February, 2000: American Samoa
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The American Samoan Islands are a group of seven islands, five volcanic and two atolls, in the South Pacific between the Hawaiian Islands and New Zealand. Three of those islands--Ofu, Olosega, and Tau--comprise the Manua island group, where the Manuan culture is closely linked to a vine the locals call 'ie'ie.
The vine, Freycinetia reineckei, is in the Pandanaceae family. Members of this family are typically lianas, which are woody climbing vines, and dioecious, meaning that the male pollen-bearing anther and the female pistil are located on separate plants.
The people of the Manua islands use the roots of the vines to weave fish traps called 'enu. The roots are used because they can withstand repeated submersion in seawater. The traps catch a small fish called I'a sina, which migrates to the islands several times a year.
Local culture demonstrates the close relationship between the 'ie'ie vine and the peoples of Manua through fishing techniques, songs about fish-trap weaving and fish migration, and other cultural practices. Because the vine has become so scarce on the islands, there are presently fewer than five elders who know how to weave the fish traps. During a recent field trip to the Manua islands, ethnobotanists filmed one of the Manuans weaving a fish trap in order to document and preserve the artform.
Although hurricanes and other natural disasters sometimes take their toll on population distributions, the activities of humans have influenced this particular plant's decline. F. reineckei relies on the Samoan flying fox, a bat scientifically known as Pteropus samoensis, for pollination. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anther of a male plant to the stigma (top of the pistil) of a female plant. The bats are attracted to the large, fleshy bracts of the flower, which are leaflike structures that are often brightly colored in plants lacking true petals and are sometimes mistaken for floral petals.
In the 1980s, over a period of less than three years, commercial hunters killed almost 20,000 flying foxes and shipped them from Samoa to Guam, where they are considered a delicacy. By the time the Samoan government prohibited the export of P. samoensis, the population had been drastically reduced. A Samoan National Park was established in 1988 to protect the flying foxes and their habitats. The bats are currently being evaluated for inclusion on the endangered species list. Much of the bat conservation effort was put forth by Bat Conservation International (BCI) of Austin, Texas.
As exemplified here, ecological, cultural, and biological conservation efforts often go hand-in-hand. The delicate balance between the Manuan culture and the Samoan flying fox and its rain forest habitat demonstrates the profound effects that plants can have on human cultures--and vice versa.
References, Websites, and Further Reading
Balick, M., and P. Cox. 1996. Plants, people, and culture: The science of ethnobotany. New York: Scientific American Library.
Homepage for Bat Conservation International
Internet gateway to Samoa, especially American Samoa
Pollination biology and examples of bat-pollinated plants from Central French Guiana
Stern, Introductory Plant Biology, 8th Edition
Chapter 7: Leaves
Bracts, p. 117
Chapter 23: Flowering Plants
Pollination, p. 421
Pollination ecology (including bat-pollinated flowers), pp. 425-30
Monoecious and dioecious plants, pp. 423-25
Chapter 25: Ecology
Loss of biodiversity, pp. 476-77
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