University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� graduating senior Emily Josefina Velasquez had full-ride scholarship offers closer to home. Instead, Velasquez, who came to Hawaiʻi from Mozambique, chose ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� for its culture of environmental stewardship and community-centered science.

Among the more than 2,500 graduates in ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�’s spring 2026 commencement ceremonies, Velasquez may have traveled the farthest to reach the islands. Her journey from Mozambique in southeastern Africa to Hawaiʻi spans approximately 12,000 miles, one of the longest possible distances between two points on Earth. She said Hawaiʻi immediately felt familiar in their connections between environment, culture and community.

“I wanted to study somewhere where the love and the passion for the environment and environmental science wasn’t separate from everyday life and kind of just ingrained within the culture,” she said.

Her family is expected to travel to Hawaiʻi to attend commencement. Velasquez said she told them that they didn’t have to make the trip, but they insisted on coming, and she said she is excited to welcome them to Hawaiʻi to watch her graduate.

Raised across continents

A major in the , Velasquez was born in California before moving with her family to Nigeria at 3 months old. She later lived in Ecuador and Mozambique as her father worked on international shipping port development projects.

Before arriving in Hawaiʻi, Velasquez said she was searching for a university where science extended beyond the classroom. It was her high school English teacher at the American International School of Mozambique—where she graduated as the valedictorian—who told her what he knew about ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�.

“You can take a biology class, and they’ll teach you the same things, but it’s all about how it’s implemented,” she said. “I wanted to learn not only how the ecosystem works, but how it’s integrated within the community and the culture.”

‘I had a purpose being here’

She said �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s emphasis on environmental stewardship reminded her of the collectivist cultures she experienced growing up in Mozambique and Ecuador.

“I felt like the Hawaiian epistemology and the way the culture just so resembles what I grew up in,” she said.

At ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�, Velasquez immersed herself in research opportunities across multiple disciplines. Her work has included invasive algae research in the Galápagos Islands, invasive species studies at and marine carbon dioxide removal research through the . She has received funding and a scholarship through to present research on invasive species in Portugal.

Meet more amazing ����Vlog�ٷ� graduates

“I was just extremely busy doing things,” Velasquez said. “Joining the sailing team and joining organizations and work definitely made it not feel like I was so far away from home, but that all the work I was doing here was meaningful and like I had a purpose being here.”

Finding community in Hawaiʻi

Velasquez said the transition to Hawaiʻi was made easier through friendships she built at ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�, especially with her roommate, an international student from Switzerland and Brazil.

“Knowing that both our families are on the complete opposite side of the world, we were always there for each other,” she said.

Although she is graduating a year early, Velasquez said she plans to take time to reconnect with family and community in Mozambique before pursuing graduate school.

I haven’t gone back home for almost the entire time I’ve been here. I need to return, not just to my family but to my other community, to reconnect and reflect on why I chose this path and where everything I’ve learned can do the most good. Honestly, home is a complicated word for me since it’s not just where my family is but where I can show up, contribute, belong and wherever my curiosity takes me next.

Looking back on her time at ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�, Velasquez said the university shaped both her scientific perspective and her understanding of responsibility as a researcher.

“It definitely has shaped me to become the kind of scientist that I want to become,” she said. “It showed me that science and cultural knowledge do not exist separately.”

Oceanographers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa discovered that microbial communities—from the sunlit surface to extreme depths—in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre exhibit robust seasonal cycles. provides new insight into how high levels of biodiversity are maintained in the open ocean.

“A long-standing question in biological oceanography, which we refer to as the ‘paradox of the plankton,’ asks: How can open ocean species diversity be so vast and sustained, in a seemingly homogeneous environment like the open ocean?,” said Fuyan Li, lead author of the study and affiliate researcher in the in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa .

The blue, deep waters of the Pacific Ocean have extremely low nutrient concentrations compared to coastal areas that teem with visible life, such as kelp forests off California or coral reefs in Hawaiʻi.

“Theoretical ecology suggests that one way co-occurring species diversity can be maintained, is if shared resources, such as nutrients, are used at different times of year, thereby minimizing competition,” Li said. “Though seasonal cycles are a fundamental property of many diverse ecosystems, seasonality in the tropics is less pronounced than in temperate or polar ocean habitats.” This work was funded by the Simons Foundation project called the SCOPE.

Tracking microbes through DNA

To determine whether microbial communities at Station ALOHA, a tropical, open ocean research station 60 miles north of Oʻahu, have seasonal cycles, Li and colleagues analyzed microbial DNA in samples collected monthly over eight years, leveraging the Hawaiʻi Ocean Time-series (HOT) program. The combination of frequent sampling over a long time period, and high-resolution species identification, allowed the researchers to make these new and unprecedented open ocean observations.

They found that more than 60% of the microbial groups they tracked exhibited seasonal cycling. While these seasonal cycles diminished at depths below 150 meters, surprisingly, they remained measurable in some deep-sea microbial species at depths of nearly two and a half miles.

“Notably, very closely related species or subspecies ‘bloomed’ at different times of the year, similar to seasonal patterns observed in some terrestrial plants and animals,” Li said. “Taking turns with respect to nutrient use throughout the year seems to be a key ecological strategy for microbial communities to maintain their diversity.”

By sustaining their populations throughout the year, microbial communities consistently supply organic matter and energy to organisms higher in the food web, for example larval fish. In this way, microbes ensure the stability of the marine food web and productivity in waters across the Pacific Ocean.

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Professor Emeritus of and pioneering marine microbiologist , was as a Fellow of the European Academy of Microbiology. The recognition celebrates outstanding scientific achievement and leadership in microbiology.

DeLong is considered a trailblazer in the field of metagenomics—the study of all genetic material from all organisms in a particular environment—whose research has transformed understanding of the ocean’s microbial life. His work advanced innovative gene cloning and sequencing, allowing scientists to study complex marine microbial communities and their role in the environment without the use of traditional microbial cultures.

“I was thrilled to hear the news about Ed’s election to the European Academy of Microbiology, a well-earned honor,” said David Karl, ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa oceanography professor,DeLong’s long-time colleague and co-director of both the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education and the . “Ed and other newly elected members represent the second golden age of microbiology, one centered on microbial oceanography and ecology.”

Scientific breakthroughs

Early in DeLong’s career, he used methodologies developed by his postdoctoral research advisor Norm Pace to identify microbes “in the wild.” Together they discovered two new lineages of a major microbial group called Archaea (previously not thought to live in seawater) were abundant everywhere—from in the Pacific Ocean to Antarctica, and from the sea surface to the seafloor.

