“I treat the students like family and each time they make progress, I feel like a proud parent,” says biologist Li Tao about the transition to online teaching.

By Emily Burkhart.

Li Tao teaches a lab class remotely. Courtesy photo

For University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo biology professor Li Tao, the switch to online education is challenging, but he keeps an even keel thanks to students, faculty, and administrative cooperation amidst the shifting demands of the new learning format.

“As a professor, my duty has never changed as my utmost priority is supporting the students’ success,” he says.

Tao’s kind, calm, and collected approach reassures his upper-division cell biology students that they will not be given a source of added stress. His commitment to seeing things from student perspectives has garnered praise during this time of uncertainty. In an anonymous survey submitted last spring, students wrote they were impressed with the biologist’s organizational skills.

He “uploaded recorded lectures in a timely fashion,” writes one student about Tao’s cell biology class. “He would make sure his lectures were uploaded before the times our class would actually meet. This really helped to maintain the same study schedule as I had with face to face courses.”

Though the biologist’s students attribute the smooth transition to Tao’s methodical style, he believes it’s because “students were very cooperative and understanding of the current pandemic situation” as well as the united efforts of the biology department.

“Transitioning these courses online has not been easy,” says Tao, “but I would say that it has been successful because we have a great faculty team in the biology department. We exchange our ideas and methods through frequent departmental Zoom meetings and emails to find the best way for a course to be taught.”

Tao has made the in-person lab components of his courses, where students can come into his research lab at UH Hilo and work on special projects, available this semester on a voluntary basis. Necessary accommodations are also made for anyone off-island to successfully learn the concepts online.

Despite the success Tao is having, he acknowledges that students are facing new challenges learning in an off-campus environment. Before he uploads any lectures, he creates multiple formats of a lecture and then puts on his student hat to ask, “would [this] be understandable from a student’s perspective?” to find the most suitable option.

The biologist, whose research focuses on cell division mechanisms, an integral component of cancer research, draws on his career in academia in formulating his approach to online teaching. He received his doctor of philosophy in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California at Davis after coming to the United States in 2001. Before joining the UH Hilo campus in 2014, he conducted postdoctoral research at UC Davis and worked as a project scientist at UC Santa Cruz. He was promoted to associate professor last year and continues to deliver his sought-after biology courses, adapting well to the new needs of his students.

“Since everything is online, students can get easily distracted, compared to an in-person class,” he notices. To complement the intricacies and complex details of cell biology course material, he draws on current events to engage students in his lectures, striving to meet students where they are. “One of my strengths as a teacher is my ability to sum things up using simple analogies and making them easier to remember.”

This semester, which Tao had originally intended to take as a sabbatical to conduct collaborative research and apply for grants, has brought its biggest challenge in the form of finding balance.

“It’s been quite busy and challenging as I have to teach and perform my own research at the same time. I have to juggle between mentoring students and postdocs, performing collaborative research with other professors, applying for grants, and of course teaching my classes,” he says.

Despite this, Tao has continued to put students first. To combat the new stress he has seen spike in students, he strives to always “put the student’s wellbeing as my top priority and make sure to give out clear instructions and expectations, assuring them that they will succeed in my classes under my guidance and mentoring.”

One way of accomplishing this has been his personal rule of responding to student requests by initiating communication, usually via a Zoom call, within 30 minutes. “I always try to look from their angle in order to understand their situation.”

Tao understands that everyone is in this pandemic together and that interdependence at the university makes the campus community stronger. He says playing important roles creating this supportive environment are the college dean, department chair, the university disability center, and the university’s CARES program (a federal program—the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act—established in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States).

Tao notes this multi-pronged support system is put in place “to make sure that any student with special needs can get immediate attention.”

“I treat the students like family and each time they make progress, I feel like a proud parent,” he says.

Though Tao is juggling many commitments this semester, his exemplary leadership has earned him recognition from his students because of his genuine concern and care for their development as biologists and as people.

Story by Emily Burkhart, a senior double majoring in English, and Gender and Women’s Studies, at UH Hilo.

