REVIEW article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Freshwater Science
Norfolk Island's freshwater ecosystems: a case history and exemplar of freshwater biodiversity inventory, threat assessments, ecological recovery and conservation planning
Provisionally accepted
Angela Helen Arthington1,2*
Margaret Christian3Peter Coyne4Geoff Edwards5Derek Greenwood3Kevin Mills6Cuan Petheram7Susan Prior3Joanne Vanderzalm8- 1Griffith University, Nathan, Australia
- 2Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- 3Norfolk Island Flora & Fauna Society, Burnt Pine, Norfolk Island
- 4World Commission on Protected Areas, Canberra, Australia
- 5Norfolk Island Knowledge & Learning Centre, Burnt Pine, Norfolk Island
- 6Private scientist, Jamberoo, Australia
- 7CSIRO Sandy Bay, Sandy Bay, Australia
- 8CSIRO Waite Campus, Urrbrae, Australia
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Norfolk Island is a small remote island in the Southwest Pacific Ocean distinguished by its volcanic origins, topographic, pedological and hydrological complexity, and endemic biodiversity. This review presents Norfolk Island as a case history and exemplar of freshwater biodiversity inventory, threat assessments, ecological recovery and conservation planning on a neglected Pacific Island. It makes the case that the procedural steps and learnings of this review can be applied to the recovery and conservation of freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems of any island, but especially islands in the Pacific Ocean. The review collates information on the biodiversity of the island’s freshwater ecosystems and the processes that threaten them for the first time. It finds that Norfolk Island’s freshwater biodiversity is patchily documented and seriously threatened by water quality issues, habitat disturbance, introduced species (woody weeds, aquatic plants, freshwater snails and live-bearing fishes) and a drying climate. The review sets out methods and options for restoring Norfolk Island’s creek and wetland habitats in conjunction with planning to protect and conserve freshwater biodiversity and threatened species at catchment scale based on ecological principles and systematic conservation planning. These methods and recovery options can guide similar investigation and restoration / conservation actions on other islands, but especially islands in the Pacific Ocean. The paper calls for a program of comparative Pacific Island freshwater science, management and conservation, similar to the procedural steps and processes presented for Norfolk Island, to protect unique repositories of freshwater species that risk being lost forever.
Keywords: threat assessments, Ecological recovery, Conservation Planning, Island, Freshwater biodiversity
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Arthington, Christian, Coyne, Edwards, Greenwood, Mills, Petheram, Prior and Vanderzalm. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Angela Helen Arthington, a.arthington@griffith.edu.au
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