La Niña could bring round two for Hawai‘i hurricanes

El Niño’s cooler sister La Niña is predicted to come calling and could deal a few wild cards of her own, researchers say. Axel Timmermann, a professor of Oceanography and El Niño researcher with the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) believes the transition period from El Niño to La Niña could bring stronger tropical cyclones for the Hawaiian Islands.

As El Niño decays, ocean heat is pushed away from the equator into the waters nearer to Hawai‘i and regions of the central and eastern Pacific where hurricanes are generated, Timmermann said. “This is certainly a process that needs to be closely monitored over the next months,” Timmermann said. “According to this scenario, La Niña increases the likelihood for hurricane intensification in the northeastern tropical Pacific.”

Read more about it in West Hawaii Today.

Organism responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning could affect fisheries

New research published in Scientific Reports by scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology suggests that ingestion of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense changes the energy balance and reproductive potential of a particular copepod, a small crustacean, in the North Atlantic that is key food source for young fishes, including many commercially important species. Alexandrium fundyense is a photosynthetic plankton—a microscopic organism floating in the ocean, unable to swim against a current.

Though this dinoflagellate is responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning, previous studies suggested that the copepod is highly tolerant of the dinoflagellate with no increase in mortality. However, with this new research, lead author, Vittoria Roncalli post-doctoral researcher at the UH Pacific Biosciences Research Center (PBRC), and co-authors found the toxic dinoflagellate does indeed stress the copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, and impacts its energy balance. Thus, copepods feeding on the dinoflagellate have less energy available for life processes including growth, reproduction and creating essential fats (lipid biosynthesis).

Decoding genetic messages

In controlled laboratory experiments, the researchers fed different groups of copepods low doses or high doses of the toxic dinoflagellate and measured the physiological response using a novel molecular technique, known as RNA-Seq.

“In essence, we were able to identify the instructions that directed the copepod’s response to its changing environment,” said Roncalli. “By analyzing changes in the ‘messenger RNA’ profile we discovered which biological processes were affected.”

To their surprise, they observed large-scale physiological responses in both the high and low dose diets. The copepod’s energy balance was affected, even in the low dose treatment, and the effect on lipid biosynthesis was particularly unexpected.

Impacts up the food chain

Global climate change is affecting all environments on Earth, benefiting some organisms while hurting others. One trend is the increase in the frequency and magnitude of harmful algal blooms, such as blooms of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense, thus increasing the number and extent of fishery closures due to paralytic shellfish poisoning in the Gulf of Maine.

“Further, high-density harmful algal blooms could, at the population level, affect the number of copepods, thus affecting the food source which sustains important fisheries in the Atlantic,” said Petra Lenz, researcher at PBRC and co-author of the study.

The researchers are currently working on a second study to assess the effect of the dinoflagellates on the early developmental stages of the copepod, C. finmarchicus. Furthermore, using this novel technique, they can now investigate how key zooplankton species respond physiologically to changes in temperature and food, and human influence on the ocean.

Read more in the UH News story and Marine Science Today.

Scientists discover world’s largest known sponge in Papahānaumokuākea MNM

Researchers in the summer of 2015 were surveying an ocean ridge in a marine conservation area off the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and amid ordinary ocean floor fare — a bit of coral, some volcanic rock — they came across something surprising: they discovered what they say is the world’s largest known sponge.

Roughly the size of a minivan, the animal was discovered about 7,000 feet down in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The rare sponge, with a bluish-white color and brain-like appearance, stunned scientists when it appeared in the remote cameras attached to their underwater rover. A study published this week in the scientific journal Marine Biodiversity described the massive creature.

Christopher Kelley, program biologist at the Hawai‘i Undersea Research Lab (HURL) and associate professor of Oceanography, who helped lead the expedition, said the crew captured images of the sponge with remote underwater cameras that were positioned above their underwater research vehicle. They then used laser points to measure parts of the sponge and also carefully measured the vehicle and compared those dimensions to the images they had of the sponge and vehicle together to determine its size.

Sponges are similar to coral reefs in that they provide critical habitat for other sea life and filter large amounts of sea water and remove material other animals in the ocean don’t eat. According to scientists, some of the large sponges found in more shallow waters have been estimated to be over 2,300 years old, leading researchers to wonder how old some of these deep-sea organisms that have never been encountered can become.

Read more about it and watch the video at KHON2 and New Scientist; read more about it at ABC.com, the New Zealand Herald, and NPR.com.

UH Mānoa partners in National Microbiome Initiative

On May 13, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced a new National Microbiome Initiative (NMI), a coordinated effort to better understand microbiomes—communities of microorganisms that live on and in people, plants, soil, oceans and the atmosphere—and to develop tools to protect and restore healthy microbiome function. This initiative represents a combined federal agency investment of more than $121 million.

