The plant and animal life of the Hawaiian archipelago is the result of early, very infrequent colonizations of arriving species and the slow evolution of those species—in isolation from the rest of the world's flora and fauna—over a period of at least 5 million years.
The rainy climate impacts soil development, which largely determines ground permeability, which affects the distribution of streams, wetlands, and wet places.
Seeds or spores attached to a lost migrating bird's feather or an insect falling out of the high winds found a place to survive in the islands and whatever else was needed to reproduce.
Fossil finds in caves, lava tubes, and sand dunes have revealed an avifauna that once had a native eagle,[2] two raven-size crows, several bird-eating owls, and giant ducks known as moa-nalos.
Around 861 species of plants have been introduced to the islands by humans since its discovery by Polynesian settlers, including crops such as taro and breadfruit.
[6] The Hawaiian Islands are home to dozens of endemic species and subspecies of plants, including endemic genera × Argyrautia, Argyroxiphium, Brighamia, Clermontia, Cyanea, Delissea, Dubautia, Helodeaster, Hesperomannia, Hibiscadelphus, Kokia, Lipochaeta, Nototrichium, Pteralyxia, Remya, Trematolobelia, and Wilkesia.