Research Projects

PI-CASC supports research that generates actionable climate science within several key focus areas defined by regional stakeholder needs.

Open forest view of taller trees and lower ferns

Machine learning approaches to improve projections of future climate in Hawai‘i

PI: Tom Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Graduate Scholar: Yusuke Hatanaka, Department of Computer and Data Science, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2020

Firefighters tend a grassy fire break line in front of burning brush, with a blackened, smoky landscape behind

Future of fire in the Pacific Islands: Towards a national synthesis for wildland fire under a changing climate

PI: Christian Giardina, Research Ecologist, Inst. of Pacific Islands Forestry, US Forest Service
Co-PI: Alyssa Anderson, Fire Post-doctoral Fellow, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2020

A very dry landscape with brown grassy hills and brown, dead trees

Scaling up the Hawai‘i Drought Knowledge Exchange

PI: Christian Giardina, Research Ecologist, Inst. of Pacific Islands Forestry, US Forest Service
Co-PI: Abby Frazier, Research Fellow, East-West Center, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2020

Student examines plants along a greenery-bordered path

2020 SURF Projects

Three students completed projects in climate adaptation science for the 2020 SURF program, investigating salinity tolerance in coastal plants, fire-plant interactions, and new techniques to improve reforestation efforts.

A shallow valley is covered with dead brown grass and a scattering of dead and dying tree trunks.

Malo‘o ka lani, wela ka honua (When the sky is dry, the earth is parched)

PI: Christian Giardina, Research Ecologist, Inst. of Pacific Islands Forestry, US Forest Service
Co-PI: Katie Kamelamela, Postdoctoral Researcher, Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests
Funded: FY2020

A foot-long black, shiny flat fish with a high top fin is held for the camera

Understanding nutrient transport through streamflow and fish populations

PI: Tim Grabowski, Research Fish Biologist, Cooperative Fisheries Unit, USGS
Funded: FY2020

Hilly barren landscape with low burnt browned grass

Biochar as a mitigation tool for soil rehabilitation in Guam’s badlands and savannah grasslands

PI: Mohammad Golabi, Professor of Soil Science, University of Guam
CARM Graduate Scholar: Patrick Keeler, Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Guam
Funded: FY2020

A small reef fish, with bright yellow rings around the eyes.

How will changing reefscapes affect the prevalence of ciguatera on Hawaiian reefs?

PI: Tim Grabowski, Fish Biologist, Hawai‘i Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, USGS/Adjunct Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
MCC Graduate Scholar: Nikola Rodriguez, Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2020

A small, brown bird sits on the branch of a tree

Development of an early warning system for climate-change related invasion by mosquitoes into Hakalau Forest NWR

PI: Patrick Hart, Professor of Biology, UH Hilo
MCC Graduate Scholar: Stephanie Mladinich, Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2020

Image looking up the trunk of a light-barked tree

Comparing arbuscular mycorrhizal diversity among different life stages of Intsia bijuga (Colebr.) Kuntze in Guam’s Limestone Forests

PI: Alexander Kerr, Professor of Marine Biology, University of Guam
CARM Graduate Scholar: Charles "CJ" Paulino, Environmental Science, University of Guam
Funded: FY2020

RESEARCH