UH Hilo students and alumni present their studies on native birds at statewide conservation conference
The conference provided an opportunity for UH Hilo students, faculty, and alumni to connect, share their knowledge, and inspire participants as well as next generations to mālama ʻāina.
By Susan Enright.
Several graduate students and alumni, whose research is based at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s bioacoustics lab, presented their work at the 2024 Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference held in Honolulu July 30-Aug. 1.
The UH Hilo group’s studies are based at the Listening Observatory for Hawaiian Ecosystems, commonly called LOHE lab, headed by Professor of Biology Patrick Hart. The lab serves as a center for research on the ecology and conservation of native Hawaiian forests and birds, specializing in gathering the acoustics of bird song as a way to gauge forest and bird species’ vulnerabilities often caused by environmental traumas such as climate change and disease.
Students who presented their work are Lauren Smith and Josephine Tupu who are currently in the tropical conservation biology and environmental science graduate program; Noah Hunt, Erika Kekiwi, Amanda Navine, and Emma Stierhoff who are alumni of the program; and Braxton Igne who graduated in May with a bachelor of science in biology.
“The [conference] provides an opportunity for us to connect, share knowledge, and inspire participants as well as the next generations of mālama ʻāina,” says Tupu. “Once a year, we get to experience this event for three days with other members of our conservation community.”
The theme of this year’s conference, “ʻAuamo Kuleana: Amplifying Strength Through Balance,” emphasized the collective responsibility and privilege of caring for the environment, balancing individual and community efforts to create a sustainable future for the islands.
Award-winning presentation
At a general session entitled “Majestic Manu of Hawaiʻi,” Emma Stierhoff won Honorable Mention for her oral presentation about her research, “ʻAmakihi kaulana i ka hoʻōla maʻi: Assessing the long-term impacts of infection with avian malaria in Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi” (UH Hilo Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Susan Jarvi and Patrick Hart are among co-authors). The group studied avian malaria in native forest bird populations and assessed the impact of chronic infection on the physiological condition of ʻamakihi near ʻᾹinahou Ranch in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
“As much as I try to claim I’m not a bird person, the goofy grin on my face every time I see an ʻamakihi gives me away,” Stierhoff writes in her dissertation. “It has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life to work with these goofy, gentle, sassy, resilient manu. Their strength gives me hope for the future of Hawaiian forest birds.”
Stierhoff says that although her research focuses on terrestrial work, she found inspiration at the conference chatting with presenters in the marine field.
“It was so cool to see how connected our work is mauka to makai, and how much inspiration we can draw from one another despite working in vastly different habitats,” says Stierhoff. “I also loved seeing everyone rep outfits featuring native plants, birds, fish, snails, and more.”
Symposium on Hawaiian birds
Professor Hart led a symposium at the conference titled, “Towards Automated Acoustic Monitoring of Hawaiian Birds.”
Hart, who specializes in behavioral ecology, community ecology, and conservation of Hawaiian forest and birds, also presented a talk at the session on “New Tools for Automated Recognition of All Hawaiian Bird Species” (Navine is a co-author). The talk focused on monitoring bird populations over time and across landscapes through the establishment of automated acoustic recorder networks, the specialty of LOHE lab, which Hart founded.
Several UH Hilo students and alumni presented their research at this symposium.
UH Hilo alumna Amanda Navine, a recent graduate now an acoustic bioinformatics specialist at LOHE lab, says the group was very excited to share their investigations at the conference because this was the first time they could confidently say “passive acoustic monitoring is now a feasible, timely, and robust approach to population monitoring for endangered species in Hawaiʻi.”
“As was made apparent by some of our current and past students, the quick analysis turnaround we have recently achieved is far superior to anything we have previously had at our disposal, and this makes it possible to assess population responses to threats and conservation efforts alike, and act on those responses within actionable time frames,” Navine explains.
Navine presented her research, “All Thresholds Barred: Direct Estimation of Call Density in Bioacoustic Data” (Hart is among co-authors) focusing on the efficacy of methods in a real-world study of Hawaiian birds, demonstrating practical applications in wildlife monitoring and conservation.
