KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) - Hundreds of scientists will gather this week on the Big Island to evaluate the health of ecosystems in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

Researchers attending the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Pacific Division plan to explore critical facets of island science, from the mass extinction of Hawaiian land snails and threats to other flora and fauna to the prospects for increased U.S.-Asia research collaboration.

Sessions also will highlight health problems shared by indigenous people from the Arctic and Hawaii and Palmyra Atoll, a 700-acre spread of islets in the Central Pacific, just north of the equator.

Pacific Division President Terrence Gosliner of the California Academy of Sciences says he's excited that scientists will be able to focus on the impact of introduced species and global climate change.

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