Diatoms, Jellies and Pteropods

This is Kelsey writing to you as one of the last three members of the plankton hui. I have been with Kilo ʻĀina since the start, up until this possibly last semester. Unfortunately, we had to cut our semester short due to COVID-19 but we still managed to find interesting data over these past few semesters. We started at Blaisdell Park where we learned how to identifying plankton, then moved to Iroquois Point where we quantified plankton, to Kapapapuhi Point Park where we are starting to quantify diatoms. Every semester keeps me engaged as there are many more things to learn. Currently, the most difficult task (in my opinion) is attempting to quantify diatoms because of their small size and large quantities. However, it is interesting to have these counts since they can be used to compare to other sites at different times of the year.

With many interesting things to see every time we meet, one of my favorite organisms would have to be the jellies because I never realized how common they are in our waters (way more than you think). This semester, we also had the opportunity to find a pteropod! This is a type of swimming snail that is usually found in deeper water and out at sea but we found it at Iroquois Point. This was amazing to me because I learned that (because of their thin shells) the pteropod is an indicator for ocean acidification because they are higher affected.

Ultimately, I had a wonderful time participating in Kilo ʻĀina as this was a time to learn more about the world around me. Every week, this has given me the chance to learn more about plankton as some of these things I may not have learned otherwise. The world of plankton may be microscopic but they are much bigger than anyone can imagine!

- Kelsey