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Background Paper No. 2
24 April 1973
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
Historical and Administrative Background
0. Marcus Buchanan, Director
Virgin Islands Ecological Research Station
Lameshur Bay, St. John, Virgin Islands
Submitted for the College of the Virgin Islands
Caribbean Research Institute
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
24 April 1973
Background Paper No. 2
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
Historical and Administrative Background
This paper is intended to provide for a general intro-
ductory background theme to the topic of "Research Needs in
Ecology in the Virgin Islands", one session of the Research
Needs Conference, a multi-disciplinary effort, sponsored by
the College of the Virgin Islands through it's Caribbean Re-
search Institute, and being held at the College, St. Thomas,
Virgin Islands, 24 April 1973.
In this discourse I am restricting my definition of the
word "ecology" to the traditional definition used by biolo-
gists; that is, a study of the relationships of plants and
animals to one another and to their environment. I do not in-
tend to provide background discussion upon those broader, and
more lately popular, definitions which in fact would preclude
a comprehension of the sum total of environmental influences,
thus breaching several of the other topics of this Conference.
This paper is also not an attempt to examine in depth
what has already been accomplished in ecological research in
the Virgin Islands; such would merely be redundant, for this
technical information is already in command and use by those
participants at this Conference. For those readers who may
not have a background on such research, there is no quick and
easy reference; excellent starting points, however, are the
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Background Paper No. 2
various Reports of the New York Academy of Sciences (1913-
et sec); Miss Enid Baa's monograph on dissertations and the-
sis on Caribbean topics (1969); and, the Reports of the Carib-
bean Research Institute.
My objective, rather, is to demonstrate in a broad man-
ner the status of ecological research in the Virgin Islands
at the present time, with particular regard to those factors
of it's historical development, it's perspective within the
West Indies, and it's current administrative status, which
latter eminently governs it's immediately future development.
Historical and Perspective Background
The Virgin Islands are, today, an anomaly with regard
to ecological research in the West Indies. It is important to
understand the causative factors behind this situation in pro-
jecting the ecological research needs of these islands.
Located geographia&Altyin the east-central part of an
archipelago of islands extending from Trinidad and South Am-
erica to Florida and the Yucatan Peninsula, the Virgin Islands
are biologically, as well as socially, ethnically, and geo-
graphically, West Indian and Neotropical. That their political
and economic structure is not a part of this regional scene
is rather an artifact of history than a result of natural reg-
ional associations.
The biota of the Virgin Islands shares with those other
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Background Paper No. 2
islands of this archipelago common affinities of origin, sys-
tematic relationship, evolution, and adaptation. This rela-
tionship parallels, with differing origins, the evolution of
the present human population of the West Indies.
Our biota has, as a result of the human influence, been
subject to those same changes that have effected plant and
animal communities on each of the other West Indian islands.
While some of the reasons for these changes are peculiarly
West Indian, most are typical of the same changes that have
occurred throughout the world tropics, and in particular on
tropical islands.
The questions relating to the nature and degree of these
changes, and the effect that they have on the present and fu-
ture inhabitants of these islands, not only with their biota
but also with themselves, is the motivating factor behind
much of the endemically-originated ecological research in
the West Indies.
The anomalous status of the Virgin Islands with regard
to ecological research arises from the fact that, with no-
table exceptions outlined below, little such research has
been endemically-generated. In this aspect, the Virgin Is-
lands differ startlingly from their sister island* in the
West Indies. They represent, in fact, a situation compara-
ble to that of other West Indian islands a generation ot
more ago. The Virgin Islands are distinctly behind their
other West Indian neighbors in ecological awareness.
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Background Paper No. 2
This situation appertains only today in the adjacent Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico.
The present United States Virgin Islands have, for over
250 years, been under the federal control of two continental
governments: The Republic of Denmark and the United States of
America. This control, in fact, parallels that which was ex-
cersized on other West Indian islands in the past, and today
is also the case in Puerto Rico. However, in terms of eco-
logical research if in no other fields, such parallels do in
fact end.
