A new taxonomic class of oceanic phytoplankton has been named in honor of Michael Rappé, professor at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. The new class, Rappephyceae, is a group of organisms that are among the most abundant phytoplankton in the ocean and appear to be an important contributor to global photosynthesis.

As a graduate student at Oregon State University, Rappé first discovered this group by sequencing DNA from seawater collected from the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and published the finding in 1998.

Recently, an international team of researchers successfully isolated the first phytoplankton strain belonging to this genetic lineage and determined that, indeed, this represents a unique class of organisms deserving of a distinct taxonomic label.

“Ours were some of the first studies to use DNA sequencing to describe coastal bacterioplankton communities, allowing us to identify natural communities of phytoplankton in a way that wasn’t possible otherwise,” said Rappé. “This revealed a particular DNA sequence that was unique—it did not have any close relatives that had been cultured—and it was widely distributed in the global ocean.”

The novel group of phytoplankton that Rappé discovered is a type of haptophyte, a category of marine organisms that includes one of the most abundant open ocean phytoplankton called coccolithophores. Coccolithophores are covered by microscopic plates made out of calcium carbonate and are very common microfossils.  

Further, the Rappephyceae evolved from an ancient evolutionary branch within the haptophytes and provide several clues to how this group has come to occupy certain ecological niches in the ocean.

“I am honored that my colleagues would choose Rappephyceae as the name for this unique and abundant group of oceanic phytoplankton, and humbly thank them for this distinction” said Rappé.

Dr. Eleanor Sterling, Jaffe Chief Conservation Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, has been selected as a finalist for the position of director of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa.

Sterling will visit the UH campus for a two-day interview that will include meetings with faculty, staff, students, post-doctoral researchers and members of the UH Mānoa and HIMB communities as well as two presentations.  Campus and community members, and the general public, are encouraged to attend the public presentations, as they will be available via Zoom links.

Dr. Eleanor Sterling’s talks have been scheduled as follows:

April 26, 2021, 10:00 – 11:00 am
“Strategic Directions for HIMB”
Large Pauley Classroom, HIMB
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83253227200?pwd=cXc0c084YnpFSHFpSkR4ZVlaUTNPUT09 
Meeting ID: 832 5322 7200
Passcode: 613939

April 27, 2021, 11 am – 12:00 pm
“HIMB: A global vision for the future”
POST 723, UH Mānoa campus
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85772577402?pwd=OFpHY0tDa1BUTFVzcXgwTWZXVURlQT09
Meeting ID: 857 7257 7402
Passcode: 121066

“Dr. Sterling is a world-class scholar, and we are thrilled that she might become our next director,” said Dave Karl, oceanography professor in SOEST and chair of the search committee for the HIMB director position.

See the full announcement for more information about Dr. Sterling.

A new species of Ehu, or deepwater snapper, was discovered and named “Etelis boweni” in recognition of the contributions of Brian Bowen, a researcher at SOEST’s Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), who has spent more than three decades studying marine fishes.

Watch the UH News video story.

A research study, funded by the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) and National Science Foundation, focuses on Ehu in Hawaiian and Pacific fisheries.

A paper in the Journal of Fish Biology named the new species, which looks nearly identical to the species found in Hawaiʻi, but is genetically different. Both species are strikingly bright pink in color and occur at a depth of 650-1300 feet, and both are widely found across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Although they look remarkably similar, the new species grows much bigger than the other, sometimes more than 3 feet in length. It also has smaller eyes and a black spot on the tip of its upper tail fin.

“The species is new to science, but sharp-eyed fishers have long suspected that the delicious Ehu was actually two species,” said Bowen.

Implications for fisheries management

John (Jack) Randall, a world-renowned fish taxonomist from Hawaiʻi who passed away in April 2020, was part of the research team that made the discovery. This new journal article would have added to more than 900 papers published by Randall over his lifetime. The team was led by Kim Andrews from the University of Idaho, and also included Iria Fernandez-Silva from the University of Vigo in Spain, both former UH postdoctoral researchers who studied under Bowen; and fish taxonomist Hans Ho from the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Taiwan. The original suggestion for the species name came from a former UH Mānoa PhD student of Bowen, Michelle Gaither, who is now at the University of Central Florida.

“The discovery of the new species has important implications for fisheries management, especially in areas where both species occur together, since it’s important for different species to be managed separately,” said Andrews.

More on Bowen

Since 2003, Bowen has been a research scientist at HIMB leading a highly productive research lab with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, primarily using genetics to understand the biodiversity and conservation of marine fishes.

