2018 News and Announcements

On this page:

TCBES Alumni Shine:

Nicole DiManno Martin wins 2nd place for RCUH Outstanding Report Staff for 2018!

Watch the video!

Margaret "Peggy" Farias becomes President of local family company, W.H. Shipman Ltd

Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald Story

Congratulations to the newly elected TCBES Mater Club Officers!

• President - Karen Gallardo
• Vice President - Ashley Pugh
• Secretary - Erin Netoskie
• Treasurer - Leah Sherwood

TCBES student attends International Whaling Commission in Florianopolis, Brazil!

TCBES student, Sabena Siddiqui, is the Student Chair for "the world's oldest whale conservation organization", the American Cetacean Society (ACS). She helps mentor and guide student leaders of campus groups and was chosen by the ACS board to represent the organization as an NGO observer at this year's International Whaling Commission in Florianopolis, Brazil! She has been attending working groups discussing topics such as conservation, aboriginal subsistence whaling, and whale killing methods & welfare issues, as well as strategic meetings with US and international NGO's.

To learn more, follow Sabena's blog and check out ACS on social media.

The Summer 2018 graduation list is out!

Congratulations to Kamala Anthony, Cherie Kauahi, Nicole Fernandez, Geneviève Blanchet, and Ilana Stout -- our new M.S. degree recipients!

TCBES students Cherie Kauahi and Kamala Anthony's research featured in television program episode

Community based research on fishponds (loko i'a) by TCBES students and faculty featured in a new video, Adapting Culture to Climate Change. This episode of the television program Voice of the Sea focuses on projects developed with the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC). The film highlights work by TCBES Master's students Cherie Kauahi and Kamala Anthony, and faculty member Dr. Stephen Colbert, who's research was developed through a UH Hilo program called the Manager Climate Corps as a part of the PI-CASC. The episode features local partner Hui Hoʻoleimaluō and also describes a larger effort that manages and restores loko iʻa across the Hawaiian Islands and involves hundreds of other kiaʻi loko, owners, workers, supporters, and stakeholders in a statewide hui (network) called, Hui Mālama Loko I‘a.

UH Hilo TCBES reward recipients at the 25th Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference recognized in the Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald!

Congrats to Geneviève Blanchet and Koa Matsuoka! Read the article in the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald.

UH Hilo TCBES students made great ground at the 25th Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference!

Special congrats to Geneviève Blanchet and Koa Matsuoka for receiving the student award for outstanding graduate oral presentation and runner-up for outstanding graduate poster presentation respectively.

Other TCBES students and recent graduates that presented talks and posters are:

• Karen Gallardo Cruz, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation
• Rose Hart, Alumni MSc TCBES (Spring graduation): Poster presentation
• Marty Kawasaki, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation
• Angalee Kirby, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation
• Jessica Kirkpatrick, Alumni MSc TCBES (Spring graduation): Oral presentation
• Kristina Montoya-Aiona, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation
• Maya Munstermann, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation
• Kaikea Nakachi, MSc TCBES student: Forum organizer
• Joanna Norton, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation
• Jeff Stallman, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation and Wiki presentation
• Dominique Zarders, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation

Way to go TCBES!

The Spring 2018 graduation list is out!

Congratulations to Louise Economy, Lynx Gallagher, Rose Hart, Jessica Kirkpatrick, Amy Shimabukuro-Madden, Kathryn Van Dyk, and Jorden Zarders-- our new M.S. degree recipients!

Congratulations to TCBES student Eszter Collier

Our TCBES student Eszter Collier won two different scholarships to help fund her Masters' thesis project. She won one $1,000 from the Society for Conservation Biology and $1,000 from the Hawaiʻi Geographic Information Coordinating Council (HIGICC). Congrats to Eszter!

MS thesis defense by Kamala Anthony

Please join us for Kamala Anthony’s M.S. thesis defense on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 3:30pm in Wentworth 1.

Title

Malama lokoia: Salinity and primary productivity relationships at Honokea loko, Hale o Lono, and Waiahole/Kapalaho on Hawaiʻi Island, HI.