The researchers credit collaboration between the university, the federal forest service, the county, and an independent lawyer with the success of Bill 178, meant to create two additional native forest dedications, including a tax incentive for property owners in Hawai‘i county.

By Susan Enright. 

Research at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo on hybrid forest ecosystems is directly behind the creation of a bill currently under consideration at the Hawai‘i County Council. Bill 178 is an amendment to the current Hawaiʻi County Property Tax Code. Under the proposed property tax amendments, Bill 178 would create two additional native forest dedications: 1) a functional forest and 2) a successional forest land-use dedication. These changes would allow private landowners to receive reduced property tax rates for native forest restoration on Hawaiʻi Island, and promote the islandwide engagement of preserving native forests.

The bill has passed two hearings unanimously with the next scheduled for Aug. 5. If it passes the next hearing and is approved by Mayor Harry Kim, it will become law.

• Update: At the Aug. 5 hearing, the Hawai‘i County Council unanimously approved the bill. It now goes to mayor for signature.
• Update: The mayor signed the bill into law on Aug. 17, 2020.

Forest ecosystems expert Rebecca Ostertag, a professor of biology and associate program chair of the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) graduate program at UH Hilo, and her colleague Susan Cordell of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, are working directly with environmental lawyer Leslie Cole-Brooks, who wrote the bill.

In addition, UH Hilo student Sebastian Wells, in the professional internship track of the TCBES graduate program and advised by internship coordinator Lisa Canale, is working as an intern this summer with the County of Hawaiʻi Real Property Tax Office under the guidance of Lisa Miura, division head administrator at the tax office. Among his many duties, Wells is developing communication tools for the public and training county employees in evaluating forest management plans.

“My role as an intern is to develop documents that would support the implementation of the proposed legislation as it will help streamline the process for the county, helping them to effectively and efficiently evaluate forestry management plans while also providing landowners with the tools they need in order to maximize the success of their native forest restoration endeavors,” Wells says.

Background

Ostertag explains that about two years ago, she and Cordell were contacted by the County of Hawai‘i to give a presentation to a working group convened to analyze the current property tax programs related to agriculture and to propose suggestions to the county council for change. A subset of the agricultural programs is a Native Forest Program that is intended to promote open space and the persistence of native plants.

“We did our presentation in October 2018,” says Ostertag. “We talked about our research on the Liko Nā Pilina project, which is developing a new restoration technique using native and non-native, non-invasive species in combination to keep out the highly invasive plants.”

In May 2019, the two forest advocates were contacted by environmental lawyer Cole-Brooks, who heard about Ostertag and Cordell’s research through a member of the county council. Discussions took place about rewriting the county code to allow for a cheaper tax rate, an incentive, for doing restoration and to add this incentive to the native forest dedication already on the books, in which there was no direct credit for restoration.

“We added categories for doing native forest restoration, functional forest restoration—an outgrowth of our years working in Liko Nā Pilina—and successional forest restoration,” explains Ostertag. “We spent a whole year developing this and Leslie did the legwork of writing the code and doing outreach to a lot of people.”

Ostertag then recruited graduate student Wells to work on the project. Among other work, Wells is helping the tax office with communicating about the program to the public, making species lists, developing guidelines for the forest management plans that owners need to write and how the county can evaluate the plans.

Collaboration and Applied Learning

Ostertag credits the collaboration between the university, the U. S. Forest Service, the county, and the independent lawyer with the success of the bill.

“It’s super exciting that the bill is based on years of research, and how that basic research expanded and blossomed into policy and training applications.”