The remaining West Indian islands were, for the most
part, under the control of external governments that had es-
tablished a heritage o0 interest and a president for research
in natural history; a heritage that was ultimately in greater
or lesser degree passed on to the peoples of their islands.
Great Britain, The Nethelands, France, and to a lesser degree
Spain, were all such nations.
In case any of the participants at this Conference are
unaware of the impact which such colonial actions in fact
had in the West Indies, I would demonstrate in point the dev-
elopment of such a heritage in the former British possessions.
Britains were, and are, by nature naturalists: In th6&r col-
onies in the New World tropics, as elsewhere, they early es-
tablished formal clubs promoting the study of natural hist-
ory; they established botanic and agricultural research sta-
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Background Paper No. 2
tions; and thyy not infrequently established viable and of-
ten still extant mmall natural history museums. In the West
Indies, such institutions were established on St. Vincent
in 1763, Trinidad in 1820, Guyana in 1879, Grenada in 1886,
Dominica in 1891; other such institutions existed on Jamaica,
St. Lucia, and Antigua by 1907 (Aspinall, 1907). The Royal
Victoria Institute Museum and the still eminently viable Tri-
nidad Field Naturalists' Club were both founded in 1892. In
1922 the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, now the
Faculty of Agriculture of the University of the West Indies,
was established at St. Augustine, Trinidad. I.C.T.A. played
the most important role in the Caribbean in the training of
essentially applied ecologists in agriculture, entomology,
botany, silviculture, and soil science.
The Dutch established similar facilities on Curacao,
and later a formal research station, as did the French on
Guadeloupe.
This background of governmental interest in natural his-
tory helped form the basis of a heritage on those islands
today for the basic subject matter that now comprises eco-
logy. While it is true that the primary political and pro-
fessional motivation behind the establishment of most of these
facilities was improved agriculture, these organizations in
fact served as a regional locus for research in a wide var-
iety of biological topics. A significant part of the func-
tions of such establishments was the attraction to them of
visiting biologists, thus infusing the local naturalists
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Background Paper No.2
with current concepts and tending to break down insular
barriers to new knowledge.
This lack of a heritage for ecological studies in the
United States Virgin Islands is clearly due to the absence
of such viable research organizations and educational and
social institutions until very recent years. The reasons
for this would appear to be the post-emancipation emphasis
by both the Danish and the United States governments upon
non-agricultural economics, commerce, and later tourism. It
is in fact the recent emphasis upon tourism that has to no
small extent provided the germ of interest in ecological
studies in these islands.
Without such a heritage, it is not surprising that
most anplied as well as basic ecological research in the
Virgin Islands prior to the early, 1960's was conducted by
commuter scientists. In turn, this lack of heritage upon
the part of the local community has mace it somctimer' dif-
ficult to nress forth the need for endemically originated
ecological research. In this regard, the transcription of
ecological needs based upon temperate-zone continental con-
cepts, popular during the past decade, into an essentially
West Indian social community has been merely confusing.
The Virgin Islands need a regional and a local eco-
logical identity, an identity that will ultimately provide
for heritage. The structural basis for the establishment of
that identity is now present.
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Background Paper No. 2
The Basis for Current Ecological Research
in the Virgin Islands
Four primary events mark the basis for current inter-
est in ecological research in the Virgin Islands. Those
events were:
1) The establishment of the Virgin Islands National Park
for the most part on the island of St. John, 1956.
2) The opening of the College of the Virgin Islands as
a territorial institution of higher learning, 1962.
3) The establishment of the Virgin Islands Ecological
Research Station, 1965.
4) The vitalization of research by the Bureau of Fish
and Wildlife, Department of Conservation and Cultur-
al Affairs, 1970.
