The 61st annual meeting of The Clay Minerals Society and 5th Asian Clay Conference, held jointly at UHM, could not have come at a better time, given the pressing environmental challenges facing the Pacific Islands.

Non-native, fire-prone vegetation covers more than one million acres of the Hawaiian islands. But Clay Trauernicht of the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management believes that threat could be somewhat alleviated by restoring ecosystems with non-invasive and native plants.

The Hawaiian Islands have just the right water resources and climate to support the aquaculture farming of fish, shellfish, algae, etc. So what’s holding back this potentially profitable industry? A lack of affordable local feed. Feed accounts for 60%+ of aquaculture production costs, and all of it is imported. 

You may have been lucky enough to see a pueo swooping by at dusk, when these endangered endemic owls like to hunt. But their numbers are declining, and not enough is known about them to help their recovery. Laura Luther, M.S. candidate in Natural Resources and Environmental Management, defends her master’s thesis, “Factors Influencing the Distribution of the Hawaiian Short-eared Owl (Pueo).” 

How are humans impacting the amazing corals in the ocean with runoff and other stressors? Find out at Anita Tsang’s defense of her master’s thesis proposal, “Using an endemic Hawaiian soft coral, Sarcothelia edmondsoni, as a bioindicator of freshwater input and anthropogenic influence.”