Later, new methods that DeLong’s group adapted from the Human Genome project to study microbial ecology led to the discovery that most bacteria in the upper ocean can use sunlight to generate biochemical energy using proteins called opsins. This finding revealed a widespread, previously unknown solar energy-gathering mechanism in the ocean, with significant implications for the global carbon and energy cycles.

“To be recognized and honored by world-renowned microbiologists of the European Union was unexpected, and very humbling,” DeLong said. “I believe that scientific disciplines like microbiology should have no geographic or cultural boundaries—yet in today’s political landscape there are increasing challenges to free and open international collaborations. To me, this makes recognition by the European Academy of Microbiology all the more potent of an honor.”

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A team of researchers are calling for a new generation of carefully designed ocean iron fertilization (OIF) field trials to determine whether this marine carbon dioxide (CO2) removal method can safely and effectively leverage a natural ocean process to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. Led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the authors, including two from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, argue that larger, longer studies with rigorous monitoring and clear “go/no-go” safeguards, are needed to accurately assess OIF as a potential long-term CO2 storage solution. The paper was .

“The ocean science community must explore all possible means for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and identify any unintended ecological consequences,” said David Karl, co-author, professor of and director of the in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa (SOEST). “Humans continue to pollute our planet; the time for bold action is now.”

Past OIF field studies found that relatively tiny additions of iron in some parts of the ocean can stimulate the growth of small, plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton that live in the surface ocean. These organisms use sunlight and CO2 dissolved in seawater to grow and multiply, which in turn pulls more CO2 out of the atmosphere into the surface ocean in the process. However, those early experiments were not designed to assess the efficacy, durability and feasibility of OIF, nor did they specifically evaluate the broader ecological and biogeochemical impacts of large-scale additions of iron.

The next generation of trials would need to capture phytoplankton bloom development, and the process of bloom decay, the fate of newly produced carbon, and any potential ecosystem impacts. The authors propose experiments lasting more than 3–6 months and spanning an area of about 1,000 square kilometers, with an explicit requirement to document a return to natural conditions after iron additions end.

The authors suggested the Gulf of Alaska in the Northeast Pacific as a promising location based on the region’s low-iron conditions, the availability of decades of research in the area at Ocean Station Papa, evidence of natural iron-driven blooms in the past, and physical characteristics that may help keep the iron-fertilized patch from dispersing too rapidly.

Viewed from space, vast swirls of color appear nearly every summer in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaiʻi. For years, the origins of these massive blooms of photosynthetic microbes remained a mystery. Now, led by University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� oceanographers provides the first comprehensive look at the anatomy of these events.

“This paper represents a synthesis of many different observational perspectives which, only when evaluated together, allowed us to paint the whole picture,” said Rhea Foreman, lead author of the study and researcher in the (C-MORE) in the ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� (SOEST). “It required multiple people with a range of expertises to work together in order to see the overarching ecological processes.”

Race to sample the bloom

The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is described as an ocean desert due to its low levels of nutrients. However, in late summer, a unique partnership forms between diatoms (marine microbes that live inside a glass shell) and diazotrophs (bacteria that convert nitrogen gas into a biologically usable form, essentially creating fertilizer for the system). Previous research established that summer blooms are often driven by this pairing, but beyond that, the causes of bloom initiation, sustenance and collapse were unknown.

In summer 2022, oceanographers used the R/V Kilo Moana to try and catch a bloom event. When they noticed on satellite imagery that a bloom the size of Minnesota was within range of the expedition, a race was on to investigate.

The team investigated the bloom’s microbial community, nutrient dynamics, composition of particulate matter, rates of photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, and abundances of specific functional genes. Their study revealed that the blooms are likely triggered when the seed population of diatom-diazotroph associations experience favorable conditions such as: above-average concentrations of phosphate and silicate, and a shallower mixed layer at the surface ocean. This shallow mixed layer acts to corral the photosynthetic microbes, keeping them near the surface where sunlight is abundant—something they require for efficient nitrogen fixation.

“This comprehensive expedition required careful planning, skillful execution, effective teamwork and a bit of luck—we went four-for-four!” said David Karl, senior author on the study, Victor and Peggy Brandstrom Pavel Professor of Oceanography, and director of C-MORE.

Understanding lifecycles

The study also relied on the historical context provided by the ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� (HOT) program that has conducted monthly monitoring of the physical, biological and chemical characteristics at a nearby open ocean field station north of the Hawaiian Islands since 1988.

“By comparing the 2022 expedition data to the HOT data, which shows baseline conditions at Station ALOHA, we were able to distinguish unique bloom characteristics from normal background conditions and that helped us understand the lifecycle of the bloom,” said Foreman.

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The University of Hawaiʻi at ��ā�ԴDz�’s celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 25, marking a decade and a half of cutting-edge discovery and sustainable design.

Opened in 2010, the 26,997-square-foot facility has become a hub for groundbreaking research on marine microbes—organisms that play a vital role in the health of the planet’s oceans and climate. The state-of-the-art building houses laboratories, offices and a conference center designed to foster collaboration among scientists across disciplines and time zones. Its 50-seat auditorium supports video conferencing and live webcasting, connecting researchers around the world.

In 2012, C-MORE Hale was the first research laboratory building in Hawaiʻi to achieve LEED Platinum certification for environmental design. The facility incorporates energy-efficient systems and low-flow plumbing. It also features smart lighting controls and water recycling technologies that reduce potable water use by nearly half. The building’s innovative design earned multiple awards, including the Kukulu Hale Award for new commercial projects in 2011.

Leading research in microbial oceanography

David M. Karl, C-MORE’s founding director, member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor of at ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa, was instrumental in securing the 10-year, $36.8 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 2006 that led to its establishment as an NSF Science and Technology Center. The center unites specialists in biology, chemistry, oceanography and engineering from six partner institutions. Together, these teams investigate the structure, diversity and metabolic function of marine microbes—from those that use sunlight to generate energy to others that recycle organic matter and drive global nutrient cycles.

Beyond the facility itself, Karl and C-MORE have positioned ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa as a global leader in microbial oceanography by successfully establishing a link between molecular-level biology and large-scale ocean processes. His pioneering research on marine microbes and their role in global biogeochemical cycles has shaped modern understanding of how ocean life regulates Earth’s climate. Today, Karl continues to play a key role in advancing microbial oceanography worldwide.