Abstract

Along the coastlines of the Hawaiian Islands, there is a valuable and critical resource known for its brackish water habitat – loko i‘a (Hawaiian fishponds). They are dynamic systems dependent on the balance between fresh groundwater inputs from uka (uplands) and landward flow of kai (seawater), which all vary depending on the behavior of our climate, including rainfall, tides, and storms. This nutrient rich groundwater meeting the seawater at the coast allows for an abundant growth of limu or primary productivity attracting many of Hawaiʻi’s favorable native brackish water and herbivorous species. Having an intimate relationship with this natural coastal nursery, Hawaiians effectively modified these coastal habitats into loko i’a to provide a sustainable food source for the communities in which they reside. In support of these invaluable resources and practices, this study seeks to understand primary productivity and salinity relationships along the same coastline at Honokea Loko of Waiuli, and Hale o Lono and Waiahole/Kapalaho of Honohononui, HI. Through weekly water quality monitoring by kiai loko (fishpond caretakers), biweekly water column sampling, and benthic primary productivity experiments, salinity was found to be strongly correlated to many physical water properties and benthic primary production across all sites. Due to these strong correlations, loko i'a communities would greatly benefit from these methodologies to quantify the variability of environmental changes through time and specific impacts of climate phenomena, changes in rainfall and sea level. These factors have the potential to interfere with primary productivity and alter loko i’a systems interactions entirely.

MS thesis defense by Cherie Kauahi

Please join us for Cherie Kauahi’s M.S. thesis defense on Friday, July 6, 2018, at 10 am in Wentworth 1.

Title

Hydrology of three Loko Iʻa, Hawaiian fishponds, on the eastside of Hawaiʻi Island, HI

Abstract

Groundwater is a primary source of nutrients for loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishponds) in Hawaiʻi. However, freshwater inputs are variable in these dynamic coastal ecosystems. The focus of this study was to (1) understand the changes in relative groundwater flow through time, (2) determine differences in groundwater composition among shoreline and loko iʻa springs and (3) determine how climate change may impact these groundwater dependent ecosystems. Three groundwater fed loko iʻa kuapā were the focus of this study: Honokea, Hale o Lono and Waiāhole loko iʻa, in Keaukaha, HI. Through time series measurements, the application of mass balance equations and Darcy’s Law, groundwater flow was found to vary at time scales of months and seasons. Furthermore, positive relationships between relative groundwater flow and rainfall were significant. Sampling of springs determined differences in groundwater chemistry, with the highest NO2 + NO3 at Waiāhole and the highest PO4 at Honokea. Based on d18O, the elevation in which rainfall occurred that contributed to regional recharge of aquifers feeding loko iʻa and shoreline springs ranged between 400 and 900 m, with the elevation of source water increasing at springs farther east. Predicted increases in rainfall between 20-40% could increase groundwater flow equivalent to that observed after >75 mm of rain over a 48 hr period. Future sea level rise, 0.4 m by the year 2040, will result in the daily high tide salinity increasing from 3-8 to >16. This study provides baseline information for managers restoring these unique environments to prepare for future changes in loko iʻa hydrology. Furthermore, the methods used here can be applied to larger groundwater dependent ecosystems throughout Hawaiʻi.

TCBES students and faculty involved in response to Kilauea eruption

Watch the CNN video featuring a recent TCBES graduate, Rose Hart, and faculty member Jon Price.

MS thesis defense by Nicole Fernandez

When

Friday, June 8th at 10am
Where

STB226

Nicole will be presenting her work on the 'Omao (Myadestes obscurus), come and support her at her defense!

New TCBES Car Rental Email and Supply Services

The TCBES cars can now be rented with Jeremy at tcbescar@hawaii.edu.
Although we will try our best to accommodate everyone, try booking the car as early as possible to avoid disapointment.

• TCBES 4 Runner Sign-Out Form $50/day
• TCBES Ford Escape Hybrid Sign-Out Form $30/day

We also have created a new service where TCBES students and affiliates can borrow equipment for free from TCBES. Please view the list of items on our Support Page. You can request equipment from Jeremy at tcbessup@hawaii.edu.

MS thesis defense by Geneviève Blanchet

Title

Genomic diversity of the critically-endangered 'Alalā (Corvus hawaiiensis) early and late-bottleneck

Abstract

Genetic diversity is often reduced in bottlenecked populations, which can lead to problems like inbreeding depression and reduced adaptive potential. One example of a bottlenecked species that is experiencing negative genetic consequences is the ‘alalā (Hawaiian crow; Corvus hawaiiensis). The ‘alalā suffered a century-long bottleneck, and became extinct in the wild in 2002. After decades of captive breeding, 11 individuals were successfully released back into the wild in October 2017, representing the first step in a long-term reintroduction effort. To aid this species recovery program, we have begun assessing genome-wide diversity in the ‘alalā. In this study, we used a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) capture approach to test for loss of allelic diversity and heterozygosity between two sets of samples: museum and modern. Museum specimens were collected in the early bottleneck period (circa 1890), and modern individuals were sampled during years in which the population reached its smallest size (circa 1990). Preliminary data analysis suggests no loss in overall genetic diversity – measured as the number of SNPs per bird – between groups, but genetic structuring is present between museum and modern samples. If these preliminary findings are confirmed by our on-going, in-depth analyses, this would suggest that the ‘alalā population was relatively small with low genetic diversity before the bottleneck event.

