Rapa Nui, or Easter Island is a tiny speck of land secluded in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. "Ancient voyaging from the central islands of eastern Polynesia would have normally gone against the prevailing trade winds, with the island forming only a small target, although westerly winds associated with periodic ENSO may have carried Polynesian colonists to the island (Anderson, Caveides and Walden, Finney)". Volcanoes constitute the three rims of Rapa Nui. In addition to the cones of three dominant volcanoes (Rano Kao, Poike, and Maunga Terevaka), Easter Island's landscape is also dotted with nearly 70 subsidiary cones. The most ancient stones are 500,000 year old alkali basalt/hawaiite lava flows constructing the Poike composite volcano at the island's eastern edge. Poike, which was formerly an island that eventually became joined to Terevaka by basalt flows emitted from Terevaka, has been seriously crumbled by the sea on each and every edge. The southwest flank of Rapa Nui was created by the Kao volcano. The Rano Kao lake inside the volcano's crater is one of Easter Island's only three pure chunks of crisp water. The water from the exceedingly submerged crater, which is approximately 3,000 feet in width, is carried to Easter Island's capital, Hanga Roa. The crater is roughly a mile in diameter and features a unique microclimate protected from winds. The lake has an abundance of climbing plants. The interior declivity was the spot of the most recent wild toromoro tree just before the species was felled for cordwood in 1960. The majority of Kao volcano is on the seacoast and has been abraded back to build towering sea escarpments which at one time have begun to cut into the caldera precipice. Kao is halfway between Poike and Terevaka in the level of its sea escarpment and soil growth. The Terevaka volcano dominates almost the entire mainland of Rapa Nui and is a foundation for countless subordinate conical spires on its rims. Lava currents and cinder summits ordered along volcanic cervices connect Terevaka with the two more ancient bluffs. The vast, slightly inclined spire of its apex approaches an elevation of 500 m. Terevaka has an intricate history with nearly all of its assemblage erected by a succession of molten rock flows and pyroclastic bursts arising out of an area close by its modern crown. The Terevaka volcano has abrupt inclines in the northern direction and softer inclines toward the other directions, where practically all populated spots on the island are based. One sporadic tributary, supported by the Rano Aroi lake, gushes downhill Mount Terevaka's ramps prior to sinking into the permeable soil. Easter Island also has a comparatively impoverished flora and fauna revealing its miniature size, pronounced remoteness, recent geologic span, and deprivation of flora and fauna throughout the latest environmental history. According to botanical surveys, there are only roughly 48 various sorts of plants on the island. "This list includes 14 Polyne- sian introductions such as taro, sweet potato, and the other cultigens (i.e. human domesticated plants)". However, current analyses of pollen from lake sediments and determination of wood charcoal from ancient cooking pits enlarge the record of timbered plants that formerly constituted the surface of Easter Island.
The territory of the island consists of approximately 90% grassland, 5% woodland, 4% scrubland, and 1% pristine and widespread greenery. Grasses, primarily the members of the family Poaceae Sporobolus indices and Paspalum scrobiculatum, prevail in the pastures. Forests largely consist of thickets of the indigenous Portia tree, and imported Eucalyptus trees and soapberries. Scrublands are primarily dominated by the introduced common guava. In the middle of the dominant craters, the exclusive spots on the island containing everlasting crisp water, marine flora dominated by the California bulrish and the tapertip smartweed reside. Species native to Easter Island are Sophora toromiro (a member of the legume family, Fabaceae), carpetgrasses Axonopus paschalis and Danthonia paschalis, and possibly Paspalum forsterianum. The flowering plant vegetation of the area is made up of 179 species, out of which approximately 16.8% are endemic, 78.8% are imported, and 8% are of doubtful ancestry. Out of the species brought in by Europeans, 67 are thought to be well-established and 74 have been detected only on rare occasions. Universally, the families with the largest number of species are Fabaceae and Asteraceae, but among the endemic plants, Poaceae (true grasses) and Cyperaceae (sedges) are featured the most. That means that a larger percentage of the landscape on Easter Island consists of imported plants. From a preservation outlook, it is particularly impressive that the toromiro tree has been exterminated and is presently managed under tillage on the island and in a few horticultural gardens in other parts of the world. The plants of Easter Island are critically jeopardized by anthropogenic activity, cattle (especially horses), and the influx of hostile intruder species. It was suggested that the inner ramps of the Rano Kao would be a superb position for the protection of regional vegetation.
