Research Projects

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

Assessing the potential effects of climate change on vegetation in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

PI: Jim Jacobi, Biologist, USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center
Funded: FY2014

Changing Hawaiian seascapes and their management implications

PI: Noelani Puniwai, Affiliate Faculty, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2014

A measuring tape runs off through trees.

Archipelago-wide demography of Hawaiʻi’s most abundant, but declining, native tree

PI: Kasey Barton, Associate Professor of Botany, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Tiffany Knight, iDiv German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Funded: FY2013

A boxy instrument sits near a coral outcrop on the rocky sea bottom.

Real-time observations of benthic ocean chemistry on two coral reefs in west Hawaiʻi

PI: Steven Colbert, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Co-PI: Jim Beets, Professor of Marine Science, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

A student poses against a steeply sloping landscape with blowing mist.

Predicting the effects of climate change: ecosystem drivers in the tropical subalpine shrubland

PI: Don Drake, Professor of Botany, UH Mānoa
Co-PI: Alison Ainsworth, Department of Botany, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Establishing climate change vulnerability rankings for Hawaiian native plants

PI: Lucas Fortini, Research Ecologist, USGS Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center
Funded: FY2013

Scenic underwater scene with a coral landscape

Projections of future coral reef communities in DOI-managed coastal areas in the Hawaiian Islands

PI: Erik Franklin, Associate Researcher, HIMB, UH Mānoa
Co-I: Rob Toonen , Researcher, HIMB, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Understanding the response of native and non‐native forests to climate variability and change

PI: Thomas Giambelluca, Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Reconstructing climate variability in Hawaiʻi using tree rings

PI: Patrick Hart, Professor of Biology, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

Valuing climate change impacts on coral reef ecosystem services

PI: Kirsten Oleson, Assistant Professor of Ecological Economics, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Tall trees of various species cluster around a watchtower framework.

Stand level water-use in forests of contrasting rainfall regimes

PI: Rebecca Ostertag, Professor of Biology, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

Epiphytes as an indicator of climate change

PI: Jonathan Price, Assoc. Professor of Geography, UH Hilo
Co-PI: Scarlett Kettwich, Department of Geography, UH Hilo
Funded: FY2013

Coral reef resilience to climate change in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands

PI: Laurie Raymundo, Professor of Marine Biology, University of Guam
Co-PI: Jeffrey Maynard, Marine Applied Research Center
Funded: FY2013

Very fine resolution dynamical downscaling of past and future climates for assessment of climate change impacts on the islands of Oʻahu and Kauaʻi

PI: Yuqing Wang, Professor of Meteorology/IPRC, UH Mānoa
Co-PI: Kevin Hamilton, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences/IPRC, UH Mānoa
Funded: FY2013

Stream water pours down a small fall between fern-covered banks

Developing high-resolution rainfall change scenarios for the Hawaiian Islands using statistical downscaling

PI: Oliver Elison Timm, Research Assoc. Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, SUNY Albany
Co-PIs: Thomas Giambelluca , Professor of Geography, UH Mānoa; Henry Diaz Meteorlogist, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder
Funded: FY2012