MOP Student Projects Archive

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducts yearly coral reef assessments with their Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) surveys. Multiple variables are recorded including morphology, condition, and species. The main objective of this project is to complete a holistic analysis of coral condition data from 2014 to 2021 at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument with multivariate-analysis to detect any patterns including significant difference in prevalence of particular conditions in certain regions. Investigating multiple variables in routine survey studies could provide an additional dimension in the way reefs are monitored and assessed in the future.

NOAA sea turtle biologist Dr. George Balazs has conducted over 40 years of Hawaiian green sea turtle surveys with UH Hilo MOP. Green sea turtles have been captured, measured, tagged, and released for this long-term study at Punaluʻu Beach on Hawaiʻi Island. While some of these data have been used in larger studies on green sea turtles, there hasn't been an extensive analysis of the data. This project will analyze over 1,200 records of Punaluʻu turtle data from 1976-present. Statistical analyses will be conducted on carapace size, mass, presence of tumors, and differences between males and females, and comments made about the turtles when they were observed will be reviewed.

The non-compostability of plastic is a growing problem in Hawaiʻi and globally, and the Big Island has no effective recycling program. From the ingestion and entanglement of wildlife, to the spread of coral disease, plastic pollution is having devastating effects on the marine environment. Working with a group of local high school students, I will oversee the creation of a media campaign and community outreach program to increase awareness and work towards reduction of plastic usage in the Hilo community, and to get local students involved in marine conservation. I will also be working on an interactive campus demonstration at UH Hilo to spread awareness among the student body.

The goal of this research project is to determine if shifts in hydrologic events will have adverse effects on the transportation of dissolved inorganic and dissolved organic carbon to nearshore marine ecosystems. Low and high flow events are becoming more dramatic as climate change progressively alters hydrologic events in the tropics. Hydrologic flow paths by which dissolved organic matter is delivered can affect concentrations. The implications of these shifts can be great as DOC from marine environments contributes to much of the world's bioactive and exchangeable carbon reserves. Changing concentrations of carbon could be potentially detrimental to these important biogeochemical cycles.

Eyes of the Reef (EOR) is a citizen science based program that aims to educate, inform, and train community members on corals and their health. My project will use EOR as a platform to create an educated team at UH Hilo. The goal of the EOR UH team will be to have students trained in identifying coral species, diseases, coral bleaching, and invasive species affecting coral. I plan on expanding the EOR team outside of the college into the local community and holding training seminars at local schools. EOR allows community members to be engaged and educated about the reefs around them, and my project will bring this resource to the community.

Education in marine science is key to building a future with citizens that understand and appreciate the ocean. For my project, I will be collaborating with a middle school marine science teacher at Waikoloa School to broaden the marine science experiences that are offered to students. The main objectives of my collaboration will be to strengthen and help build the curriculum for the class, provide resources that I can offer as a UH Hilo Marine Science student, and organize guest speakers from the marine science community. This project will benefit the children by immersing them in the field of marine science and will prepare me for a future career in marine science education.

The Pacific Golden Plover, or "Kōlea" in Hawaiian, are migratory shorebirds that travel between Alaska and Hawaii. They spend their summers in Alaska to breed and then fly to the warmth of Hawaii for the summers to forage. The number of Kōlea today is uncertain. The Kōlea Count Project uses citizen science to allow people to report Kōlea that are seen within Hawaii. By simply visiting koleacount.org and recording the location and number of Kōlea observed, anyone can help us estimate the population size within the Hawaiian Islands. I plan to create a map displaying the number of birds reported in each zip code on the main Hawaiian Islands and aid in the banding of Kōlea in Oʻahu and Alaska.

The Uaʻu, or Hawaiian Petrel, is an endangered seabird that is endemic to Hawaii. Uaʻu spend the majority of their time at sea, but come to land to breed in burrows. A pair only produces one egg per year however, and while on land, the birds (and egg or chick) are at high risk of predation from cats, dogs, & mongooses. The only confirmed breeding colony of Uaʻu on the Big Island is on Mauna Loa (and is protected) with only 60 pairs. There is hope to have colonies in other places. For the first time in 50 years, there are possible signs that an Uaʻu colony could be breeding on Mauna Kea and my project is to aid in confirming/studying any Uaʻu on Mauna Kea and helping them get protected.

Hawaiian language and culture has a complicated history and kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiians) are working to indigenize everyday life in Hawaiʻi. I am working with community members to produce educational indigenous science videos that incorporate ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian knowledge) and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language). These videos are focused on intertidal iʻa (organisms) that keiki are most likely to see when at the beach. Published to YouTube, the videos will be made publically available and distributed to schools on Hawaiʻi island. I hope to continue this project and make this into a career to help indigenize our school systems in Hawaiʻi for the future of our keiki and lāhui.

My project is an extension of the Fishing Line Recycling Program (FLRP) initiated in 2018 by MOCMI. FLRP is a sea turtle conservation effort, with the goal to mitigate the improper discard of fishing gear: the number one threat to Hawaiian honu (sea turtles). The program is run by conveniently placing receptacles at select ocean access locations to provide fishermen with a way to discard unwanted monofilament. Hilo has three receptacles, and they have been very well received by the community; my goal is to add more receptacles, and to promote their usage through education and outreach at local schools.

The UH Manoa MOP program students publish a monthly newsletter, Seawords, for the entire ten-campus MOP system. They publish articles looking at MOP activities, student and faculty achievements, current projects, recent marine research, and a creature of the month. I will be working as the UH Hilo campus liaison for Seawords, promoting the newsletter, recruiting writers and artists, writing articles and creating a joint calendar that includes all the upcoming events for the different MOP campuses within the UH system. In addition, I will be working on a writing series for the newsletter focusing on marine conservation projects within Oceania.