“The opportunities that have been sustained by the investment in C-MORE Hale have put Hawaiʻi on the map of ocean research,” Karl said. “����Vlog�ٷ� is now recognized as one of the top institutions in the world to study microbial oceanography, and we are also training the next generation of leaders. The future is today.”

Modeling the future of Earth’s oceans

C-MORE’s integrated research program is organized around four themes: microbial biodiversity, metabolism and nutrient flow, remote and continuous sensing of ocean processes, and ecosystem modeling and prediction. This approach allows scientists to explore how marine microorganisms influence climate, carbon storage and energy transfer within ocean ecosystems. The center’s work has advanced predictive models of how marine environments respond to environmental change, establishing ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa as a key contributor to global ocean science.

“C-MORE Hale encompasses all the success in microbial oceanography and David Karl is the founder for microbial oceanography,” ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa Interim Provost Vassilis L. Syrmos said. “He has brought funding—tens of millions of dollars to support this from the National Science Foundation, from the Moore Foundation, so private, public, federal, state, you name it. It is an unbelievable project. He has created a program that is second to none, not only here in Hawaiʻi and in the continent, but in the world.”

Karl was instrumental in the establishment of an open ocean time-series, called the Hawaiʻi Ocean Time-Series, as a sentinel for observing the effects of climate on the structure and function of microbial communities. C-MORE’s long-term research station, , located about 60 miles north of Oʻahu, was designated a Milestones in Microbiology Site by the American Society for Microbiology in 2015. The recognition honored ����Vlog�ٷ�’s historic contributions to understanding marine microbial life and its role in maintaining planetary habitability.

Building Hawaiʻi’s future in ocean science

In addition to its research mission, C-MORE supports education and outreach programs that inspire future ocean scientists and engage the public in microbial ecology. These efforts span from pre-college curricula and teacher training to graduate and postdoctoral research opportunities, helping to strengthen the next generation of oceanographers.

C-MORE Hale’s naming under the Daniel K. Inouye Legacy Program honors the late senator’s lifelong commitment to advancing science and education in Hawaiʻi.

During C-MORE Hale’s 15th anniversary, many students and staff are aboard the R/V Kilo Moana, a 186-foot ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa research vessel that supports the center’s oceanographic missions by serving as a mobile platform for sampling, experiments and data collection at sea. Karl said a formal celebration to mark the milestone is planned for later this fall.

When the Kīlauea volcano erupted in May 2018 on Hawaiʻi Island, an enormous amount of ash was released into the atmosphere in a plume nearly 5 miles high. A new study by an international team of researchers—including from the University of Hawaiʻi at ����ԴDz� (SOEST)—revealed that a rare and large summertime phytoplankton bloom in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre in summer 2018 was prompted by ash from Kīlauea falling on the ocean surface approximately 1,200 miles west of the volcano. The research was published in .

“The scale and duration of this bloom were both massive, and probably the largest ever reported for the North Pacific,” said David Karl, study co-author, Victor and Peggy Brandstrom Pavel Professor and director of the in SOEST. “Our study shows the connection between the eruption of Kīlauea and bloom formation far from the volcano. This can be used to refine our understanding of phytoplankton bloom dynamics and to improve our understanding of the ocean’s carbon cycle.”

Despite being one of the most active volcanoes in the world with multiple eruptions in the past 40 years, Kīlauea’s volcanic ash had not previously been linked to open ocean phytoplankton blooms. The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea was one of the largest in more than 200 years, injecting millions of cubic feet of molten lava into the waters off Hawaiʻi Island, and releasing an estimated 50 kilotons per day of sulfur dioxide and about 77 kilotons per day of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Kīlauea’s impact near and far

Previous research led by ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� oceanographers showed that as lava flowed into the ocean, it warmed nutrient-rich bottom waters, making them more buoyant. The nutrient-rich deep water rising to the sunlit surface stimulated phytoplankton growth, resulting in an extensive plume of microbes offshore of Hawaiʻi Island. Volcanic ash can be transported much farther distances by winds, especially during explosive eruptions that inject materials high into the atmosphere.

“After the 2018 eruption, the prevailing winds transported ash particles to the west,” said Wee Cheah, study corresponding-author and senior lecturer in the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Universiti Malaya. “The trajectories of the ash were recorded by Earth-orbiting satellites that detect changes in the optical clarity of the atmosphere, the so-called aerosol optical depth. Depending on the density, size, and shape of the particulate matter and local atmospheric conditions, especially rainfall, the ash eventually falls out of the atmosphere and into the surface ocean.”

In addition to tracking atmospheric transport of ash across the Pacific Ocean, study lead author Chun Hoe Chow, associate professor in the Department of Marine Environmental Informatics at the National Taiwan Ocean University, and co-authors also used satellite data to detect ocean color, an indirect measure of the presence or absence of phytoplankton, which revealed a massive bloom near the dateline. The team conducted a comprehensive analysis of the observations and investigated physical conditions to explain both the timing and the location of the surface bloom, a feature that is not typical in this region.

“The waters in the open ocean of the Pacific are nutrient depleted and the addition of volcanic ash, especially iron in the ash, and to a lesser extent other trace elements and possibly phosphate, can stimulate the growth of marine phytoplankton, especially the so-called nitrogen-fixing microbes that can growth in the absence of additional nitrogen,” said Karl.

For the entire story, .

Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have made an exciting : a virus found in the ocean called FloV-SA2 carries the genetic instructions for making part of a ribosome—a crucial component in cells that turns genetic information into proteins. This is the first time a virus that infects eukaryotic organisms (such as plants, animals, and fungi) has been found to have this capability.

Viruses are packets of genetic material surrounded by a protein coating. They replicate by getting inside of a cell where they take over the cell’s replication machinery and direct it to make more viruses. Simple viruses rely entirely on the host cell’s materials, while larger, more complex viruses can make some of their own components.

“We were excited to discover that this virus encodes a ribosomal protein called eL40,” said Julie Thomy, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher in the and in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa (SOEST). “It makes sense that a virus could benefit from altering this critical piece of cell machinery, but there was just no evidence for it in any eukaryotic virus.”

The virus was discovered as part of a larger effort by members of the in SOEST to isolate and characterize new viruses that live in the ocean. A former oceanography graduate student, Christopher Schvarcz, sampled water from Station ALOHA 60 miles north of Oʻahu, and subsequently isolated dozens of viruses. Among them was FloV-SA2, which infects a species of phytoplankton called Florenciella.