Bowen noted, “It’s an honor of a lifetime. I’m sorry that the great Jack Randall didn’t live to see this completed, and humbly thank the team that described this species. It’s a handsome fish with particularly good taste.”

For more information, visit West Hawaii Today, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant and Yahoo News.

Drone technology was used by SOEST’s Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) to document rapid weight loss in a group of distressed pygmy killer whales off Maui in 2019. The groundbreaking research by the Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) and the MMRP, which also assisted with analyzing the data, was published this month in Scientific Reports. The use of drones to document the health of marine animals, such as pygmy killer whales—a rare species of dolphins—could lead to better public policy to protect endangered sea life.

“This new approach opens up doors to quantify these changes in body condition, in response to not only human activity, but also larger climatic changes that the environment is posing towards these animals,” said Lars Bejder the director of MMRP, a research group at SOEST’s Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology. MMRP is partnering with PWF to use drones to monitor whales and dolphins in the wild.

PWF researchers tracked six, distressed pygmy killer whales for 21 days in September 2019, after they were detected within a few hundred meters offshore of Māʻalaea Bay, Maui. Their normal habitat is about 25 miles offshore. The drone technology detected an average of 2% reduction in body weight per whale, per day, with the smallest one losing 27% of its body weight in 17 days. Two of the whales eventually stranded themselves on shore and died and then the remaining four departed the area.

“Using (unmanned aircraft systems)-photogrammetry, we were able to document the group’s deterioration over 21 days, as they were in an area not suitable for normal feeding activity,” explains PWF Chief Scientist Jens Currie. “This is the first instance in which we’ve been able to monitor a fasting or starving event in the wild over a three-week period, which really speaks to how quickly dolphins can deteriorate if they have no ability to forage.”

The incident came a month after 11 pygmy killer whales came ashore in South Maui in a mass stranding that made headlines and inspired a flurry of scientific investigation. Five of the animals ultimately died and the reason for the stranding remains a mystery.

MMRP and PWF are also collaborating on humpback whale research. They are tracking the same whales monitored off of Maui during the winter months and in Alaska during the summer months to better understand their physical and reproductive health.

Keep up to date through the MMRP website and social media platforms (Twitter: @MMRP_UH and Instagram: @MMRP_UH, Facebook: MMRPUH, Youtube: MMRP UH) and PWF media platforms (Twitter: @PacificWhale and Instagram: @PacificWhaleFoundation, Facebook: @PacificWhaleFoundation) to build awareness.

Read also on Big Island Gazette, Maui Now and UH News.

Hawai‘i-based employers that hire geoscientists reported interest in hosting SOEST students as interns and employing SOEST graduates, according to a recent survey. Additionally, the skills desired by the surveyed employers are among key abilities that successful undergraduates take with them after graduation.

The organizations surveyed included 20 government agencies and 10 private companies who seek employees in fields such as geotechnical, environmental, Earth, ocean, atmospheric and space science.

The survey asked for information on their organization, current workforce, desired future workforce, recruitment and internships. The vast majority of the respondents reported that less than a quarter of their geoscience employees attended SOEST, while a minority reported less than a quarter of their geoscience employees were local from Hawai‘i. Thus, they are hiring locally, but few of these hires are SOEST graduates.

Almost all respondents hosted interns in the past three years, and 85% of those organizations offered paid internships. Encouragingly, almost all organizations expressed at least some interest in hosting interns in the near future.

Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 20 specified skill sets (11 non-technical and nine technical) for a geoscientist at their organization to have. Of the 11 non-technical skills, six received especially high ratings: technical report writing; interpersonal communication; problem-solving; teamwork; working independently; and time management. Among the nine technical skills, only one received an especially high rating: fieldwork/sampling.

“We want to ensure that SOEST graduates are aware of the technical and non-technical skill sets that could maximize their employability,” said Cherryle Heu, ‘Ike Wai Scholar at UH Mānoa who co-conducted the survey along with Barbara Bruno, researcher at the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. “I hope with these data, students can take the opportunities available to improve their employability and have confidence in their skills when it’s time to step into the workforce. We also see value in fostering relationships between SOEST and local geoscience employers, to expand internship offerings and facilitate student networking.”

Researchers from the SOEST, University of British Columbia (UBC), San Diego State University (SDSU), and elsewhere have created 3D molecular maps of bacteria, viruses, and biochemicals across coral colonies along with their interacting organisms such as algae and other competing corals. This allowed the team to discover specific microbial and viral functions that appear to be key components of the coral microbiome.

