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The mangrove forests across the Federated States of Micronesia provide critical resources and contribute to climate resilience. Locally, mangrove forests provide habitat for fish and wildlife, timber, and other cultural resources. Mangrove forests also protect Micronesian communities from tropical cyclones and tsunamis, providing a buffer against powerful waves and winds. Mangrove forests in Micronesia can store 700–1,800 metric tons of carbon per hectare (Donato and others, 2011), contributing to the estimated 5–10 billion metric tons of carbon stored by mangroves around the world (Alongi, 2018). This carbon storage is essential for global climate resilience. Mangrove forests and the benefits these ecosystems...
Freshwater is a critical driver for island ecosystems. In Hawai‘i, though rainfall intensity has increased, total rainfall has been on the decline for the last two decades and, as a result, reduced streamflow. Climate change has fundamentally altered the water cycle in these tropical islands. The changes in dynamic patterns of streamflow could result in temporal and spatial differences in the fluvial, estuarine, and coastal habitats. These habitats support the nine native aquatic species in Hawaii at different stages of their amphidromous life cycle. To examine how changes in streamflow regime has impacted habitat quality for native migratory aquatic species, an ongoing project has examined statewide long-term stream...
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The Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI CASC) supports sustainability and climate adaptation in communities across the Pacific Islands by providing natural and cultural resource managers with access to actionable science specific to the region. PI CASC is hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) with consortium partners at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (UHH) and the University of Guam (UOG). During the period of 2019 - 2024, the PI CASC consortium will strive to i) build resiliency and sustainability in ecosystems and communities to climate change impacts; ii) strive to develop the best actionable climate science, while maintaining a non-advocacy stance; and iii) apply the elements...
Aim To provide the first regional analysis of contemporary drivers of Pacific Island fire regimes. Location Islands of Palau, Yap, Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae. Time Period 1950-present. Methods We used land cover, soil maps and contemporary fire histories to (1) describe the relationships among fire activity, vegetation, rainfall and island geography and population; (2) examine the spatial associations of forest and savanna vegetation with respect to fire and soil types; and (3) link fire and savanna distribution to intra-annual and inter-annual rainfall variability. Results Savanna extent was positively correlated with island age and the range of mean monthly rainfall. The percent of area...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
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PI-CASC regularly interacts with a diverse and extensive network of stakeholder organizations at federal, territory, state, county, and local levels across the Pacific Region, supporting communication and iterative problem solving between researchers, managers, and decision makers. In addition to these partnerships, PI-CASC has two important ongoing collaborative initiatives. Pacific Islands-Alaska CASC collaboration The PI-AK CASC collaboration is aimed at bringing together scientist and resource managers from the Pacific and Alaska regions to share insights on related climate adaptation challenges in Ridge-to-Reef (R2R) and Icefield-to-Ocean (I2O) ecosystems. Similarities in landscapes and communities in these...
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Landscape-scale conservation of threatened and endangered species is often challenged by multiple, sometimes conflicting, land uses. In Hawaiʻi, efforts to conserve native forests have come into conflict with objectives to sustain non-native game mammals, such as feral pigs, goats, and deer, for subsistence and sport hunting. Maintaining stable or increasing game populations represents one of the greatest obstacles to the recovery of Hawaii’s 425 threatened and endangered plant species. Many endemic Hawaiian species have declined and become endangered as a result of herbivorous non-native game mammals. Meanwhile, other environmental changes, including the spread of invasive grasses and changing precipitation patterns...
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For the past few years, “king tides,” or the highest tides of the year, have been occurring more frequently and significantly affecting coastal environments across Hawaiʻi. Now, disappearing beaches and waves crashing over roadways are seemingly the “new normal.” In response, the state of Hawaiʻi is implementing adaptation strategies to combat tidal flooding in coastal areas. While flood management strategies are being implemented in urban areas, less is known about how tidal flooding, and associated inundation into surface and groundwater, might influence watershed dynamics and the native animals that depend on estuarine environments where freshwater meets the sea. Efforts for biocultural restoration of ecosystem...