MS thesis defense by Ilana Stout

Title

Perpetuating Agricultural Heritage: Saving Seeds and Stories on Hawaiʻi Island.

Abstract

The saving and exchange of seeds and other germplasm is an essential component of in situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity. This qualitative research project identified people who keep seed on Hawaiʻi Island, collected their stories of heritage varieties of seeds, interviewed them about their motivations for seed saving and exchange, and examined their challenges. Seed savers cite a wide range of motives for keeping and sharing seed and identified specific challenges to effective seed saving here in Hawaiʻi. The findings from this study may be useful to academic and non-profit organizations that seek to encourage seed saving and enhanced seed exchange networks in the Hawaiian Islands. Strategies for further identifying and collecting the stories and germplasm of rare heritage varieties through citizen science methods are discussed.

MS Internship Presentation by Katie van Dyk

Katie van Dyk is a TCBES Internship Track student and will give a public presentation of her work on Friday May 25 at 11:00AM in Wentworth 14. The title of her talk is: "Pollination in Hawaiian Forest Birds"

Congratulation to TCBES student Jeff Stallman

TCBES master student Jeff is making news with his research on "Genome research for worldwide Smithsonian project" on Compositae (daisy family) found on Hawaiʻi Island. Great job Jeff!

Research at UH at Hilo

Very interesting research done here at UH at Hilo on was picked up by The Walstreet Journal Hawaiʻi’s Cesspools Threaten Drinking Water, Tourism Sewage from holes of human waste have state lawmakers scrambling to find a fix

Congratulations to all the people involved in this great research:

• Faculty: Steve Colbert, Jim Beets, Lisa Muehlstein
• TCBES students (at the time of project): Leilani Abaya
• PIPES: Maile Aiwohi, Evlyn Braum (UH Manoa), Rick Tabandera, Devon Aguiar, Jazmine Panelo, Bryan Tonga, Belytza Veretez, (U of Puerto Rico) - all UHH MARE unless otherwise noted
• Volunteer: Chelsea Wong (UHH MARE)
• STEM Honors, Sigma Xi: Carrie SooHoo (UHH MARE)
• EPA GRO: Serina Kahilii (UHH MARE)
• Technician: Kailea Carlson (former TCBES), Lindsay Kramer
• Puako Community Association
• South Kohala Conservation Program: Sierra Tobiason (UHH MARE, TCBES)
• The Nature Conservancy: Chad Wiggins (UHH MARE), Rebecca Most (TCBES)
• UH Manoa/TNC: Courtney Couch

TCBES Cars are Back on the Road After a few weeks of repairs, both TCBES 4Runner and Ford Escape Hybrid are back on the road! Reserve them by contacting Katie at kvandyk@hawaii.edu

Congratulations to our Fall 2017 graduates

Congratulations to our new TCBES M.S. graduates Laura Crane, Heather Nahaku Kalei, Blaine Luiz, and Hokuokahalelani Pihana.

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Koch

Congratulations to TCBES student Kathryn van Dyk

Katie is a recipient of the Hawaiʻi Audubon Society Research Grant for her project: “Important Plants for Nectarivorous Birds in Continuous and Naturally Fragmented Forest on Hawaiʻi Island”.
Way to go Katie!

10th Annual TCBES Symposium Abstracts Accepted

Aloha TCBES 'Ohana,

On behalf of the TCBES Club, it is with great pleasure that I announce abstracts are now being accepted for the 10th Annual Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Research Symposium! This year's theme is "Engaging Culture and Science in Hawaiʻi." This event will be held on April 5th and 6th in Campus Center Room 301.

Please consider submitting an abstract for either a 5 or 15 minute talk, or a poster presentation. All poster presentations will be held on Thursday, April 5th, from 5:00-7:00 PM in Campus Center Room 301.

Abstract submission closes at 11:59 PM on February 23, 2018.

Please follow the link to submit an abstract and register!