Rapa Nui has hardly any native terrestrial animals. The island's fauna has been heavily affected by environmental devastation, kindled by overpopulation and the introduction of rats. Species of endemic birds including the Chimanga caracara, great frigate bird, house sparrow, masked booby, red-tailed tropicbird, sooty tern, and white-tailed tropicbird. The Chilean tinamau has been introduced to Easter Island. Although no indigenous species of terrestrial birds exist on present-day Easter Island, archaeological findings portray that the island was previously home to 25 seabird species and based on recent evidence, possibly up to six terrestrial species. On account of the scarcity of widespread coral reefs, the aquatic reserves are to some extent scanty, particularly in comparison to nearly all other Pacific islands. There are 164 species of fish on the island, out of which 97 are offshore fish. This is a minuscule number in comparison to those of neighboring islets such as Pitcairn. The most commonly represented species are wrasses, moray eels, butterflyfish, and ray-finned fish. The Easter Island spiny lobster (Panulirus pascuensis) is harvested in the nearby waters. Because of its isolated status, around 25% of the island's fish are indigenous. Also, there are 11 marine bird species that frequently reside on the island and use it as a breeding ground. Even though turtles and sea mammals such as seals and dolphins were found on Rapa Nui, similar to the birds, their numbers were apparently larger in ancient times. Current evidence indicates that the chicken and the Pacific rat were the sole animals that were brought into Easter Island by Polynesian settlers. In their central Polynesian homeland, the inhabitants relied upon an incredibly restricted variety of animals and plants for sustenance. Their chief domesticated animals were pigs, chickens, rats, and dogs, and they harvested yams, taros, bananas, breadfruits, sweet potatoes, and coconuts. The peoples who arrived on the island carried only rats and chickens together with them, and they quickly discovered that the climatic conditions were too oppressive for tropical and subtropical plants like coconut and breadfruit and very borderline for the common foundations of their diet: yam and taro. The occupants were as a result confined to a diet founded primarily on chickens and sweet potatoes. Unlike the rest of Polynesia, Easter Island displayed a harsh environment to the original settlers. At 27 degrees south of the equator, the planting of Polynesian tropical crops was nearly impossible. The climate is subtropical, defined by an arid summer season and erratic humidity oversupplies or deficiencies as a result of considerable climatic instability. The island doesn't have any perpetual watercourses. Although the average yearly precipitation is 1,,250 mm, precipitation rates rise and fall periodically, generating some irregularity. The standard annual rainfall throughout the latest decades was usually between 1300 and 1365 mm. The most humid conditions, with 34% of the annual total of rainfall, occur in the southern autumn period between April and June and the interval between October and March is marked by dry, rainless conditions. The lowest quantities of rainfall take place during the last part of the southern spring. Following the dry interval, moisture levels increase over the southern summer to come to a climax in the middle of the autumn season. Amounts of rainfall are also dependent on changes in altitude, with elevated areas in the center experiencing up to two times the yearly precipitation of bottom seaside zones. The temperatures of the island are balmy, with an average annual temperature of 21 C, and experience the least possible seasonal deviations. The usual temperatures range between 24 C during the warm month of January and 18 C during the chilly month of August. The temperature of the sea around Easter Island is at or higher than 20 C throughout the entire year, and it fluctuates between 20 C for July and October and 25 C for February and March. Easter Island also recurrently catches drastic winds transmitting salt spray that is capable of ruining crops. The island is exposed for most of the year to trade winds, blowing in a northeasterly direction. Paleoecological documentation suggests that severe dry spells might have happened repeatedly. The island has unreasonably depleted, nutrient deficient soils problematic for maintained agronomics. There are vast territories containing flat soils and massive prominences of basalt. An ample quantity of soils show antic soil properties and a dissipation cycle that eventually leads to a restricted supply of potassium and phosphorus. Finally, Easter Island is a completely remote territory characterized by restricted space and a scarcity of land reserves. All of these environmental conditions indicated that Easter Island offered hindrances to Polynesian crop production contrary to the rest of Polynesian islands. To sum up, powerful air currents, cycles of aridity, impoverished soil, and the absence of enduring streams presented obstacles for archaic cultivation on Rapa Nui. With a barren scenery encompassing colossal statues, Easter Island represents an abandoned society that at one time prospered but endured ecological devastation.