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Loko iʻa (Hawaiian fishponds) are an advanced, extensive form of aquaculture found nowhere else in the world. Loko iʻa practices are the result of over a thousand years of intergenerational knowledge, experimentation, and adaptation, and once produced over 2 million pounds of fish per year throughout the Hawaiian Islands. These fishponds provided a consistent and diverse supply of fish when ocean fishing was not possible or did not yield enough supply. In many ways, loko iʻa are foundational to traditional aquaculture in Hawai‘i and have the potential to provide food security that contributes to greater coastal community resilience and economic autonomy. Today, changes in coastal and hydrological processes, including...
A cocktail of land-based sources of pollution threatens coral reef ecosystems, and addressing these has become a key management and policy challenge in the State of Hawaii, other US territories, and globally. In West Maui, Hawai'i, nearly one quarter of all living corals were lost between 1995 and 2008. Onsite disposal systems (OSDS) for sewage leak contaminants into drinking water sources and nearshore waters. In recognition of this risk, the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) is prioritizing areas for cesspool upgrades. Independently, we applied a decision analysis process to identify priority areas to address sewage pollution from OSDS in West Maui, with the objective of reducing nearshore coral reef exposure...
Indigenous communities make up less than 5% of the world’s population while stewarding 85% of biodiversity on the planet. In Hawaii, Native Hawaiian language resources, including proverbs, stories, and chants, provide glimpses to how people adapted with environmental rhythms, seasons, and offerings. Drought, the absence of water for agricultural, economic, and social use for a period, is important as a main water resource in Hawai‘i are clouds captured and purified by high island mountains in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This research provides insight on Native Hawaiian relationships to drought historically as well as current practices within community-based management. Of importance are historical records of...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
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Palau buildings (from PALARIS) with elevation data (extracted from USGS DEM)
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The Pacific Ocean is home to a number of low-lying, coastal national parks and wildlife refuges. These public lands are situated on coral reef-lined islands that are susceptible to inundation from sea-level rise and flooding during storms. Because of their low-lying nature and limited availability of space, ecosystems, cultural resources, and infrastructure on these islands are particularly vulnerable to flooding. Sea-level rise will further exacerbate the impact of storms on island parks and refuges by increasing wave-driven coastal flooding, with consequences for ecological and human communities alike. However, most assessments of future conditions at coastal national parks and refuges consider only permanent...
This project sought to support, facilitate, assess and synthesize the research needs and information gaps of loko i‘a across the Hawaiian Islands to provide information for resource managers to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. Through the process of developing a Loko I’a Needs Assessment the project achieved all of its proposed original objectives. This report represents the first comprehensive compilation of the research ideas and needs within the community of fishpond managers, landowners, and stewardship organizations to inform adaptation of fishpond practices toward their resilience, adaptation, and sustainability in the face of a changing climate. This project derived findings from notes recorded...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
As the impacts and risks from climate change increase, the climate assessment landscape has expanded in scope and application, resulting in the desire for more information relevant to local decision-making. Some regions lack detailed climate projections and a body of consensus findings about sector-specific impacts, and there is a need for actionable, culturally cognizant, translated climate information suitable for integration into operations and management, budgeting, funding proposals, and domestic and international policy. The Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment, or PIRCA, is the subject of this decade-long case study illustrating the need, development, and benefit of creating and sustaining a nuanced,...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
This exerpt comes from a Bishop Museum collection called, “The Chants of James Palea Kapihenui Kuluwaimaka.” The explanation about words found in traditional and modern pule and mele is an example of the rich environmental information that continues to be found in Hawaiian resources that are often overlooked or not considered valuable. James Palea Kapihenui Kuluwaimaka (Kuluwaimaka) was born in Naʻalehu, Kaʻū, in 1845. He had an incredible memory and could recant 1,500-1,700 lines within an ancient chant effortlessly (Honolulu Advertiser, 1937). He was the court chanter for King David Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. Kuluwaimaka continued to serve the queen even after deposed whenever she made appearances publically...
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Pacific Islands CASC engages in a variety of science co-production activities across the region with the goal of developing usable science with resource managers to help them better integrate adaptation strategies for fish, wildlife, water, land, and people into their decision making and planning. Our flagship program for knowledge co-production is the Manager Climate Corps. MCC was developed at the PI-CASC consortium member institution, the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, to support and build connections between natural and cultural resource managers, researchers, and graduate students on Hawaiʻi Island through in-person networking opportunities and to promote the benefits of collaborative, stakeholder-driven research...
