Defining the biogeochemical context and ecological impacts of submarine groundwater discharge on coral reefs (National Science Foundation, 2019-2022)
Collaborators: Nyssa Silbiger (lead) @ CSUN, Megan Donahue @ UH Manoa
Student Trainees: Sean Mahaffey, Rayna McClintock
Summary: Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a natural and understudied feature of many nearshore coral reef ecosystems. SGD may play a key role in coral reef ecosystem functioning because it alters key physicochemical parameters (temperature, salinity, and nutrient and carbonate chemistry) that substantially affect both biotic and abiotic processes on coral reefs. Working in one of the most comprehensively studied coral reef ecosystems in the Pacific (Moorea, French Polynesia) (where SGD has been identified but not yet characterized), we will test the influence of SGD on individual, community, and ecosystem-scale coral reef processes. Using mensurative studies, caging experiments, and a synthetic model, we will: 1) characterize SGD gradients and relate it to high resolution reef cover data, 2) determine how individual to ecosystem processes are influenced by SGD, and 3) develop a synthetic model to show how changes in SGD fluxes will alter reef ecosystem functioning.
Enabling real-time predictive modeling of microbial pathogen risk along the Honolulu shoreline (NOAA Sea Grant 2018-2020)
Collaborators: Margaret McManus, Grieg Steward and Anna Neuheimer @ UH Manoa
Student Trainee: Jessica Bullington
Summary: Our overall goal is to enable nowcasting and forecasting of microbial pathogen indicators in real time by coupling modern microbiological data and biological modeling with an existing coastal observing system that serves ongoing monitoring and modeling of coastal physics and chemistry. Our central hypothesis is that we can parameterize models of pathogen dynamics using laboratory growth experiments and coincident high resolution monitoring of physical and biogeochemical parameters, subsequently predicting pathogen abundance and growth/mortality with existing physical models of estuarine and coastal plume physics in a coastal area and linked estuary (Waikīkī beach and adjacent Ala Wai Canal). Recent research by our group has demonstrated that statistical models of salinity and temperature can predict abundances of Vibrio vulnificus in the Ala Wai canal and this research will expand by modeling growth and mortality of Vibrio as well as abundances of a suite of alternative pathogen indicators in situ. This effort will yield a real-time spatially-explicit model of microbial pathogen risk within the Ala Wai canal and the adjacent coastal areas; this product will potentially benefit many tourism, recreation and public health stakeholders regionally.
Differentiating treated and untreated wastewater contamination in a tropical coastal community using microbial community genomics (NOAA Sea Grant, 2020-2022)
Collaborators: Tracy Wiegner (lead) @ UH Hilo, Sandra McLellan @ UW-Milwaukee
Summary: Developing and validating modern tools for rapid and accurate detection of coastal sewage contamination would benefit Hawaiʻi and the Insular Pacific Region served by UH Sea Grant. The tropical ecosystems in this region often demand that techniques developed on the mainland be validated and altered for use in Hawaiʻi. Microbial metagenomics has emerged in the past 5 years as a promising tool for detecting sewage pollution across diverse ecosystem types (Figure 2). New metagenomic applications developed by our collaborators on the mainland employ sophisticated bioinformatic and statistical approaches to rapidly detect and differentiate sewage pollution in wastewater, fluvial runoff, groundwater and receiving freshwater using characteristics of the structure of microbial communities. Our expertise in using metagenomics in coral reef ecosystems will allow us to further develop these tools to be applied to Pacific high islands and Hawaiʻi in particular. Our primary focus will be on a single community where sewage contamination is a significant concern and there are potential sources from two different wastewater management approaches. Keaukaha, a coastal neighborhood in Hilo on the island of Hawaiʻi, is a largely Native Hawaiian community that houses Hilo’s sewage treatment plant (STP), but many homes still have cesspools. Out of the 250 cesspools in the community, 205 are within 1 km of the shoreline. Hawaiʻi Island has nearly 49,000 OSDS classified as cesspools. Data are desperately needed now to assist in order for the community to assess their current water quality conditions and to inform their decisions and help guide the county on what alternative they would prefer to cesspools.
Strategic Monitoring And Resilience Training in the Ala Wai Watershed: SMART Ala Wai (UH Manoa 2017-2019)
Collaborators: Brian Glazer (lead), Olivia Nigro, Yin-Phan Tsang, Henrietta Dulai and Rosie Alegado @ UH Manoa
Student Trainees: Jessica Bullington, Rayna McClintock
Summary: We designed a student-led water quality observation and sampling network in the Ala Wai watershed, estuary, and adjoining reef (the ahupuaʻa). While UHM researchers have the expertise required to rigorously understand the Ala Wai watershed and make recommendations for restoration efforts and resilience-building, the watershed has only garnered limited research attention despite the potential for extramural funding; the resulting lack of adequate field data has seriously hindered efforts to understand and properly manage the watershed. The SMART Ala Wai project brings together a diverse group of faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students from six units at UHM, and ten community stakeholders to establish a comprehensive monitoring and sampling network and a data dissemination and outreach plan. This effort will help inform restoration and resilience efforts in the ahupuaʻa while providing first-hand undergraduate and graduate education and research experiences with meaningful, applied outcomes relevant to the local community. This project also presents a unique investment opportunity for UHM to catalyze new faculty collaborations to seek new sources of extramural funds, to provide an infrastructure for future extramural support, and to promote UHM’s visibility in this vitally important ecosystem.
Sewage pollution source tracking on Puakō’s coral reefs (HI-DLNR-DAR 2016-2018)
Collaborators: Tracy Wiegner (lead) @ UH Hilo, Courtney Couch @ NOAA
Student Trainee: Krissy Remple
Publications: Report on NOAA website
Summary: Sewage contamination of coastal ecosystems in Hawaiʻi is a significant threat because of the high density of on-site sewage disposal systems (OSDS) and strong connectivity between land and ocean. There is a clear and immediate regional need for detecting the microbial risk impacts of OSDS and other land uses on groundwater, surface water and coastal ecosystems, and new methods of source-tracking contaminants serve that need. Anthropogenic contamination of coastal waters has significant impacts on both ecosystem and human health. Hawaiian culture is closely tied to the health of coastal ecosystems, and services related to tourism account for nearly 20% of Hawai‘i’s economy with clean beaches and coral reefs central to this industry. Developing and validating modern tools for rapid and accurate source tracking of coastal contamination would benefit Hawaiʻi and the Insular Pacific Region served by UH Sea Grant. The tropical ecosystems in this region often demand that techniques developed on the mainland be validated and altered for use in Hawaiʻi. A prime example is Microbial Source Tracking (MST), an emerging molecular biology tool for detecting fecal indicator bacteria without culturing while simultaneously differentiating the source of contamination based on DNA sequences. The application of current MST assays to tropical waters is untested; decades of research here in Hawaiʻi suggest that the applicability of microbial assays developed in the continental US may not be ideal indicators for contamination and disease risk in tropical habitats of Hawaiʻi. This project will validate culture-independent microbial source tracking assays (MST) and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) assays for deployment by regulatory agencies in Hawaiʻi for cost-effective and accurate detection of sewage inputs to aquatic ecosystems.
Maunalua
Collaborators: Megan Donahue (lead), Henrietta Dulai and Margaret McManus @ UH Manoa, Kim Falinski @ TNC, Nyssa Silbiger @ CSUN, Malama Maunalua
Student Trainee: Wesley Sparagon
Publications: Many