With National Science Foundation support, the University of Hawaii Hilo (UHH) will further develop the Center for Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) and pursue research focused on enhancing the understanding of biotic response to environmental change in tropical ecosystems through a place-based context. The Center integrates detailed ecological, evolutionary, and genomic research with bioinformatics analysis and Geographic Information Systems modeling. The center will train the next generation of scientists and professionals, particularly from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, with the interdisciplinary perspective that is required to both study and effectively steward the spectacular yet fragile ecosystems found throughout the region. The Center will become a fully established, self-sustaining locus of research and training and grow a first-of-its-kind Ph.D. program in TCBES fields, capable of advancing state-of-the-art research and training in evolution, ecology and genomics.
Intellectual Merit: The Center will focus on three synergistic research themes: 1) organismal response to environmental change: this project will examine the short- and long-term responses of key organisms to a range of environmental conditions, both steady and fluctuating, and will incorporate those results into models of landscape-level response to climate change; 2) behavioral responses to environmental change: this project will use emerging genetic and acoustic tools to examine the effect of anthropogenic change on important social behaviors in animals ranging from arthropods to whales; 3) dynamic interactions between symbioses and environment: this project will explore adaptations of the mutualism-pathogenesis-parasitism continuum in multiple symbiotic systems. Integration of next-generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis in each of the research areas will allow unprecedented insight into the molecular basis of biotic responses to environmental change.
Broader Impacts: This CREST Center project will expand on regional and national partnerships developed by Center faculty in the areas of ecology, evolution, and genetics to generate a diverse, technologically and scientifically literate workforce to meet the growing need for sound management of Hawaii's fragile natural resources. This work is expected to: (1) advance faculty to a nationally competitive level in applying genomic tools to predict organismal responses to climate change and other environmental challenges; (2) produce Ph.D.- level scientists who will be able to apply these concepts and techniques in a culturally relevant context; and (3) elucidate the impacts climate change will have on the geographic ranges and social and symbiotic interactions of species in Hawaii and the broader Pacific region. Center researchers will launch bioinformatics and bioacoustics laboratories in association with established genetic, analytical and spatial data analysis core research facilities to further enhance Hawaii's capacity to train technologically-proficient scientists who can address the conservation challenges facing the state and Pacific region.