“Viruses are integral to the functioning of ocean ecosystems, influencing biological productivity, shifting community interactions, and driving evolutionary change,” said Grieg Steward, oceanography faculty member overseeing the project. “This discovery reveals new details about the complex ways viruses in the ocean interact with phytoplankton, which are the foundation of ocean ecosystems, but it also opens new avenues in our understanding of the fundamentals of viral biology.”

The scientists expect that FloV-SA2 will be a valuable model system for investigating new mechanisms by which viruses manipulate cell metabolism and redirect host resources and energy.

Impacting metabolic processes

Previous have shown that, like FloV-SA2, other so-called “giant” viruses code for proteins involved in a wide range of metabolic processes. Some, such as those involved in or sensing light, seem like surprising functions to find in a virus. These genes must help the virus replicate, but it is not always clear how. The researchers are now focused on figuring out the details of how and when this protein is used by the virus.

“Our working hypothesis is that by inserting one of its own proteins into the ribosome, the virus alters this key piece of machinery to favor the production of virus proteins, over the usual cell proteins,” said Thomy.

To address gaps in ocean data and modeling efforts and better understand ocean carbon, oxygen and heat, oceanographers at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa were awarded $4.5 million from the nonprofit Schmidt Sciences. They are team members on two of five projects by and the to join the (OBVI).

The five projects will form the inaugural membership of OBVI, which has committed $45 million over the next five years. The research will address the interlinked questions of how rapidly the ocean is gaining heat and carbon while losing oxygen, and the resilience of marine ecosystems in a rapidly warming world.

“This was a competitive search for the best science on the planet and oceanographers at the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa came to play!” said Dave Karl, director of the in SOEST and member of the OBVI advisory board.

SUBSEA project $3.8M

The SUBSEA project will examine how marine organisms in the ocean’s twilight zone—a dim layer roughly 200–500 feet below the ocean’s surface—alter the absorption and circulation of carbon dioxide in ocean gyres (large, circular currents) from the North Pacific to the South Atlantic.

“Oceanographers are having a tough time predicting how life in ocean gyres will respond to climate change, but we know nutrients will play a deciding role,” said Nick Hawco, assistant professor of oceanography and ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa project lead. “Compared to the gyres in the Southern hemisphere, the North Pacific receives a larger supply of nutrients from the atmosphere. This is an amazing opportunity to compare and contrast how the ocean gyres adjust to changes in nutrient supply that we might see in the future.”

The project team includes ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa Professor of oceanography Angelicque White, and Benedetto Barone, a ����Vlog�ٷ� research oceanographer.

InMOS project $700K

Oceans help mitigate climate change by absorbing heat and carbon, but are experiencing a triple threat from warming, decreasing oxygen, and increasing acidification that may cause harm to marine ecosystems. The second project, InMOS will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop estimates of sources and sinks of ocean heat, carbon and oxygen for the past 35 years. Project members aim to both reduce uncertainties in these budgets and understand the physical and biogeochemical processes affecting these interlinked cycles.

Seth Bushinsky, ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa assistant professor of oceanography and InMOS project team member will lead the effort to develop new marine observational products based on large data sets of ocean carbon, oxygen and nutrient measurements.

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–By Marcie Grabowski

Four University of Hawaiʻi experts and leaders have been appointed by Gov. Josh Green to the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Marine Affairs. ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno, Director Makena Coffman Vassilis Syrmos, ����Vlog�ٷ� Office of Land and Ocean Conservation Futures Director Suzanne Case were named to the committee on June 10, 2024.

They will join ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa Daniel K. Inouye Director David Karl who is serving as committee chair. The formation of the committee and Karl’s appointment was announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2024.

“With Professor Karl’s leadership, I am confident that these distinguished individuals bring invaluable expertise and commitment to the preservation of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s marine resources,” said Green. “Their contributions will be crucial in guiding the state toward a sustainable and thriving marine ecosystem.”

Karl has been working since April to recruit members of the committee. He will convene members to plan and execute on the principles of the blue economy and collaborate with stakeholders, including �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s Congressional Delegation, to develop tangible recommendations for sustainable ocean-related policies and initiatives. According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem.”

“We’ve recruited many of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s top leaders from the field of marine conservation and sustainability,” explained Karl. “Today’s announcement marks the start of the next stage in our work.”

Other members of the committee representing government, business and community-based organizations include:

• Greg Asner, director, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Arizona State University
• Gregory Barbour, executive director, Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority
• Dawn Chang, chairperson, Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources
• Kisan Jo, executive vice president, Retail and Wealth Markets, Central Pacific Bank
• DreanaLee Kalili, deputy director, Harbors Division, Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation
• Charles Littnan, director, Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center, NOAA
• Kuʻuhaku Park, senior vice president, Government and Community Relations, Matson Navigation Inc.
• Greg Rocheleau, chief executive officer, Makai Ocean Engineering
• Patrick Sullivan, president and CEO, Oceanit
• Jennifer Walsh, senior vice president and provost, Hawaiʻi Pacific University
• Andy Winer, executive vice president, Strategies 360

Green expressed confidence in the expertise and dedication of the newly appointed members and emphasized the importance of their contributions to the preservation and sustainable management of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s marine resources.

Gov. Josh Green marked Earth Day 2024 by announcing the appointment of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Charles “Chip” Fletcher, as special advisor for Climate and Resilience and David Karl, as chair of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Marine Affairs. These appointments signify Green’s commitment to addressing critical environmental challenges and advancing initiatives for sustainable development in the state.

“Amid the challenges of climate change, Earth Day reminds us of the importance of proactive environmental action,” said Green. “With the appointments of Dr. Chip Fletcher and Dr. David Karl, we’re reinforcing our commitment to sustainability and resilience in Hawaiʻi. Their expertise will drive initiatives to protect our communities and natural resources for generations to come. Together, we’re shaping a brighter, more sustainable future for our keiki.”

Fletcher, currently serving as the interim dean of the (SOEST), brings extensive expertise in climate change, coastal community resiliency, and natural coastal systems.

Fletcher will play a pivotal role in advising the Governor on issues related to climate adaptation, drawing upon his years of experience and dedication to environmental stewardship.

“I am honored to serve as Special Advisor for Climate and Resilience and look forward to working closely with Gov. Green to address the urgent challenges posed by climate change,” Fletcher said. “Together, we will strive to ensure that Hawaiʻi remains at the forefront of climate resilience efforts, protecting our communities and natural resources for future generations.”

Karl, a distinguished professor of and director of the Daniel K. Inouye , will lead efforts to consolidate planning and execution on the blue economy, fostering collaboration among stakeholders and developing actionable recommendations to support sustainable ocean-related policies and initiatives.