That training can be seen most clearly in the work of graduate student Wells. Among his many duties in regard to Bill 178, he is working on the following:

• Creating digital habitat suitability maps with a Geographic Information System (GIS) that will show the ranges and types of native plants that can be used for forest restoration efforts throughout Hawaiʻi county
• A corresponding list of native and non-native non-invasive plant species that can be used to maximize the success of native forest restoration projects based on elevation and rates of precipitation
• Developing an evaluation criterion that the county can use to track private landowners progress
• The development of guidelines for forestry and natural resource management professionals to use to write native forest assessment reports and whether landowners are adhering to the guidelines for native forest dedication
• Quantifying the economic value of native forests based on the ecosystem services they provide the residents of Hawaiʻi county
• Upon completion, train staff at the Hawaiʻi County Real Property Tax Division how to use these documents

“So far I have completed the plant species list and the annotated bibliography quantifying the economic value of native forests and am now starting to work on forestry management plans that will be used by the county and the property owners who are interested in dedicating their land to one of three native forest dedications outlined in Bill 178,” Wells explains. “I have also submitted verbal and written testimony in support of Bill 178 during the last two hearings on July 7th and July 22nd, and I also plan on submitting another round of verbal and written testimony during the last hearing on August 5th.”

Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.

Update Sept. 8, 2020: Interview with ThinkTech Hawaii, featuring Leslie Cole Brooks, Rebecca Ostertag, and Susan Cordell. Host is Jay Fidell. 

The work by Matthew Knope and research colleagues argues that animals have not only evolved increased resiliency to environmental change, but have also made the physical environment increasingly more stable.

A review article by University of Hawai‘i at Hilo evolutionary ecologist Matthew Knope, and a collaborative research team from several universities, was published June 12, 2020, at The Royal Society’s Interface Focus. The article, “The evolution of complex life and the stabilization of the Earth system,” is the product of an invited paper presented to The Royal Society, delivered by team member Jonathan Payne, chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at Stanford University, CA, on behalf of the group.

The work focuses on the evolution of complex life, and posits that animals have not only evolved increased resiliency to environmental change, but have also made the physical environment increasingly more stable, helping to explain the well-documented decrease in background extinction rates in the animal fossil record over the past 500 million years.

“Scientists have long been interested in better understanding the feedbacks between the living and non-living components of Earth across time,” says Knope. “Based on evidence from paleontology, geochemistry, and comparative physiology, we argue that the evolution of complex life, on the whole, has actually decreased volatility in the climate system, and increased the habitability of the planet for animals, including ourselves.”

Abstract

The half-billion-year history of animal evolution is characterized by decreasing rates of background extinction. Earth’s increasing habitability for animals could result from several processes: (i) a decrease in the intensity of interactions among species that lead to extinctions; (ii) a decrease in the prevalence or intensity of geological triggers such as flood basalt eruptions and bolide impacts; (iii) a decrease in the sensitivity of animals to environmental disturbance; or (iv) an increase in the strength of stabilizing feedbacks within the climate system and biogeochemical cycles.

There is no evidence that the prevalence or intensity of interactions among species or geological extinction triggers have decreased over time. There is, however, evidence from palaeontology, geochemistry and comparative physiology that animals have become more resilient to an environmental change and that the evolution of complex life has, on the whole, strengthened stabilizing feedbacks in the climate system.

The differential success of certain phyla and classes appears to result, at least in part, from the anatomical solutions to the evolution of macroscopic size that were arrived at largely during Ediacaran and Cambrian time. Larger-bodied animals, enabled by increased anatomical complexity, were increasingly able to mix the marine sediment and water columns, thus promoting stability in biogeochemical cycles.

In addition, body plans that also facilitated ecological differentiation have tended to be associated with lower rates of extinction. In this sense, Cambrian solutions to Cambrian problems have had a lasting impact on the trajectory of complex life and, in turn, fundamental properties of the Earth system.

Knope’s research on evolution and extinction rates is making a big impact on the field. Notably, in 2016, was the publication of his collaborative work on the emerging biodiversity crisis in the world’s oceans in the journal Science. By comparing modern extinction risk data with information on ancient extinctions, Knope and his colleagues determined the potential for future human-driven mass extinction could rival the largest mass extinctions in the past, and that the current biodiversity crisis is unlike any the planet has ever experienced.

Recently, a collaborative study led by Knope and published Feb. 28, 2020, also in the journal Science, uncovers findings that challenge long-held assumptions in the field of evolution, positing that animal biodiversity in modern oceans is best explained by lower extinction rates in animal groups that are ecologically diverse, rather than by higher origination rates as previously predicted.

