SOEST scientists watched with the world as Perseverance, the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to Mars, successfully landed on the red planet last week. Following six years of design, testing and development, Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology scientists, Sarah Fagents and Shiv Sharma, who are members of NASA’s instrument teams, along with HIGP researchers and graduate students, now begin the next chapter in the search for signs of ancient life on Mars. The exploration site is Jezero Crater, an area that once contained a lake that scientists consider an ideal place to find evidence of ancient life.
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In a rare study, SOEST researcher Andrea Jani determined the skin microbiome of an endangered frog was altered when the frogs were infected by a specific fungus. The frog didn’t recover to its initial state even when it was cured of the infection. The fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, infects the skin of amphibians and has caused 90 presumed species extinctions—representing the greatest known disease-induced biodiversity loss. Establishing whether the microbiome can be resilient after disease is important to a basic understanding of microbiome dynamics, as well as the effects of infectious diseases.
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To survive the open ocean, tiny fish larvae must find food, avoid predators, and navigate ocean currents to their adult habitats. But these great ocean odysseys have long been a mystery. A team of scientists, including several from SOEST’s Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research and Department of Oceanography, discovered that a diverse array of marine animals find refuge in so-called ‘surface slicks’ in Hawai‘i. These meandering lines of smooth water concentrate surface-dwelling larval fish and create a highway of critical nursery habitat for over 100 species of commercially and ecologically important fishes.
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In an effort to advance research and treatments for rat lungworm disease, an illness caused by a nematode (roundworm), researchers from SOEST’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center, John A. Burns School of Medicine, and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources formed the Mānoa Angiostrongylus Research Group in 2019. The team has published eight studies: cataloging information on species of nematodes; summarizing the disease and its treatment for veterinary professionals; developing guidance for diagnosis and treatment of the disease in humans; and most recently, identifying environmental factors that influence rat lungworm infection in snails.
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Large parts of the Sahara Desert were green thousands of years ago, evidenced by prehistoric engravings in the desert of giraffes and a stone-age cave painting of humans swimming. In a study published in Nature Geoscience and co-authored by SOEST oceanography researcher Tobias Friedrich, layers of seafloor sediment and new computer models of climate tell a more detailed story of major environmental changes in North Africa over the past 160,000 years. The unprecedented reconstruction offers a picture of when and why there was sufficient rainfall in the Central Sahara to reactivate rivers and provides a climatic context for the development of past human populations.
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The extraordinary cost of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption in Hawai‘i reflects the intersection of distinct physical and social phenomena: infrequent, highly destructive eruptions, and atypically high population growth, according to a new study published in Nature Communications and led by SOEST earth scientists. Areas in Puna, Hawai‘i, are at high risk from lava flows—ensuring that land values were lower, which actively promoted rapid population growth. If population growth resumes in lava hazard zones 1 and 2, there will be increased risk in the most dangerous areas on this exceptionally active volcano, which translates into costly damages in future eruptions.
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This month, Dr. Beth Lenz joined the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program as its inaugural assistant director for diversity and community engagement. This new, full-time senior leadership position was created to more effectively address the persistence of social inequities due to systemic racism and colonialism. Lenz noted “I am excited to support in this new role that champions institutional change. By setting high standards that ensure accountability and incorporate all voices, we will maintain a productive and conducive program that better reflects the communities we serve.” Read more on Hawai‘i Sea Grant’s website.
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