“I am deeply honored to accept the role of chair of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Marine Affairs,” said Karl. “Together, we will harness the expertise and resources available to us to advance the new blue economy, promoting economic diversification and environmental stewardship.”

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Researchers may have a new way to monitor the health of reefs around Hawaiʻi. A study co-led by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa doctoral student revealed that each type of coral and algae from a coral reef produced a unique suite of chemical compounds was published in . Many of these new metabolites haven’t been studied before. They could provide important insight into how healthy the reef organisms are.

In a coral reef ecosystem, macroalgae, also called limu, coral and crustose coralline algae (a hard, rocky covering that grows on coral reefs that helps keep the reef strong and provides homes for other creatures) are the primary producers that act as the underwater equivalent of plants in a forest. These groups fuel the ecosystem by converting sunlight into energy and play a variety of other roles in the environment through the microorganisms they harbor and the different chemical compounds they produce.

“Together, microorganisms and organic chemicals in the ecosystem can tell us about coral reef health,” said Sean Swift, co-lead author of the study and marine biology doctoral candidate in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa (SOEST). “This provides a window into how primary producers react to disease or environmental stress, and how these organisms maintain a healthy microbiome in dynamic coral reef systems.”

Assessing microbial diversity

As part of a broad microbial research effort in the watershed of Waimea Bay on Oʻahu, organized through the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa , Swift and a team of scientific divers, including undergraduate and graduate students, collected more than 100 samples of coral reef organisms from five sites around Waimea Bay.

The researchers extracted microbial DNA from the samples and identified more than 36,000 unique microbial groups associated with larger host organisms. Limu tended to harbor microbes that are equipped to break down large organic molecules, like the complex carbohydrates that are typically exuded by limu. Coral and crustose coralline algae were found to harbor microorganisms associated with the recycling of inorganic nutrients, such as nitrogen, which may be a clue as to how corals persist in nutrient poor waters.

Using technique to monitor Lahaina waters

Some of the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa researchers involved in this project are now assessing the aftermath of the Maui wildfires by studying the effects that urban fire runoff may be having on nearby coral reef ecosystems.

“We will use these techniques to assess reef health and identify fire-derived contaminants in environmental samples, like water and sediment, and in the tissues of reef organisms such as corals, algae, and fish,” said Craig Nelson, lead investigator on the study and professor with the and in SOEST. “Our main focus is to use these techniques to understand how fire-related contaminants entering the waters around Lahaina may be affecting reef health.”

Organic compounds provide additional health info

In collaboration with the Dorrestein Lab at the University of California (UC), San Diego, the team analyzed the samples using high-throughput organic chemistry techniques that are known as “untargeted metabolomics” and identified more than 10,000 distinct chemical features.

“Each compound might be a food source for microbes, or a signaling compound used for communication, or a defense compound that deters competitors,” said Helena Mannochio-Russo, co-lead author and postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego.

“These unique compounds likely represent undiscovered chemical diversity,” said Nelson. “These coralline algae are well known for inducing settlement in larval corals and other organisms, and our previous work has similarly demonstrated that they also release many novel compounds into the water. Unraveling the mystery of these chemical cues is the next frontier in marine ecology.”

A team of researchers from the University of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� at ����ԴDz� are sampling West Maui reefs to assess the impact from the toxic ash from the devastating Lahaina wildfire. More than 2,200 structures were destroyed in the fire including gas stations, power lines and numerous boats in the Lahaina harbor. The adjacent coral reef ecosystems possibly impacted by the fire support subsistence, recreational and commercial fishing, particularly for the large Native Hawaiian population.

The ����Vlog�ٷ� team is working collaboratively with the community and county, state and federal experts to identify the pollutants and assess their abundance and ultimately determine if they will alter the ecosystem and affect its resilience in the future. The team was awarded a rapid response grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the immediate impacts from the contaminants created by the fire.

“We are measuring a number of water quality parameters, but importantly, we are connecting water quality to metrics of reef health to understand how the ecosystem may respond to potential wildfire stressors,” said Andrea Kealoha, a new faculty member with the ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� (SOEST) Department of Oceanography who is leading the team. Kealoha lives on Maui and previously led the Water Quality Lab at ����Vlog�ٷ� Maui College.

She assembled a team of experts at SOEST, including Craig Nelson with the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education and the (�Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Sea Grant), Eileen Nalley with �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Sea Grant, and Nick Hawco with the Department of Oceanography.

The testing will identify the pollutants such as copper, lead and organic contaminants associated with burned materials, particularly wood and plastics.

The team is planning multiple sampling campaigns over the next year to document reef health and contaminant loads. While this grant focuses primarily on water quality and reef health, the team is also working to address specific community concerns about the potential accumulation of contaminants in reef fish.

The health of the coral reefs and nearshore ecosystems are intimately tied to the overall health of the community, and as islanders with deep cultural and economic ties to the marine environment, there is virtually no separation between human health, ecosystem health, and the health of the nearshore marine resources that people rely on for subsistence, recreation, and commercial fishing.

“We’re preparing for the first big rains this winter,” said Hawco, who was involved in a rapid response effort to the 2018 Thomas Fire in Southern California. “That’s when we expect much of the burned soils, ash, metals, and contaminants to reach the ocean and have the biggest impact on the reefs.”

The needs of the community and providing answers to critical questions around the future health of the environment and community are the top priority for researchers from the university and all of their collaborators on Maui, who are working together to serve the community.

“Collaborations are key with this effort,” said Kealoha. “There is no person, organization, or agency with all the expertise and resources to address these questions. We will continue to engage and communicate with partners in west Maui to ensure that knowledge from the community plays a role in guiding these research efforts.”

There are numerous partners and collaborators on this project, including the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the West Maui Watershed and Coastal Management program led by Tova Callendar, the Hawaiʻi Department of Health, the ����Vlog�ٷ� Maui College water quality lab, Hui o Ka Wai Ola, the Pacific Whale Foundation, and members of the Lahaina community.

–By Cindy Knapman and Marcie Grabowski

Hawaiian land snails, most of which are found nowhere else in the world, are among some of the most threatened animals on the planet. A collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources to conserve endangered Hawaiian land snails is one of six new projects funded by a partnership between the (NSF) and the .

The three-year, $1,595,518 project will inform and identify capacity shortfalls to advance conservation science and action for endangered Hawaiian land snails. With nearly 60% of Hawaiian land snails already extinct, research to address immediate conservation action for the remaining few is urgently needed.

