Hawaiian Natural History and Conservation EffortsWhat's left is worth saving

natural history of these islands since the appearance of the popular works of Carlquist (1970, 1974) and the reports from the long-running Drosophila Project and the International Biological Program (Mueller-Dombois et al. 1981). Several special issues of magazines and journals have been devoted to the biota of these islands (Barrett 1975, Dodge 1982, 1987, Simon and Sudgen 1987, Ternes and Simon 1982). Today tales of Hawaiian natural history are best told by the scientists who have been working with the various pieces of the organic evolution puzzle unfolding in Hawaii, and every such tale is permeated with as much mystery, wonder, and marvel as is any of the stories created by the fertile mind of Twain. However, these marvelous tales may have unhappy endings, because factors that have the potential to destroy much of the native plant and animal life were set loose the moment the first human set Recent biological discoveries should