I shall discuss the role of these units separately. For
the moment, however, it is pertinent to point out that the
primary impetus for the establishment of the research ele-
ments of these organizations was the scientific "crisis"
which faced the United States in the late 1950's, and the
consequent large amounts of federal funds that became avail-
able for such programs. Without that funding, it is exceed-
ingly doubtful if ecological research in the Virgin Islands
would have progressed beyond the individual inquiry stage.
The College of the Virgin Islands.
The College of the Virgin Islands was established in
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Background Paper No. 2 8 -
1962 to provide for post-secondary school education in the
Virgin Islands. It has progressed through two-year Associate
to four-year Baccalaureate programs, and is now a territor-
ial Land Grant institution. To provide for a broad liberal
curriculum, a Division of Science and Mathematics was es-
tablished, including a resident faculty in the biological
sciences.
Primarily a teaching institution, the College shortly
after founding established a Caribbean Research Institute
within it's administrative framework, with the object of
the Institute acting as the research arm of the College.
The Institute is in concept a multi-disciplinary organiza-
tion, and includes the Virgin Islands Ecological Research
Station within it's administrative jurisdiction.
Within the field of ecological research, the role of
the College should be clear:
1) It provides through it's faculty in biology and
through the Caribbean Research Institute for the educational
and experential training in ecology of regional students on
the baccalaureate level. It is on this level, in fact, and
not on the graduate level that the greatest paucity of eco-
logical manpower exists today in the Virgin Islands.
2) It provides for the training of public school teach-
ers in ecological subject matter, to better fit them, re-
gardless of their academic backgrounds, for the needed in-
terest which will ultimately lead to heritage in local stu-
dents.
Background Paper No. 2
3) As a Land Grant institution, the College is now in
a position to fill the local niche that has traditionally
provided for the bulk of core research, both basic and ap-
plied, in the ecological sciences.
4) With the presence of the administrative (Caribbean
Research Institute) and operational (Virgin Islands Ecolo-
gical Research Station) structures for this research, the
College is functionally prepared to undertake a wide variety
of research programs.
Virgin Islands Ecological Research Station.
The Ecological Research Station is a unique research
facility in the West Indies, in that it: (1) Is administra-
tivel authorized to conduct ecological research on both ter-
restrial and marine habitats, and, (2) Is by right of it's
location on the island of St. John logistically positioned
to conduct such research literally in it's own backyard.
Further to this, is the fact that those habitats are pro-
tected by right of the presence of the Virgin Islands Nat-
ional Park.
This facility is funded by an annual appropriation from
the Legislature of the Government of the Virgin Islands, and
is administered by the College of the Virgin Islands through
it's Caribbean Research Institute.
Logically, and by continental president, this facility
as a part of a Land Grant College should provide for the bulk
of ecological research in the Virgin Islands. The history of
the Station and it's contributions have been clouded by ad-
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Background Paper No. 2
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ministrative and policy problems. One major problem con-
cerns the precise role the Station should play as a region-
ally funded and directed organization.
The Ecological Research Station has, in the past, sup-
ported the following kinds of programs:
1) Basic research on marine and terrestrial ecology,
with a major emphasis on the former prior to 1971. For the
most part, these studies have represented thesis or disser-
tation problems originated and conducted by visiting inves-
tigators, and funded by United States federal granting agen-
cies.
2) Support for the Tektite I and II Projects (Collette
and Earle, 1972, for technical studies). These were major,
federally-funded, short-duration concentrated basic studies
conducted almost exclusively by visiting investigators. Al-
though the research conducted under these two programs was
basic in motivation, much of the biological results have
practical applications in the Virgin Islands.
3) Non-thesis graduate studies. The Ecological Research
Station has served as a training ground in basic principles
of tropical ecology for a limited number of selected grad-
uate students from United States universities. While no
specific research is usually conducted by these students,
the students do act as a potential pool of future investi-
gators with the advantage of previous Virgin Islands exper-
ience.
