The will examine the effect of Rapid ʻ?hiʻa Death (ROD) on animal communities in Hawaiʻi with .
“This project will use advances in recording technology to continuously record over an extended period of time the entire sound-producing animal community within ʻō丑颈ʻ补 forests across Hawaiʻi Island,” said , adjunct assistant professor of tropical conservation biology and environmental science. “By using soundscape analysis tools developed within the growing field of soundscape ecology, we will be able to rapidly assess changes in the biodiversity of audible birds, insects, and amphibian species associated with the mortality of ʻō丑颈ʻ补 across the landscape.”
Paxton and , professor of biology, both members of the Listening Observatory for Hawaiian Ecosystems Bioacoustics Lab, will evaluate whether the diversity and composition of understory plant species moderates how reliant animal communities respond to the loss of a dominant forest tree species.
“The use of soundscape indices to model biodiversity following the loss of a foundation species represents a novel and relatively rapid method for assessing ecological change, and would be applicable in a range of ecosystems outside of Hawaiʻi,” Paxton said.
Serious threat to Hawaiʻi’s forest plants and animals
ROD is a fungal pathogen causing rapid and widespread mortality of ʻō丑颈ʻ补 (Metrosideros polymorpha), a foundation tree species in Hawaiian forests. ROD poses a serious threat to Hawaiʻi’s remaining native forests and the plants and animals that depend on ʻō丑颈ʻ补. ROD research has been concentrated on understanding the pathology of the disease, how ROD is spread and the impacts of ROD on ʻō丑颈ʻ补 trees.
“Despite these studies, however, there has not been an examination of how ROD is affecting animal communities reliant on ʻō丑颈ʻ补 forests, which is an important nesting substrate and food resource for both insectivorous and nectarivorous Hawaiian forest birds, 57 percent of which are threatened or endangered,” Paxton explained. “Given the foundational role of ʻō丑颈ʻ补 in Hawaiian forests as the dominant tree in the canopy, widespread or total loss of ʻō丑颈ʻ补 would likely be catastrophic for endemic Hawaiian forest birds.”
The grant award ends June 30, 2019.
For more, see the 糖心Vlog官方 Hilo news release and .
—By Alyson Kakugawa-Leong