For years, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been making substantial investments—through faculty hires, endowments and facilities—and plans to continue to build capacity in the emerging field of microbiome research.

“UH Mānoa is a powerhouse in the realm of microbiome research,” said UH Mānoa Vice Chancellor for Research Michael Bruno. “There are few, if any, universities with the number of world leaders in this domain—UH Mānoa has three members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) who specialize in this field.”

Microbiomes maintain healthy function of diverse ecosystems, influencing diverse features of the planet—human health, climate change, and food security. UH Mānoa, as a partner in the NMI, will advance the understanding of microbiome behavior and enable protection and restoration of healthy microbiome function. From medicine to global climate change to deep sea mining, microbiome research is proving to be the next frontier—an area of research that is yielding new understanding and paradigm-shifting discoveries about the world around, and in, us.

Shark study helps explain higher incidence of encounters off Maui

Important research out of the University of Hawaiʻi is providing state leaders with critical information to better develop outreach and awareness efforts to minimize possibly dangerous encounters with tiger sharks. After a spike in shark bites off of Maui in 2012 and 2013, the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) turned to the experts at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). After years of work, HUMB shark researchers Carl Meyer and Kim Holland and a team of students completed an important study in 2016 revealing movement patterns of tiger sharks around Maui and Oʻahu.

“We tagged 41 tiger sharks off Maui and Oʻahu and tracked their movements for two years,” Meyer explains. “We found that these sharks spent most of their time over insular shelf habitats—this is the gently-sloping area between the shoreline and the shelf break at a depth of around 600 feet. These shelf habitats are home to a wide variety of tiger shark prey, and Maui Nui has more of this shelf habitat than all of the other Main Hawaiian Islands combined.”

The Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) makes tiger shark tracks available online and provides funding for ongoing tagging efforts.

Read more about it and watch the video reports at in the UH System News, Hawaii News Now, Hawaii Civil Beat, Maui News, and the DLNR press release; read more about it at WHDH.com and in the Christian Science Monitor.

Joint task force established to combat rat lungworm disease in Hawaii

The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) and the East Hawaii Liaison to the Office of the Governor announced today the establishment of a Joint Task Force to assess the threat of rat lungworm disease (Angiostrongyliasis) in Hawaii. Robert Cowie, research professor at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, is one of the 16 members of the Joint Task Force.

The mission of the task force is to share scientific knowledge in the application of diagnostics, treatment, mitigation and public education activities.

Rat lungworm disease is caused by a nematode, which is a roundworm parasite called Angiostrongylus cantonensis. The parasitic nematode can be passed from the feces of infected rodents to snails, slugs and certain other animals, which become intermediate hosts for the parasite. Humans can become infected when they consume, either intentionally or otherwise, infected raw or undercooked intermediate hosts.

Although rat lungworm has been found throughout the state, Hawaii Island has a majority of the cases. Some infected people don’t show any symptoms or only have mild symptoms. For others, the symptoms can be much more severe, which can include headaches, stiffness of the neck, tingling or painful feelings in the skin or extremities, low-grade fever, nausea, and vomiting. Sometimes, a temporary paralysis of the face may also be present, as well as light sensitivity. This infection can also cause a rare type of meningitis (eosinophilic meningitis).

“Establishing a joint task force with local experts in the medical field and leaders in government will produce a set of best practices that be used to target rat lungworm disease not only on Hawaii Island, but on a statewide scale as well,” said Wil Okabe, East Hawaii Liaison to the Office of the Governor. “There is no specific treatment yet identified for this disease, so finding the best ways to prevent its spread and educate the public is crucial.”

Members of the task force are as follows:

Wil Okabe (Facilitator), East Hawaii Governor’s Liaison Office
Robert Cowie, Ph.D., Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Robert Hollingsworth, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Sue Jarvi, Ph.D., School of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii at Hilo
Jerry Kahana, Hawaii State Department of Agriculture
Kenton Kramer, Ph.D., Department of Tropical Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM)
John Martell, M.D., Hilo Medical Center
Marian Melish, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Disease, Kapiolani Medical Center
Donn Mende, Research and Development, County of Hawaii
DeWolfe Miller, Ph.D., Tropical Medicine Microbiology and Pharmacology, JABSOM
Peter Oshiro, Sanitation Branch, DOH
Sarah Park, M.D., F.A.A.P., State Epidemiologist, DOH
Joanna Seto, Save Drinking Water Branch, DOH
Aaron Ueno, Hawaii District Health Office, DOH
Chris Whelen, Ph.D., State Laboratories Division, DOH
Jonnie Yates, M.D., Kaiser Permanente

Read more in the DOH press release and Big Island Now, and watch an informative video at Big Island Video News.