Background Paper No.2
4) Applied research, which to date has been concerned
with marine resources. Two signal projects were a study of
the fisheries potential of the Virgin Islands (Dammann, 1969)
and a spiny lobster management program (Olsen, 1972). Pro-
posals have been submitted for a program of research on
pollination and seed dispersal in Virgin Islands plants of
economic and aesthetic importance (Buchanan, MS).
5) Undergraduate field studies. These studies, basic-
ally pedagogic and experential in nature, have been season-
ally conducted at the Station by groups from United States
colleges and universities. There is great demand for the
use of the Station facilities by such external groups, and
there is serious contention as to what extent the Station
should serve such purposes. There is no question that the
Station could, and would be justified in serving such a use-
ful role in undergraduate training at the College of the
Virgin Islands; this has not been the case, however, because
of course scheduling and the problem of inter-island logis-
tics.
Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs.
The Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs is
an agency of the Government of the Virgin Islands, headed by
an appointed Commissioner, and possessing a Bureau of Fish
and Wildlife with a professional biologist as Director.
The staff of the Bureau consists of a number of trained
fisheries and wildlife management biologists. The Department
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Background Paper No. 2
is charged with the authority for the control, use, and
management of the natural resources of the Virgin Islands
not predisposed by United States federal authority. The
Department is also concerned with the development and use
of recreational facilities and with the cultural affairs
of the island communities.
The Bureau of Fish and Ti'd]ife is, in effect, an ad-
ministrati'-ve and operational duplicate in general aspects
of "irilar agencies in each of the various t'nitecd States,
anm' it has an authoritative parallel.
In terms of ecological research, the Bureau acts as an
interpretive clearing house for the results of basic ecolo-
gical research conducted in the Virgin Islands, and makes
use of the results of such research in devising meaningful
applied research programs conducted by it's own staff.
Recent examples of applied programs conducted under
the direction of the Bureau include food and sport fisheries
studies, artificial reef design, mongoose ecology, a study
of parasites of St. Croix whitetail deer, and primary sup-
port for the compilation of a popular handbook to the nat-
ural history of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Virgin Islands National Park.
The establishment of the Virgin Islands National Park,
administered by the United States National Park Service un-
der the Department of the Interior, had a profound physical,
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Background Paper No. 2
biological, social, and economic effect upon the island of
St. John, and to a lesser extent the other Virgin Islands.
Entirely aside from the very real social and economic
changes wrought, the Virgin Islands National Park brought
to the West Indies the concept of a major portion of a large
island being under almost complete ecological control, with
that control having it's ultimate authority and administra-
tion from without the territory. From a historical stand-
point, this represents a reversal of the general trend in
the West Indies for greater territorial control, including
that of natural resources. It is interesting to note that
this same event coincided with the establishment of the
Five Year Development Programmes leading to the independence
of two major West Indian islands, Jamaica and Trinidad and
Tobago, under which programs transferrence of authority for
Crown Forest Lands and Reserves was made to the regional
governments.
In terms of it's meaning to regional ecological re-
search, the Virgin Islands National Park has provided for
the following:
1) It has reserved a large mass of lands and waters,
comprising some 6,000 acres, where ecological disturbance
has been reduced to a minimum. The reserve includes reef
and inshore habitats; mangrove swamps; cactus, arid thorn
scrub, tropical deciduous, and some regenerating rain for-
est communities. No single reserve in the West Indies con-
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Background Paper No.2 14 -
tains so many diverse habitats; it provides for a large nat-
ural arena for comparative ecological studies in the West
Indies.
2) For the management of the resources of the Park, the
National Park Service has devised a Management Resources Plan
the bulk of which consists of problems which can only be an-
swered by the application of ecological research. Provision
for the funding for the execution of those projects by con-
tract is in process.
