rate. The fir st colonists exterminated roughly half the species on each island grou p. Some of these extinctions are falsely attributed to the first colon ists, because intensive collection often began a half century after th e damage initiated by European discovery. Even taken at face value, th ese recent extinctions are too few. Many species are so critically end angered that we know neither whether they still survive or how to save them. Interestingly, there are fewer recent extinctions and currently endangered species in the islands of the western Pacific, which were the islands occupied first by humans. We suggest that the species sens itive to human occupation died out long ago in these areas. If so, the se islands would have lost even more than half of their bird species.