New research estimates probability of Aleutian mega-earthquake

A team of researchers from UH Mānoa recently published a study that estimated the probability of a Magnitude 9+ earthquake in the Aleutian Islands — an event with sufficient power to create a mega-tsunami especially threatening to Hawai‘i. In the next 50 years, they report, there is a 9% chance of such an event. An earlier State of Hawai‘i report (Table 6.12) has estimated the damage from such an event would be nearly $40 billion, with more than 300,000 people affected.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Rhett Butler, lead author and geophysicist in the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP). “Having no recorded history of mega tsunamis in Hawai‘i, and given the tsunami threat to Hawai‘i, we devised a model for Magnitude 9 earthquake rates following upon the insightful work of David Burbidge and others.” Butler and co-authors Neil Frazer, professor of Geology & Geophysics (GG) and William Templeton (now at Portland State University) created a numerical model based only upon the basics of plate tectonics: fault length and plate convergence rate, handling uncertainties in the data with Bayesian techniques.

To validate this model, the researchers utilized recorded histories and seismic/tsunami evidence related to the five largest earthquakes (greater than Magnitude 9) since 1900 (Tohoku, 2011; Sumatra-Andaman, 2004; Alaska, 1964; Chile, 1960; and Kamchatka, 1952). “These five events represent half of the seismic energy that has been released globally since 1900,” said Butler. “The events differed in details, but all of them generated great tsunamis that caused enormous destruction.”

Read more about their results in the UH Mānoa News, Hawaii News Now, the Hawaii Tribune Herald, Maui Now, and the Daily Mail. UPDATE: Listen to the interview with Rhett Butler on Hawai‘i Public Radio’s The Conversation.

Leading Coral Experts Prepare For Symposium in Hawaii

Hundreds of the world’s top ocean scientists will gather in Honolulu next month for the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium. It’s the first time the conference will be held in Hawai‘i.

Leading coral experts say it’s a critical time for our reefs. Warming sea temperatures and increased ocean acidification are continuing to stress these ecosystems. Human activity has also taken a toll: overfishing, runoff of sewage and sediments from the shore.

“We can’t keep doing things the way we’re doing them now and expect there to be anything left,” said Robert Richmond, the director of Kewalo Marine Laboratory in Honolulu. He’s also organizing this year’s International Coral Reef Symposium.

Richmond believes the answer may lie in bridging science and application in the real world. That idea is also the running theme for this year’s symposium. It’s not just scientists that are invited. Policy makers and political leaders from the Pacific Islands will also be attending.

Ruth Gates, director of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai‘i, says that’s an important step.

“In order for our science to have impact, we have to stop assuming that it does,” said Gates. “And we have to actually talk about why it does and what we can use our science to facilitate in terms of action.”

Listen to the full story at Hawaii Public Radio.

UH leads $20M research partnership to secure Hawai‘i’s water future

Increasing population, changing land use practices and issues relating to climate change are contributing to growing concerns over water quality and quantity in Hawaiʻi. To help the state address this critical issue, the National Science Foundation has awarded $20 million to the University of Hawaiʻi to do a five-year, groundbreaking study of water sustainability issues through a collaboration called ʻIke Wai.

The project name ʻIke Wai symbolizes knowledge (ʻike) of water (wai) which informs values, policies and practices for managing this resource. The ʻIke Wai program assembles UH, state and federal agencies and community partners to address critical gaps in the understanding of Hawaiʻi’s water supply that limit decision making, planning and crisis responses. The project spans geophysics, microbiology, cyberinfrastructure, data modeling, indigenous knowledge and economic forecasting and pairs university scientists in partnerships with state and federal agencies and community groups.

ʻIke Wai is a collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi (including the UH Sea Grant College Program), Hawaiʻi State Departments of Health and Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Hawaiʻi County Department of Water Supply, U.S. Geological Survey and community partners to create a data driven, sustainable water future for the state of Hawaiʻi and its Pacific neighbors. For more information go to the EPSCoR website.

Read more about and watch the video report in the UH System News and West Hawaii Today.

Hope Jahren named on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People 2016

Hope Jahren, a geobiologist at SOEST, has been named on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People 2016.

“It is a rare breed of scientist who is both a leader in her field and a great writer, but Hope Jahren is both. A tenured professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Jahren has built a career and a reputation in science by unearthing secrets hidden in fossilized plant life. Her work has resulted in at least 70 studies in dozens of journals, but it’s also given her a platform—a megaphone, really—to talk about something else: widespread sexual harassment and discrimination in science.”

Her new memoir, Lab Girl, debuted last month and is on the New York Times best-seller list.