UH Hilo conservation biology graduate students present their research at statewide conservation conference, two receive awards

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Geneviève Blanchet was awarded Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation, and Koa Matsuoka was awarded Runner-Up for Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation.

Geneviève Blanchet stands next to large cut out of albatross.
Geneviève Blanchet, graduate student in the UH Hilo tropical conservation and environmental science graduate program, at the 25th Annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference held in Honolulu last week. Blanchet won top honors at the statewide conference in the category of Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation. Courtesy photo.

A group of conservation biology graduate students from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo presented their work at the 25th Annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference held last week in Honolulu. Two of the students came home with honors in two categories.

Koa with large bird on his head.
Koa Matsuoka was awarded Runner-Up for Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation at the 25th Annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference held last week in Honolulu.

Geneviève Blanchet was awarded Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation, and Koa Matsuoka was awarded Runner-Up for Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation.

The students who presented at the conference are either current students or recent graduates of UH Hilo’s master of science in tropical conservation and environmental science (MSc TCBES) program.

Students’ names alphabetically with links to abstracts of the studies:

  • AWARD to Geneviève Blanchet, MSc TCBES student: Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation, “Genomic diversity in the “critically-endangered” ‘alalā, (Hawaiian Crow; Corvus hawaiiensis)”
  • Karen Gallardo Cruz, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation, “Examining the effect of helicopter noise on bird assemblages in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park”
  • Rose Hart, Alumni MSc TCBES (spring graduation): Poster presentation, “Keeping up with the coast: quantifying shoreline change on Hawaiʻi Island”
  • Marty Kawasaki, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation, “Ka lele ana on nā kūkuluae’o ma ka ‘āina kūlana kauhale : Hawaiian stilt movements through an urban landscape”
  • Angalee Kirby, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation, “Is Biological Nitrogen Fixation Strategy Tied to Invasive Success for Non-Native Woody Legumes in Hawai‘i?”
  • Jessica Kirkpatrick, Alumni MSc TCBES (spring graduation): Oral presentation, “An Assessment of Wēkiu Bug Populations on Cinder Cones of the Maunakea Volcano, Hawai‘i Informs Habitat Restoration and Conservation Efforts”
  • AWARD to Koa Matsuoka, MSc TCBES student: Runner-Up for Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation, “Evaluating the Seed Dispersal Efficacy of Hawaiʻi’s Last Functionally Extant Frugivore”
  • Kristina Montoya-Aiona, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation, “Investigating Roosting Behaviors of the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) on Hawai’i Island”
  • Maya Munstermann, MSc TCBES student: Poster presentation, “Pilot study investigating population connectivity of the Hawaiian Flame Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus jordani“
  • Kaikea Nakachi, MSc TCBES student: Forum organizer, “The next stepping stones: Emerging leaders at Kaʻūpūlehu and Kīholo”
  • Joanna Norton, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation, “Can Albizia Mulch Applied to Agricultural Land Replace Fertilizer, Improve Agroecosystem Functioning, and Provide Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience?”
  • Jeff Stallman, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation and Wiki presentation, “DNA Barcodes Fail to Accurately Differentiate Species Within Hawaiian Plant Lineages”
  • Dominique Zarders, MSc TCBES student: Oral presentation, “Mechanisms of the possible host shift of Teleonemia scrupulosa between Lantana camara and Myoporum stellatum”

This post was updated to correct Koa Matsuoka’s award to runner-up.

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