• The study was a collaboration of state agencies along with UH Hilo faculty and alumni now working in health and science fields.
• Findings: Staph and fecal indicator bacteria in Hilo Bay increase with rainfall and river discharge. Cloudy water is associated with higher bacteria concentrations, and high salinity with lower bacteria concentrations.

By Leah Sherwood.

A team of scientists from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo has published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Environmental Quality on how rainfall-driven runoff increases concentrations of harmful bacteria in Hilo Bay.

The paper is titled, “Rainfall and Streamflow Effects on Estuarine Staphylococcus aureus and Fecal Indicator Bacteria Concentrations.” The authors are Louise Economy, an alumna of UH Hilo’s tropical conservation and environment science graduate program who is currently employed by the Hawai‘i Department of Health; Tracy Wiegner, professor of marine science at UH Hilo; Ayron Strauch, a hydrologist with the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Jonathan Awaya, professor of biology at UH Hilo; and Tyler Gerken, a UH Hilo alumnus who is currently a graduate research assistant at the University of Washington.

The scientists used culture-based methods to quantify the presence of Staphylococcus aureus (known informally as “staph”), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (abbreviated MRSA), and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in Hilo Bay and in soils, sands, rivers, wastewater, and storm water within the Hilo watershed. These pathogen concentrations were then compared with rainfall and river discharge levels and water quality data. The results showed that staph and FIB concentrations increased with rainfall and river discharge. In terms of water quality, high turbidity (water cloudiness) was associated with higher bacteria concentrations, and high salinity with lower bacteria concentrations.

The project is based on Economy’s undergraduate and graduate work at UH Hilo, supervised by Wiegner, as well as work done by Gerken, also supervised by Wiegner, while he was at UH Hilo earning his baccalaureate degree in environmental science.

“Staph is an opportunistic pathogenic bacterium, meaning that given the right conditions it can cause disease,” explains Economy. “It can invade wounds and cause boils, rashes, and even flesh-eating disease. These infections are becoming more and more common in the community and affecting people who were previously healthy.”

Wiegner notes that Hawai‘i has the highest level of community acquired staph infections in the country. “It’s two times the rate of the rest of the U.S.,” she says. “That may be because it’s warmer here or because people are in the water more.”

Traditionally, scientists focused on the transmission of bacterial pathogens to the water from the skin of recreational water users. “Two out of five people have staph on their skin at any given time,” explains Economy. “These people can be carriers without getting infected. However, our work showed that staph and MRSA can persist on land, and can be moved into our ocean waters through mauka to makai connections driven by rainfall.”

Swimmers beware

The scientists hope their work can be used to predict water quality conditions based on rainfall patterns and to help assess the health risks faced by swimmers, surfers, and other recreational water users in Hilo Bay. “We are trying to develop real-time models using the water quality buoys, river discharge gauges, and rainfall data to be able to make real time predictions,” says Wiegner. “The idea is that you could look at your phone and see what your risk is before going in the water.”

Until then, she advises swimmers and surfers to stay home after a heavy rainfall, since rainfall and turbidity are associated with higher pathogen concentrations. “A good rule of thumb for recreational water users is if the water is brown, turn around,” she says. “You don’t want to go in with open cuts, and if you do go in, you should always rinse off.”

Wiegner worries that climate change could make the potential risk higher. “What’s predicted by climate change is that the climate will be drier, but when we do have rain, it will be much more intense,” she says. “When you have dry periods followed by more intense rain events, you get higher pathogen concentrations.”

Funding

The project was funded through the Hau‘oli Mau Loa Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC). PI-CASC contributed through the Manager Climate Corps, a program that focuses on supporting research teams comprised of UH Hilo faculty, students, agencies and community members to address the island’s climate adaptation challenges. Undergraduate student research was supported by the National Science Foundation through UH Hilo’s Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES) and UH Mānoa’s Center for Microbial Oceanography, and by the National Institutes of Health through the Students of Hawai‘i Advanced Research Program (SHARP).

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