In addition to these primary government-funded research
organizations, there are three others which play a signifi-
cant role in ecological thought, education, and research in
the Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands Conservation Society,
Inc., a public non-profit society, is concerned primarily
with the stimulus of ecological research and with education;
it has recently concentrated on the publishing of popular
tracts relating to such research. The Environmental Studies
Program of the Department of Education is primarily concern-
ed with the development of an ecological awareness upon the
part of primary and secondary school students; in this sense,
the Program plays a critical role in the initiation of inter-
est leading to heritage in the natural sciences. The Island
Resources Foundation, Inc., a private non-profit organiza-
tion, includes significantly ecological research within the
framework of it's broader resource programs; it also serves
as the headquarters of the Caribbean Conservation Association,
Background Paper No. 2
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the regional West Indian conservation organization.
I am fully aware that I have not touched upon those
several aspects of research that should, rightly, come with-
in the scope of ecological research in the Virgin Islands.
These include, for example, research conducted by the De-
partment of Agriculture, the Soil Conservation Service, and
possibly other agencies. They also include research conduct-
ed at the West Indies Laboratory of Fairleigh Dickinson Uni-
versity, St. Croix. I hope that those officials in these or-
ganizations will not feel that such omission is intentional;
it is rather simply based upon my lack of information con-
cerning their activities.
Discussion
It should be obvious from the data presented above that
the Virgin Islands today have a large and diverse number of
organizations within the operational structure of which eco-
logical research is conducted. It is, in fact, a remarkable
assemblage for a tri-island community comprising only some
70,000 inhabitants.
A major factor in defining the research needs of the
Virgin Islands today lies in the need for a clear definition
of the respective roles to he played by these now extant
research organizations, and consequently the allocations of
research programs.
Background Paper No. 2
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The roles of the educational and conservation affili-
ates, the Environmental Studies Program and the Virgin Is-
lands Conservation Society, are already clearly defined.
However, the relationships between the College of the Virgin
Islands, the Caribbean Research Institute and Virgin Islands
Ecological Research Station, the Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
of the Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs, and
to a lesser degree, the United States National Park Service
are less well-defined.
The need for definition arises out of the very real
possibility of duplication of effort with regard to: (1)
Overall research objectives; (2) Expenditures for facilities,
equipment, and field work; and, (3) Utilization of available
scientific manpower. Such overlap and duplication within the
governmental structure of a community of islands such as
these, with restricted fiscal ane human resources, cannot
easily be long tolerated. The restrictions of recent years
in federal funds available for biological research of the
kind needed in these islands makes this point abundantly
clear.
With regard to the National Park Service, it is clear
that there are policy decisions which to a great extent lim-
it the use of their human, fiscal, and physical research re-
sources to objectives which, in effect, are directly associ-
ated with the management of the National Park. To some ex-
Background Paper No. 2
tent there is a sharing of these resources between the
Park Service and the Ecological Research Station, author-
ized through a Memorandum of Agreement between the Park
Service and the College of the Virgin Islands. It is very
doubtful that such a relationship would exist if the Sta-
tion were located otherwise. This is so because most of the
research objectives of the National Park Service lie in the
field of resource management, not in strict research which
in fact is the reason for the existence of the Ecological
Research Station.
It is clear that whatever formal research relationship
that may exist between the Station and the National Park
Service will, under present policies, be limited to the exe-
cution of contract research by the Station for the Park Ser-
vice. The limit to which this contract relationship exists
should be defined. To a very great extent, however, those
possibilities are severely limited by the National Park Ser-
vice since they do not accept unsolicited proposals for re-
search. This is an undesireable situation, considering the
unique role played by the National Park within the community.
That the National Park Service has made concessions in other
aspects of the natural resources of the Virgin Islands Nat-
ional Park should give license for modification of policies
which in effect are designed to cover continental Park man-
agement, and are not necessarily realistic in this insular
community.
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Background Paper No. 2
The research relationship between the Department of
Conservation and Cultural Affairs and the Ecological Re-
search Station is perhaps less well-defined than that be-
tween the Station and the National Park Service. This is,
in fact, another curious anomaly of Virgin Islands bureau-
cracy, since the funding for the Ecological Research Sta-
tion is provided by the Legislature through the Department
of Conservation and Cultural Affairs.