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Mosquito-borne disease is the biggest threat to Hawai‘i’s remaining native forest birds, of which more than half are threatened or endangered. Currently, disease-carrying mosquitoes are unable to move into colder high-elevation forests, but as the islands warm due to climate change, mosquitoes are steadily moving into the last native bird strongholds. Mosquito suppression efforts are planned for three Hawaiian Islands, however, there is currently no monitoring program to assess the effectiveness of those efforts. To address this pressing need, this project will develop new monitoring tools and protocols to provide managers with information about changes in bird and mosquito numbers that are related to climate change...
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Haleakalā National Park (HNP) and the surrounding landscape spans many different land cover types, some of which are undergoing vegetation changes that can reduce the amount of water that infiltrates into soil. Decreased soil infiltration can lead to the erosion of terrestrial habitats, increases in the amount of sediment entering aquatic habitats, and flooding of downstream areas as runoff increases after storms. Currently, HNP managers are attempting to control runoff and erosion to avoid loss and damage within park boundaries and parks located downstream. Managers in HNP have expressed a need for information on current and future runoff and erosion risk to help prioritize management within the park and other...
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Freshwater is a critical driver for island ecosystems. In Hawaiʻi, though rainfall intensity has increased, total rainfall has been on the decline for the last two decades and, as a result, streamflow has also been reduced. The changes in dynamic patterns of streamflow could result in impacts to river, estuarine, and coastal habitats. In turn, these changes also affect the nine native Hawaiian aquatic species found in these habitats at different stages of their amphidromous life cycle (in which they migrate from fresh to salt water or vice versa). To examine how changes in streamflow regime have impacted habitat quality for native migratory aquatic species, an ongoing project has been examining statewide long-term...
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Ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves provide an effective first line of defense against coastal hazards and represent a promising nature-based solution to adapt to sea-level rise. In many areas, coral reefs cause waves to break and lose energy, allowing for sediment to accumulate on the inshore portion of reef flats (i.e. the shallowest, flattest part of a reef) and mangroves to establish. Mangroves cause further attenuation (i.e. energy loss) waves and storm surge as water moves through roots and trunks of the trees. Together, these ecosystems provide valuable protection from coastal flooding, but is unclear how this protection may be affected by sea-level rise. An assessment of future sea-level rise vulnerability...
map background search result map search result map Identifying the Risk of Runoff and Erosion in Hawaiʻi’s National Parks Managing Non-native Game Mammals to Reduce Future Conflicts with Native Plant Conservation in Hawai‘i Science Needs Assessment to Support Management of Loko Iʻa (Hawaiian Fishpond) Resources and Practices Critical to the Native Hawaiian Community The Impact of Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise on Future Flooding of Coastal Parks and Refuges in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands Connecting Ecosystems from Mountains to the Sea in a Changing Climate Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center Consortium - Hosted by University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa (2019-2024) Science Co-Production Regional Collaborations Effect of Extreme Tidal Events on Future Sea-Level Rise Scenarios for He‘eia Fish Communities undergoing Ahupua‘a Restoration The Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Coral Reef and Mangrove Interactions and the Resulting Coastal Flooding Hazards Buildings with Elevation in Babeldaob, Palau Advancing Wildlife Monitoring to Improve Management of Endangered Hawaiian Birds in a Changing Climate Buildings with Elevation in Babeldaob, Palau The Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Coral Reef and Mangrove Interactions and the Resulting Coastal Flooding Hazards Advancing Wildlife Monitoring to Improve Management of Endangered Hawaiian Birds in a Changing Climate Identifying the Risk of Runoff and Erosion in Hawaiʻi’s National Parks Science Needs Assessment to Support Management of Loko Iʻa (Hawaiian Fishpond) Resources and Practices Critical to the Native Hawaiian Community Effect of Extreme Tidal Events on Future Sea-Level Rise Scenarios for He‘eia Fish Communities undergoing Ahupua‘a Restoration Connecting Ecosystems from Mountains to the Sea in a Changing Climate The Impact of Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise on Future Flooding of Coastal Parks and Refuges in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center Consortium - Hosted by University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa (2019-2024) Science Co-Production Regional Collaborations