_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: abrams.marc@gmail.com; Asian Plant Research Journal 1(1): 1-7, 2018; Article no.APRJ.41572 Long-Term Changes in the Dominance of Drought Tolerant Trees Reflect Climate Trends on a Micronesian Island Marc D. Abrams 1* , Yoshikazu Shimizu 2 and Atsushi Ishida 3 1 Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 307 Forest Resources Bldg., PA 16802, USA. 2 Komazawa University, 1-23-1 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-8525, Japan. 3 Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, 2 Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author YS designed the study, collected most of the data, performed the statistical analysis and wrote the protocol. Author MDA help design the study and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors YS and AI managed the analyses of the study. Author AI formulated the species functional attributes. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/APRJ/2018/v1i1568 Editor(s): (1) Vineet Kaswan, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, College of Basic Science and Humanities, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat, India. Reviewers: (1) Nebi Bilir, Suleyman Demirel University, Turkey. (2) Blas Lotina-Hennsen, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico. (3) Kamal I. Mohamed, State University of New York at Oswego, USA. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/24940 Received 15 th March 2018 Accepted 24 th May 2018 Published 2 nd June 2018 ABSTRACT Background: The Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands of Micronesia lie in the western Pacific Ocean and are unique in terms of their isolation, climate, soils and diversity of rare plant species. We hypothesized that the vegetation on the islands will be a robust model system to study long-term climate change impacts on vegetation dynamics. Methods: A large, long-term vegetation monitoring plot was established on Chichijima Island and measured in 1976 and 2017. It was located in an undisturbed dry forest area that contained many endemic and endangered species. Results: During the 41 year study period, total basal area of tree species increased by 24.6% and Short Research Article