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Eleocharis elegans, a neotropical wetland sedge (Cyperaceae), is reported as new for the United States from a site in Hardee County, Florida. A number of factors suggest this represents a natural occurrence. We speculate that climate change-related factors such as increasingly frequent major storms offer the most logical explanation of its arrival in the United States.

Islands are highly variable in size, shape, elevation, and climate let alone in terms of culture, social, and economic characteristics. Islands and their populations are likely to experience a wide range of changes during the Anthropocene. Nevertheless, the effects of climate change are likely to be widely felt across the region. Vulnerability of Pacific islands will reflect social changes resulting from a century or more of colonization and globalization. Many practices that enabled Pacific island populations to thrive have been lost. Adaptation costs are likely to be extremely high and beyond the resources of most PICTs.