The native plants, animals and ecosystems of Pahole are protected, but they are also in peril. Some are so rare that they are down to a few individuals surviving in the wild. There are many threats to our native natural resources, including the invasion of non-native plants and animals, fire and human disturbances.
Intensive management is necessary to restore and maintain the natural state.
It sipd nectar from flowers, and snatches insects from bark and foliage. Its unusal seeds bear a glue used in ancient times to catch native birds for their feathers. Although its markings sometimes evoke a clown's laughing face, the spiders are extremely variable in their coloration. Living quietly beneath the leaves of such plants as tthe papala kepau, happy-face spiders represent the thousands of Hawaiian invertebrates, many unknown to science, that are present in native ecosystems, and preotected in natural area reserves such as Pahole. With ebony bark and small blue-green leaves, the lama is a familiar tree of Hawaiian lowland forests.