As a generality, however, it may be stated that the
logical research functions of the Department of Conservation
and Cultural Affairs should be those applied studies bearing
directly upon natural resource utilization and management.
Because of it's primary academic affiliation, the Ecological
Research Station should be engaged in basic research and in
the education and training of regional students in the eco-
logical sciences.
There would appear to be an obvious need for circular
allocation of projects, information, and perhaps human re-
sources and facilities in this relationship. The parallel
can again be made between Land Grant colleges in the United
States and their state game and fish commissions: There ex-
ists as a general rule a rapport, if not an actual formal
agreement, that facilities, services, and professional ex-
pertise will be shared, as needed, between the Land Grant
institution and the conservation-oriented departments of the
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Background Paper No. 2
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state government.
The establishment of a realistic working relationship
such as this between the College of the Virgin Islands and
the Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs would
clear the way for more meaningful coordination of research,
avoidance of the possibility of duplication of effort, and
possibly fiscal saving with regard to resources.
Each biologist working in the Virgin Islands is inti-
mately familiar with the research needs within his field of
study. Because of the relatively small number of scientists
concerned, and because of the potential degree of informal
communication afforded, there should be a general understand-
ing upon the part of each scientist of the principal eco-
logical research needs.
However, because of the administrative barriers out-
lined above, and because a not inconsiderable amount of the
ecological research conducted in these islands is in fact
conducted by visiting investigators often without affiliation
with these regional organizations, there is often a communi-
cations gap.
It would be in the interests of the various research
organizations within the Virgin Islands to establish a reg-
ular open-discussion group for the systematic and periodic
exchange of ideas and information on ecological research.
The structure of such a group need not be formal, and it's
Background Paper No. 2
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published productivity might be limited to minutes. At the
present time, such a group could, in fact, comprise the en-
tire community of scientists engaged in ecological research
in the Virgin Islands. The regular sitting of such a group,
would allow for quick and easy dissemenation of ideas and
information; it's funding, limited in scope, could be shared
by the various agencies represented.
The features of insularity are the meat of the island
ecologist; they are also the major deterant to the projec-
tion of rational research programs endemically generated.
Because of the lack of ecological heritage and tradition in
the Virgin Islands, it is especially important that those
persons charged with the conduct of ecological research com-
municate with one another.
This Conference is an initial step in attempting to
establish that kind of cooperation and exchange of ideas.
Background Paper No. 2
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Literature Cited
Aspinall, Sir Algernon.
1907. Guide to the West Indies. Sifton, Praed and
Co., Ltd., London.
Baa, Enid M.
1969. Doctoral Dissertations and Selected Theses on
Caribbean Topics... Bureau of Public Libraries
and Museums, Dept. of Conservation and Cultural
Affairs, Gov't. of the Virgin Islands of the U.S.
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Buchanan, 0. Marcus.
1973. A Proposal for Studies on the Natural Pollination
and Seed Dispersal in Selected Virgin Islands Plants.
(Manuscript).
Caribbean Research Institute.
1965 Reports. Various Authors and Editors. College
of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Collette, Bruce B. and Sylvia A. Earle.
1972. Results of the Tektite Program: Ecology of Coral
Reef Fishes. Sci. Bull. 14, Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California.
Dammann, A.E. (Ed.)
1969. Study of the Fisheries Potential of the Virgin
Islands. Virgin Is. Ecol. Res. Sta., Contrib. No. 1.
Background Paper No. 2 22 -
New York Academy of Sciences.
1913 Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Vir-
gin Islands. Numerous Volumes and Authors. Publ.
by The Academy, New York.
Olsen, David and William Herrnkind.
1971. Ecological Study for the Development of Lobster
Management Techniques. Caribbean Research
Institute, College of the Virgin Islands.
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