The study, published recently in Frontiers of Marine Science, used a novel combination of state-of-the-art molecular methods with cutting-edge 3D imaging techniques to create high-resolution molecular maps on coral reef organisms.

Healthy coral reefs require coral colonies that are resilient and outcompete other organisms such as algae. The new study builds on the authors’ previous research which highlighted the important role that viruses and bacteria play in mediating the clash between coral and algae on a coral reef.

“Our recent research extends this work into a spatially explicit framework and makes for some really impressive 3D molecular maps,” said Ty Roach, study senior author and post-doctoral researcher at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) in SOEST. “Further, we found that patterns in bacteria and viruses that live on and in corals were mainly driven by ecological factors such as how close to a competitor the sample was taken.”

The team sampled two coral colonies from a Caribbean coral reef and made 3D reconstructions of the corals and their interacting organisms using a method called structure from motion photogrammetry. Multiple molecular methods were then used to investigate the bacterial and viral DNA, RNA, and biochemicals that were associated with these corals. These molecules were then mapped back onto the 3D models.

“The current state of ecology has demonstrated that corals are home to millions of microbes and viruses, which exist in a complex biochemical milieu,” said Emma George, co-lead author of the study and doctoral candidate at UBC. “These viruses, microbes and chemicals in combination with the coral host form a unit called a holobiont. Understanding the roles of each of these players in ecosystem function has become increasingly important as coral reef health has begun to decline over recent decades.”

Functional and healthy reef ecosystems protect coastlines, contribute to local economies and support marine food webs, including fisheries. The new findings have direct implications for coral reef restoration and management, as they provide a more mechanistic understanding of the way that local stressors affect corals and can lead to disease.

“Additionally, these 3D molecular mapping methods could be applied to many other ecologically important organisms, beyond corals,” said Mark Little, co-lead author of the study and doctoral candidate at SDSU. “It is our hope that this combination of methods to generate underwater molecular maps will be a fruitful way for others to better understand the holobiont of many marine animals and plants.”

Read more on Phys.org, UH News and Eurekalert.

The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano in Hawai‘i provided scientists with an unprecedented opportunity to identify new factors that could help forecast the hazard potential of future eruptions. A team of researchers, including Professor Bruce Houghton from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), identified an indicator of magma viscosity that can be measured before an eruption, providing critical information to help understand possible future eruptions. The findings are published in Nature.

“The study is very unusual because it falls at the interface between two distinct disciplines in volcanology: seismology and studies of the viscosity (fluidity) of the molten rock,” said Houghton.

The properties of the magma inside a volcano affect how an eruption will play out. In particular, the viscosity of this molten rock is a major factor in influencing how hazardous an eruption could be for nearby communities.

Very viscous magmas are linked with more powerful explosions because they can block gas from escaping through vents, allowing pressure to build up inside the volcano’s plumbing system. On the other hand, extrusion of more viscous magma results in slower-moving lava flows.

“But magma viscosity is usually only quantified well after an eruption, not in advance,” explained Diana Roman, lead author of the study and volcanologist at Carnegie Institution for Science. “So, we are always trying to identify early indications of magma viscosity that could help forecast a volcano’s eruption style.”

The 2018 event included the first eruptive activity in Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone since 1960. The first of 24 fissures opened in early May, and the eruption continued for three months. This situation provided unprecedented access to information for the researchers.

The event provided a wealth of simultaneous data about the behavior of both high- and low-viscosity magma, as well as about the pre-eruption stresses in the solid rock underlying Kīlauea.

Tectonic and volcanic activity cause fractures, called faults, to form in the rock that makes up Earth’s crust. When geologic stresses cause these faults to move against each other, geoscientists measure the 3-D orientation and movement of the faults using seismic instruments.

By studying what happened in Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone in 2018, Roman and her colleagues determined that the direction of the fault movements in the lower East Rift Zone before and during the volcanic eruption could be used to estimate the viscosity of rising magma during periods of precursory unrest.

“We were able to show that with robust monitoring we can relate pressure and stress in a volcano’s plumbing system to the underground movement of more viscous magma,” Roman explained. “This will enable monitoring experts to better anticipate the eruption behavior of volcanoes like Kīlauea and to tailor response strategies in advance.”

Read more on Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Big Island Gazette, Big Island Video News, West Hawaii Today, Kauai Now, Maui Now and UH News.