The research team, including Kiana Frank, assistant professor at the (PBRC) in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa (SOEST), will identify host plant preferences, characterize feeding ecology and determine primary microbial food resources that are critical for enhancing captive rearing and wild propagation of endangered land snails in Hawaiʻi.

“This project is strongly aligned with values and mission of PBRC and (Center for Microbiome Analysis through Island Knowledge & Investigation) as well as aligned to the strategic vision of the university by forwarding innovative and applicable work at the intersections of the environment and microbiome to support stewardship and sustainability of environmental resources,” said Frank, who is a co-investigator on the project.

Support from NSF and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation will be used to address major knowledge gaps regarding endemic land snail feeding ecology. Specifically, the project will examine the microbial food resources found on native plants on which snails live and develop culturing methods to grow the preferred plants and microbial communities to improve the efficiency of captive rearing. Knowledge gained from this will have benefits for restoring native ecosystems into which captive-reared snails can be released, benefiting conservation for a diversity of Hawaiian organisms that rely on native ecosystems and the services they provide.

In collaboration with the team, Frank’s role on the project is threefold: as a researcher, to support the environmental microbiome component; as an educator, to support the next generation training program which will be run synergistically with her ; and as a science communicator, to bridge connections between Indigenous ways of knowing and western science in both practice and application to improve conservation outcomes.

“This award will allow our team to develop the foundation for transforming conservation of Hawaiian land snails in the coming decade, and provide deeper insights into how plants, snails and microbes interact in �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s diverse native ecosystems,” said Kenneth Hayes, director of the Pacific Center for Molecular Biodiversity at Bishop Museum and lead investigator for the project.

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In January 2022, the largest underwater volcanic eruption of this century led to a dramatic phytoplankton bloom north of the island of Tongatapu, in the Kingdom of Tonga. A team of scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Oregon State University revealed in a recently published that the bloom of microscopic marine life covered an area nearly 40 times the size of the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi within 48 hours after the eruption.

����Vlog�ٷ� ��ā�ԴDz�’s (SOEST)-led team, analyzed satellite images of various kinds—true color, emission of red and infrared radiation, and light reflection at the sea surface—and determined that the deposition of volcanic ash was likely the most important source of nutrients responsible for phytoplankton growth.

“Even though the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai eruption was submarine, a large plume of ash reached a height of tens of kilometers into the atmosphere,” said Benedetto Barone, lead author of the study and research oceanographer at the (C-MORE) in SOEST. “The ash fallout supplied nutrients that stimulated the growth of phytoplankton, which reached concentrations well beyond the typical values observed in the region.”

Phytoplankton are the tiny photosynthetic organisms that produce oxygen and serve as the base of the marine food web. The growth of these microbes is often limited by the low concentrations of nutrients dissolved in the surface ocean, but phytoplankton can increase rapidly when nutrients become available.

“We were impressed to observe the large region with high chlorophyll concentrations within such a short time after the eruption,” said Dave Karl, study co-author and director of C-MORE. “This shows how quickly the ecosystem can respond to nutrient fertilization.”

“A casual observer might see seemingly very different parts of the environment—in this case, a volcano producing a large eruption and a major shift in the ecology of the oceans nearby,” said Ken Rubin, study co-author and volcanologist in the SOEST . “However, our observations illustrate the broad interconnectedness and interdependence of different aspects of the environment, perhaps even indicating an under-appreciated link between volcanism and shallow marine ecosystems globally.”

Lessons from 2018 Kīlauea eruption

Three of the study authors had previously assessed and sampled a smaller phytoplankton bloom that was linked with the Kīlauea eruption of 2018, which highlighted the potential impacts of volcanic eruptions on ocean ecosystems.

“When I heard of the Tonga eruption, it was fairly straightforward to modify the computer code that I had written to analyze the satellite measurements around Hawaiʻi to determine the impact of the Tonga eruption on the nearby ocean ecosystem,” said Barone. “From the first moment of seeing the results of the analysis, it was clear that there had been a fast phytoplankton response in a large region.”

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–By Marcie Grabowski

The University of Hawaiʻi System has received more than $427 million from the (NSF) over a 10-year period from fiscal year 2012 through 2021 for cutting-edge research in a variety of fields. On August 30, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� to learn more about the world-class research conducted by faculty, students and staff.

Panchanathan is a computer scientist and engineer, and the 15th director of NSF, a $8.8 billion independent federal agency and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation and STEM education.

“The National Science Foundation essentially is responsible for unleashing great ideas and talent all across our nation, and in the state of Hawaiʻi, there is tremendous talent and ideas,” said Panchanathan. “There is also amazing context. If you look at the domain of sustainability, or if you want to understand climate and oceanography, and understanding astronomy, here is a place that is a living laboratory. …The University of Hawaiʻi and other institutions in the islands are doing a fantastic job.”

In FY 2021, ����Vlog�ٷ� was receiving the most funding from NSF, ranking higher than Harvard University and Duke University.

“We are grateful that the National Science Foundation awards an average of more than $42 million annually to ����Vlog�ٷ� research projects over the past 10 years. This is a testament to the high quality of research being conducted throughout the ����Vlog�ٷ� System by our world-class faculty, students and staff,” said Vassilis L. Syrmos, ����Vlog�ٷ� vice president for research and innovation.

����Vlog�ٷ� hosted Panchanathan’s visit at C-MORE Hale on the ����ԴDz� campus. Several faculty members presented their NSF-funded research:

• —Professor David Karl, ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST)
• —Professor Angelicque White, SOEST
• (EPSCoR)/—Hawaiʻi EPSCoR Director Gwen Jacobs and Professor Jason Leigh, director of the ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�
• NSF CAREER: Soil Pedogenesis, Agroecology, and Their Interactions—Assistant Professor Noa Lincoln, ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� Indigenous Crops and Cropping Systems
• Ola I Ka ʻAina: Reviving Ecosystems Utilizing Science, Math and Indigenous Knowledge—Associate Professor Esther Widiasih, ����Vlog�ٷ� West Oʻahu
• Hoʻomalu Haleleʻa: Community-led Innovation for Integrated Flood Resilience—Associate Professor Mehana Vaughan, ����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz�

—By Marc Arakaki

The keys to saving endangered species and improving the ecology of our communities may be found in thousands of microbiomes and microbes examined by researchers from the ocean to the summit of the Waimea Valley watershed on Oʻahu.