REEF.org is an organization that focuses on the conservation of the reefs through a community program to help monitor them. For my project, I'll be organizing workshops, trainings, and field trips open to the students in MOP at UH Hilo based on the REEF.org volunteer surveying program. This will be useful for students because it will allow them to become familiar with the local fish species and gain hands-on surveying techniques. This project will provide the community with species abundance data on the local reefs. Involvement in this citizen science program allows for communal data that can be used for conservation of the reefs, and for the growth of citizen science at the University of Hawaii.

For close to fifty years, MOP students at the University of Hawaii at Hilo have assisted NOAA researchers with one of the longest running studies of Hawaiian green sea turtles. The Hawaiian population is a subpopulation of Chelonia mydas, meaning it is genetically distinct from other green sea turtle populations. This biometric study has been crucial in determining the population's growth rate, habitat preference, and population trends. This MOP project aims to write a comprehensive history of UH Hilo MOP's involvement with this research, compile historical documents associated with turtle tagging at Punaluu Beach Park, and conduct interviews with the key research participants.

In collaboration with Hawaii Uncharted Research Collective, this project aims to determine potential seasonality trends of whale shark, Rhincodon typus, sightings at three high frequency sites on the west coast of Hawaii Island, and will investigate environmental factors that may influence sightings. Seasonality trends are known for populations in other parts of the world, yet are undetermined for Hawaii Island. Whale shark sightings were once considered rare in Hawaii but are becoming more frequent as boat tourism in Kona increases. Data were collected across the main Hawaiian Islands in near-coastal and off-shore waters through citizen science.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii is a world-renowned hotel with a recent initiative to inform guests about the ecological, economic and cultural importance of Hawaiian marine organisms and habitats. Programs such as this are important because many visitors to Hawaiʻi enjoy swimming in its pristine waters, but are unfamiliar with the potential impacts that their presence can have on the surrounding environment. My goal is to perform fish, coral, and benthic SCUBA surveys in the nearshore reef habitat adjacent to the resort, and to present these findings to guests at the resort in an effort to educate them on the current health of the reef and how they can avoid causing damage.

The goal of this project is to provide hands-on educational opportunities for K-12 students, as an educational outreach liaison for the Marine Science Department. I will be working with several local teachers in the classroom and the field, assisting with workshops, field trips, and classroom lessons. Students will learn about species in the field, use data collection equipment, do small scale projects and, overall, get a deeper understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants. Deliverables for this project will include lesson plans and teacher evaluations, and broader impacts will be connecting local students and teachers with UH Hilo, providing them with high quality marine science education opportunities. This project will prepare me for my future career in marine education.

The UH Hilo Coral Propagation Project, stationed at Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC), currently has a 125 gallon tank that houses a thriving reef ecosystem, including 10 growing coral fragments. The goal of my project is to expand the number of fragments that the PACRC facility can house by adding a nine-hundred gallon tank capable of holding hundreds of fragments at any given time. There are many fragments on the Big Island from coral damage such as anchor accidents, and the Propagation Project seeks to expand on the abilities of the existing coral nurseries on island by housing as many fragments as possible.

The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and Pacific Island Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) monitor coastal regions and contribute data to their open source web pages. PacIOOS equips users with accurate information and observations of different coastal Pacific islands. One of the on-going projects is monitoring the quality of water using real-time recording buoys. The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo oversees two water quality buoys located in Hilo and Pelekane Bays. I will be working as the Assistant Technician whose duties include servicing and repairing the buoys, as well as trailering and driving boats. Additionally, I will use the Hilo Buoy Data, collected over several years by PacIOOS, to graph average water quality trends through the year.

Mokupapapa Discovery Center (MDC) in Hilo is the place where the public is welcome to learn about the science and wonders of Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Monument. The ultimate goal of my project is to enrich the youth of today, through the development of curriculum and teaching skills at MDC, for ultimately a better tomorrow. While focusing on developing new curriculum that utilizes the resources MDC has to offer, filling the niches within the set curriculum, each lesson plan encompasses the mission of MDC, which is to bring the place to the people and spur greater public awareness on conservation issues. The final goal is prepare a science night at MDC open to the public in order to bring the families of the community together for more learning opportunities.

My goal is to determine the severity of coral bleaching amongst different coral species at Waiʻōpae, HI. I photograph specific coral colonies, and use those photos along with photos from a long-term monitoring project, to do visual analysis with a computer program that allows me to determine the percent of bleached area on each colony. Then, I compare the amount of bleaching occurring amongst different coral species and across pools to determine which species at Waiʻōpae are the most and least susceptible to bleaching.

My internship is at the Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources Center (PACRC), where I am an oyster hatchery technician. My responsibilities are the basic care and maintenance of the oyster hatchery. This includes cleaning tanks, algae calculations, transferring algae, and setting water and algae flows for the tanks. I love working at the hatchery because I really like to work with my hands.

Fishpond management requires attention to everything that happens in their areas. Certain characteristics are vital to fish production, and it is our goal to look at these characteristics. We wish to use data collection techniques deployed in the field combined with satellite imagery methods to recognize specific characteristics of three fishponds in Keaukaha, Hilo, HI. These efforts are split into three parts: vegetation extent surrounding ponds, presence of ground water springs/seeps, and water depth of ponds (bathymetry). The findings will be presented in the form of a paper and maps so that our work may be usable by pond management for production efforts, educational purposes, and research.