Lauren Smith, who worked in the lab in the fall of 2023, presented her paper on “Using Bioacoustics to Assess the Success of Incompatible Insect Technique on Hawaiian Forest Bird Population Recovery” (Navine and Hart are among co-authors), about her research team’s monitor work on bird populations through the deployment of 80 autonomous recording units in The Nature Conservancy’s Waikamoi Preserve and Haleakalā National Park’s Kīpahulu Valley.
Josie Tupu presented her thesis project, “Utilizing Bioacoustics to Understand Native Bird Abundance Across the Elevational Gradient of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge” (Navine, Hart, and UH Hilo Professor of Geography and Environmental Science Ryan Perroy are among co-authors) where Tupu shared her preliminary bioacoustic monitoring results of a two-year study on eight native Hawaiian birds at Hakalau: ʻakiapōlāʻau, ʻapapane, Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi, Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio, Hawaiʻi ʻakepa, ʻōmaʻo, ʻiʻiwi, and Hawaiʻi creeper or ʻalawī.
Braxton Igne presented her work, “Novel Bioacoustic Methods Allow Estimation of Fledging Success of an Endangered Hawaiian Bird Species” (Navine and Hart are among co-authors), where she and the research team did a case study testing the Google Perch bird classifier and a novel analytical method for estimating juvenile and adult call densities for ʻakiapōlāʻau at several sites on Hawaiʻi Island.
Igne felt inspired at the conference.
“[This] was my first time going to a science conference and it was a super cool experience,” she says. “It was very inspiring to see so many people so dedicated to mālama ʻāina and helped me to better envision a future for myself in conservation. Also, I felt very privileged to be able to be involved with the LOHE lab and grateful for the support from everyone there.”
Erika Kekiwi, an alumna of the graduate program and past LOHE lab member who now works at Haleakalā National Park, also presented her study at the conference, “Using Bioacoustics to Monitor the Distribution of Kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) and ʻĀkohekohe (Palmeria dolei) at Haleakalā National Park” (Navine and Hart are among co-authors). Kekiwi’s paper discusses the park’s use of acoustic devices to detect the presence of both species, some in areas previously unknown to contain endangered bird species. “Acoustic monitoring provides valuable insights, and direct observations will continue to supplement our understanding of bird distributions,” say the authors in the abstract. The ongoing monitoring will inform management decisions crucial for protecting these critically endangered species in the future.
Navine says discussions are underway to collaborate with other groups they met at the conference, which they hope will lead to improved monitoring and management for ecologically and bio-culturally important species across the Hawaiian Islands.
Poster presentations
Among other studies, recent graduate Noah Hunt is researching the status and trends of American Samoan birds. His poster presentation on this topic reflected his collaborative research project, “An Updated Status of Landbird Populations in the National Park of American Samoa,” done with researchers from the Hawaiʻi Cooperative Studies Unit in Hilo, the Pacific Islands Inventory and Monitoring Network of the National Park Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Pacific Islands Ecosystems Research Center.
For his bioacoustics work at LOHE Lab, Hunt presented another poster, “Distance Estimation Based on Maximum Power Level of Recorded Bird Vocalizations in Hawaiʻi” (UH Hilo Professor of Psychology Adam Pack, who has a joint appointment in the biology department, and Hart are among the co-authors).
“The conference made me feel so much more connected with the wider conservation community in Hawaiʻi, and so much more hopeful about the future of its ecosystems,” says Hunt. “Learning from others and being able to contribute my own work also convinced me that I do have a place as a researcher in this conservation ecosystem, that I am right where I need to be.”
Support
Several of the UH Hilo attendees where supported for their conference trip through the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference’s Student and Emerging Professional Opportunities program that offers scholarships, workshops, mentorship opportunities, and resources.
“Attending this year’s conference would not have been possible without the support from the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference Student and Emerging Professional Scholarship, and most of us from our lab were able to attend the conference through this scholarship,” says Tupu. As an example of other types of support received by the students, Tupu says the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center, who funded her research project, helped cover her hotel and travel expenses for the conference.
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.