A team of researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (SOEST) conducted this monumental field expedition by sampling more than 3,000 microbes and microbiomes from the ocean of Waimea Bay to the deepest part of Waimea Valley. Their investigation revealed three key discoveries: microbes follow the food web, most of the microbial diversity in a watershed is maintained within the soil and stream water and the local distribution of a microbe predicts how it is distributed globally. Their findings were published recently in the .

Plants and animals are each host to anywhere from dozens to thousands of different microbes, collectively known as microbiomes. They metabolize our food, detoxify contaminants and help fight off disease. Microbes also occupy every habitat around us, but most microbiomes of plants and animals are not present at birth and are acquired. Researchers analyzed where plants and animals acquire microbiomes and where microbes live outside of their hosts.

“Bioblitz” of wide variety of samples

The research team conducted a microbiome “bioblitz”—a near complete census of all environmental substrates and possible hosts to microbes within the watershed. They took more than 3,000 samples from the wet summit of Puʻu Kainapuaʻa, the low floodplain of Waimea Valley and even the clear waters of Waimea Bay. Researchers gathered samples from soil; stream and sea water; animals, including rats, crayfish, mosquitoes and sea urchins; and plants, including trees, ferns and algae; and much more. They extracted and sequenced more than 800 million microbial DNA “barcodes,” to determine which microbes were present where.

“Understanding sources of shared microbial diversity in ecosystems allows us to better understand the origins and assembly processes of symbiotic microbes and their role in preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services,” said Anthony Amend, lead author of the study and associate professor in (PBRC). “If we want to restore native plants and animals to an area, we may need to think about restoring the source environments for their microbiomes as well. Microbes are yet another way that organisms are connected to the environment.”

Key findings

When the team assessed where the largest diversity of microbes was found and where there were fewer species, the structure followed the food web—many types in soil and water, fewer in plants and fewer still in animals.

“Further, microbes that were found in animals tended to be a subset of the microbes associated with plants and the microbes on plants tended to be a subset of the microbes in soil, water, and sediment,” said Sean Swift, study co-author and doctoral student in the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa . “It’s as if plants assemble their microbiome from the environment and then animals select their microbiome from that of plants. Microbiomes of organisms are generally subsets of those that are lower on the food chain.”

One obvious means of assembling a microbiome is to acquire microbes from a related host—as a human mother shares her microbiome with an infant, for example.

“However, this model is insufficient to sustain microbiomes across a dynamic landscape,” said Nicole Hynson, associate professor in PBRC at SOEST. “Many plants and animals are sparse, seasonal or ephemeral, requiring that their symbiotic microbes be capable of residing at times in alternate nearby hosts or environments. We found that soil, sediment and water serve as reservoirs for microbial diversity—providing environmental waiting rooms for microbes to colonize hosts when they are available.”

Another key finding is that the local distribution of a microbial species predicts its global distribution.

“Microbes that occur in only one or two organisms or environments in Waimea Valley are unlikely to be widespread globally,” said Craig Nelson, co-author and associate research professor in the Daniel K. Inouye and . “Some microbes were widespread in Waimea and are presumably adaptable to all sorts of hosts and habitats. Our analyses demonstrated that those generalist microbes were also most widely recovered from diverse habitats across the globe.”

The recent work shines light on the diversity and distribution of microbiomes at a landscape scale, an approach made possible by the unique structure and habitat diversity of Hawaiian watersheds.

The ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa research team included experts from SOEST, , and .

����Vlog�ٷ� ����ԴDz� research team members:

• Anthony S. Amend—PBRC in SOEST and botany in School of Life Sciences
• Sean O. I. Swift—Marine Biology Graduate Program
• John L. Darcy—botany
• Mahdi Belcaid—Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology and Department of Information and Computer Sciences
• Craig E. Nelson—Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education and Hawaiʻi Sea Grant
• Nicolas Cetraro—PBRC
• Kiana Frank—PBRC
• Kacie Kajihara—PBRC
• Terrance G. McDermot—PBRC
• Margaret McFall-Ngai—PBRC
• Matthew Medeiros—PBRC
• Camilo Mora—College of Social Sciences
• Kirsten K. Nakayama—PBRC
• Nhu H. Nguyen—College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
• Randi L. Rollins—zoology in School of Life Sciences
• Peter Sadowski—Department of Information and Computer Sciences
• Wesley Sparagon—Marine Biology Graduate Program
• Melisandre A. Tefit—PBRC
• Joanne Y. Yew—PBRC
• Danyel Yogi—PBRC
• Nicole A. Hynson—PBRC

The University of Hawaiʻi Red Hill Task Force has launched a that displays data on potential fuel-based contaminants in water screened by ����Vlog�ٷ� experts and is intended to help the public better understand the quality of their tap water. The interactive dashboard allows the public to track water sample findings over time and provides visual maps and graphs used for screening analyses as well as downloadable data.

The ����Vlog�ٷ� Red Hill Task Force operates out of the (WRRC), which is leading water quality analysis and method development, and is coordinating the sampling and analysis with partners at and the .

New screening method

The fluorescence spectroscopy method used by ����Vlog�ٷ� researchers is designed as a preliminary screen that is complementary to more selective EPA approved methods. The benefit of the fluorescence approach is that it allows for the rapid screening of a large number of samples for potential contamination, taking as little as five minutes per sample. The caveat is that fluorescence-based methods are not specific to petroleum products. Rather, it is measuring the fluorescence produced by one or more chemicals typically present in fuel.

The method flags samples with trace concentrations of dissolved contaminants, as low as 10 parts per billion. This is lower than the Hawaiʻi Department of Health (HDOH) Environmental Action Level (EAL) of 266 parts per billion Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH). While fluorescence spectroscopy has long been used to track oil spills in the ocean, this may be the first time it has been applied to household tap water, according to the ����Vlog�ٷ� researchers. Data presented on the Tap Water Screening Dashboard indicate the presence of contaminants, but do not provide information about the source of the potential contamination.

For positive detections, follow-up targeted testing by an EPA-certified lab is recommended. A positive detection using fluorescence spectroscopy is like getting a report of a shadow on an X-ray. This would prompt follow up tests to confirm the result and provide more specific information. The interpretation of results would take into consideration various risk factors. The preliminary screening results displayed on the dashboard enable proactive communication and coordination with regulatory agencies and gives the public near real time access to data on their drinking water. The university is in ongoing discussions with HDOH about collecting paired samples to enable streamlined follow up for positive detections.

