Mark Merlin

  • merlin@hawaii.edu
  • (808) 956-6038
  • St. John 403
  • Keywords: Botany

Research interests

My research has focused on the cultural histories of human-plant interactions with special emphasis on the pan-global, traditional use of psychoactive species. I also study the human impact on native vegetation in tropical island ecosystems, both past and present, with a general interest in the natural history of Remote Oceania. My most important career object has been to contribute to and foster environmental education and preservation of traditional ecological and ethnobotanical knowledge.

Recent publications

Nong, K., Hu, X., Merlin, M., Chen, T., Zhang, G. and H. Jiang. 2022. Potential legume forage selection in arid regions of northwest China: utilization of Melilotus cf. albus (Fabaceae) as army horse fodder in a Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907) beacon tower. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14(9): 1-18.

Merlin, M., Kugfas, A., Juvik, J. and D. Taboroši. 2019. Plants and People of Yap State, FSM. Island Research & Education Initiative (iREi), Paliker, Pohnpei, 340 pp. Second revised and expanded edition, original 1st edition 1996, with the support of the Department of Education, Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia and Program on Environment, East-West Center, Honolulu Hawaii.

Merlin, M., Capelle, A., Keene, T., Juvik, J., and D. Taboroši. 2018. Keinikkan Im Ri-Aelōn Kein: Plants and People of the Marshall Islands. Island Research & Education Initiative (iREi), Paliker, Pohnpei, 217 pp. Second revised and expanded edition, original 1st edition 1994, with the support of the Department of Education, Republic of the Marshall Islands and Program on Environment, East-West Center, Honolulu Hawaii.

Merlin, M.D. and S. Fitzpatrick. 2018. Drugs and Psychotropics. Society of Archaeological Sciences Encyclopedia. Wiley: Scholar One Manuscripts, Hoboken, NJ. 4 pp. [Invited entry].

Lincoln, N.K., Ragone, D., Zerega, N. Roberts-Nkrumah, L.B., Merlin, M., and A.M.P. Jones. 2018. Grow Us Our Daily Bread: A Review of Breadfruit Cultivation in Traditional and Contemporary Systems. Horticulture Reviews 46: 299-384.

Keinikkan Im Ri-Aelōn Kein: Plants and People of the Marshall Islands, 2ndrevised edition. 2018. Merlin, Mark, Alfred Capelle, Thomas Keene, James Juvik, and Danko Taboroši. Island Research and Education Initiative, Palikir, Pohnpei, FM. 236 pp. (hardcover). ISBN 978-9-82917136-8