“Our research fills a critical analytical capacity gap in the state of Hawaiʻi to identify, quantify and screen for contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbons,” said Tom Giambelluca, WRRC director. “Currently, the existing monitoring framework in Hawaiʻi in response to the Red Hill water crisis relies on off-island analysis of water samples for fuel detection with turnaround times of up to four weeks.”

The method used by the ����Vlog�ٷ� task force enables rapid screening of large numbers of samples at low cost, and results are ready within a few days of sampling, according to Giambelluca.

“This rapid turnaround time for sample collection, laboratory analysis and reporting of results to the community and regulatory agencies enables faster response to the contamination crisis and can also trigger actions to safeguard public and environmental health and the integrity of drinking water and environmental resources,” said Giambelluca.

Accessible and transparent data

A preliminary finding from the screening is the detection of fluorescence resembling JP-5 in a small percentage of Navy system tap water samples. These positive detections were not uniform over space or consistent through time, but indicate households or neighborhoods where follow-up water quality analysis would be valuable. The ����Vlog�ٷ� task force researchers have been analyzing community-contributed samples since November 2021 and collecting samples since February 2022. Of those samples, there have not been any positive detections in tap waters from households receiving water from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.

“In addition to tap water screening, future work targeting groundwater and other environmental samples could lead to a better understanding of how contaminants move underground across space and time, change and interact with the environment, and impact ecosystems and public health over time. Characterizing the spatial and temporal patterns of the contamination can help us understand the underlying processes driving these patterns,” said Giambelluca.

University researchers formed the task force in December 2021 in response to the contamination of the drinking water supply from the Red Hill shaft on Oʻahu. The dashboard allows for open and transparent exchange between ����Vlog�ٷ� researchers and the communities they serve.

����Vlog�ٷ� the .

Two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty members, atmospheric scientist Bin Wang and oceanographer David Karl, were named in the top 25 researchers internationally according to the . Based on a meticulous examination of 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph, the rankings report on the impact of research published by scientists in 21 disciplines.

Wang and Karl were ranked among more than 9,198 profiles in the environmental sciences discipline—placing them in the top 0.2% of researchers worldwide.

“These two world class scientists exemplify not only excellence in research and the search for truth, but also a thoughtful, caring, and nurturing attitude toward their students and colleagues,” said Chip Fletcher, interim dean of the ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa (SOEST). “Bin and Dave are known far and wide as outstanding teachers and mentors who express a genuine kindness, a holistic love for our Earthly home, and a deep concern for the future of humanity. We are indeed blessed to know them as friends and collaborators.”

Bin Wang

Wang, ranked No. 13 internationally and No. 7 in the nation, is an emeritus professor who has been with the (formerly Department of Meteorology) at ����Vlog�ٷ� Mānoa since 1987. He is a leading meteorologist specializing in climate and atmospheric dynamics. Among his research interests are variability and predictability of Asian-Australian monsoons, climate predictions, tropical cyclones and El Niño – Southern Oscillation dynamics.

The ranking reported that Wang’s publications have more than 63,000 citations. Active in the science community, he has organized numerous international workshops and conferences and has been serving on scientific advisory committees in his field. Wang is among the most influential scientists in monsoon research worldwide and in development of meteorological sciences and climate predictions in the Asia-Pacific region.

David Karl

Karl, ranked No. 25 in the world and No. 13 nationally, is the Victor and Peggy Brandstrom Pavel Professor of Microbial and director of the . As a microbial oceanographer, he has studied the distribution and metabolic activities of microorganisms at various sites in the global ocean from the equator to both poles and from the surface to the greatest ocean depths.

In 1988, he co-founded the program as a sentinel for observing the effects of climate on the structure and function of microbial communities. He has spent more than 1,000 days conducting research at sea including 23 expeditions to Antarctica. Karl’s research has centered around the ocean’s carbon cycle from photosynthetic production of organic matter to carbon sequestration in the deep sea. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Karl’s publications continue to advance the field of microbial ecology and collectively have more than 53,000 citations, according to the new ranking report.

This recognition is an example of ����Vlog�ٷ� ��ā�ԴDz�’s goal of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

–By Marcie Grabowski

Microbes may be small, but they are highly impactful to environmental and human health amid a changing climate. The (ASM) issued a new report, , co-authored by David Karl, a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa oceanographer, and more than 30 experts from diverse disciplines, illuminating how microbes can help us adapt to climate change.

As major drivers of elemental cycles and producers and consumers of three of the gases responsible for 98% of increased global warming (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide), microbes have a pivotal impact on climate change and are, in turn, impacted by it. To fully understand how to adapt to climate change, it is critical to learn how our changing climate will impact microbes and how they relate to humans and the environment.

“It has been said that the very great is achieved by the very small,” said Karl. “Micobes matter!” Since 1988 Karl and his colleagues have been tracking changes in the ecology of marine microbes in response to climate change at ����Vlog�ٷ�‘s deep sea observatory, .

This report is the outcome of ASM’s November 2021 colloquium meeting, which brought together more than 30 experts from diverse disciplines and sectors who provided multifaceted perspectives and insights. The American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group and think tank within ASM, convened the colloquium.

Karl, who is also the director of the in ����Vlog�ٷ� ��ā�ԴDz�’s (SOEST), was a key participant in the colloquium and contributed to the report. He was also an author on the companion paper, , published this week in mBio. The mBio paper builds on concepts discussed at the November colloquium meeting and provides an extended view and opinions on research needed to fill in the knowledge gaps.

The microbial sciences can provide us with invaluable insights in how to adapt to climate change and its cascading effects. From developing alternative fuels to preventing the spread of pathogens, the applications of microbes are vast and far-reaching. The report details major recommendations for researchers, policymakers and regulators.

Key report recommendations:

• Emphasize interdisciplinary research focused on understanding how microbial activities and metabolic flux alter as climate, precipitation and temperatures change globally.
• Provide guidance for experimental design and data collection for studying microbial communities that allows for data comparison across diverse and global ecosystems.
• Incorporate existing data about microbial diversity and activity on consuming and producing greenhouse gases into Earth-climate models to improve the current and predictive performance of models.
• Increase research investments to generate knowledge and awareness of the contribution of microbes to the generation and consumption of warming gases; incorporate these findings into evidence-based policy and regulatory strategies to address climate change.
• Deploy increased surveillance and detection of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases in animals and humans, including through next generation sequencing technologies, and incorporate a One Health approach to addressing climate changes’ effects on humans, animals and our environment.

This research is an example of ����Vlog�ٷ� ��ā�ԴDz�’s goal of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

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