Alumni News

Avocado lace bug, papaya propagation, pathogens in asparagus, biofumigation, diamondback moth, coffee leaf rust. They’re all on the agenda Sept. 25, starting at 3:00 pm, at Extension’s new “Integrated Pest Management: Grower Update and Mini-Conference.” Register today. For questions, please contact Jensen Uyeda.

Raised on Kauaʻi with an early passion for horses (she was a former Miss Rodeo Kauaʻi), the 2021 Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient is Bonnie J Buntain, MSc, DVM,D(E)ABVP, DACVPM. Bonnie is Professor Emerita of Public Health and Food Safety at the University of Calgary’s Veterinary Medical School in Alberta, Canada, and is an appointed professor for the new College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. After receiving her high school diploma from Punahou School, BS and MS in Animal Sciences from the University of Hawaiʻi, and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Colorado State University, she owned Oʻahu Equine Veterinary Clinic, a popular internship sponsor for CTAHR students. She was the first female equine practitioner and the first Hawaiʻi veterinarian to become board-certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in Equine Practice. Most importantly, she focused her equine ambulatory practice on client education to improve horse health and welfare.

Within a few years after leaving private practice, Bonnie was guiding national regulations on food safety and humane animal treatment in Washington, D.C., first in the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, then as founding Director of Animal Production Food Safety in the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, where she became the agency’s first Chief Public Health Veterinarian. In 2007, she was recruited to start the veterinary faculty at the University of Calgary as a Tenured Professor, founding Assistant Dean of Government and International Relations, and founding Department Head of Ecosystem and Public Health at the new veterinary school. After retiring to Tucson, Arizona, she was hired by the University of Arizona as Program Coordinator for accreditation of the new and innovative College of Veterinary Medicine.

She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in Equine Practice and Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. She is passionate about the One Health  approach, which strives to understand disease linkages between humans, animals, and the environment. 

Bonnie’s career is a great model for today's animal sciences students or any student in Ag sciences. It starts with an enduring passion for animals, desire to improve animal and human health, followed by hard work, and after that, the sky’s the limit. Her career has ascended to great heights, but more importantly, she has applied her analytical skills to real-world problems in animal and human health sciences, and their larger role in the world.

If you’ve ever collected ‘opihi, and wondered why they’re always clinging to shore rocks that take a pounding from the waves, here’s an interesting factoid: these molluscs have poorly formed gills and require a mix of air and highly oxygenated, surging seawater to breathe. In fact, prolonged submersion in seawater could result in suffocation or drowning. In a new study funded by the UH Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, PhD candidate Anthony Mau and MS student Angelica Valdez of the Dept. of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering found that crashing waves and temperature influence the seasonal growth patterns and reproduction of the yellowfoot limpet, or ʻopihi ʻālinalina, an intertidal species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Their conclusions may lead to improved techniques in farming ʻopihi.

This paper reveals the first age estimates and growth-curve for ‘opihi, which “continues in a similar trajectory through 2 years of age, a time-point that is well beyond their first reproductive term at 8-9 months old,” says Anthony, the study’s lead author. “Based on our previously published research, we know that female fecundity, or a measure of reproductive potential, is significantly greater with increasing shell length. If we connect the dots, we should really be focusing on these older ‘opihi (40-50 mm long) as broodstock for hatchery production of seed (juvenile ‘opihi).”

He adds, “As we begin to explore and understand the role of temperature on growth and reproduction, we will be able to improve our techniques to farm 'opihi. This work also provides important information to develop sustainable fishing practices and management strategies of our intertidal fishery. We are collaborating with other UH research arms and local, non-profit groups to monitor 'opihi populations and develop effective strategies to conserve the species for future generations.”

The study, “ʻOpihi growth patterns influenced by Hawaiian intertidal environment,” was done in collaboration with the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and appears in the latest Nature. Read more in UH News.

Photo: Anthony Mau (center) and study collaborators during a 2017 intertidal research and opihi survey in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Early November to late December is an exciting yet dangerous time for seabird fledglings. It’s during this period when young birds leave the nest to take flight for the first time. Yet, these inevitably lead to cases of “fallout,” in which the fledglings fall to the ground, becoming easy prey for animals or getting crushed by cars. From her research on the effects of light pollution on seabirds, specifically the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater, Brooke Friswold, a graduate of the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, found specific hotspots on Oʻahu where the young seabirds become disoriented by artificial light, making them more susceptible to fallout and found that areas near seabird colonies were the most important for light mitigation. She also began a seabird banding program at seven colonies to further understand the spread of fallout throughout the Islands.

Brooke has also been working with local beach parks and local conservation organizations in hopes that lighting can be altered, or even extinguished – especially in areas surrounding the nesting areas during fledging season– to reduce mortality during this critical period for the fledglings.

“As a wildlife biologist, I want to bring attention to critical conservation issues in the Hawaiian Islands that also have global application, highlighting that some conservation issues have practical and tangible solutions and that all people in Hawaii can play a part in protecting seabirds and sea turtles, and bring attention to the detrimental effects of light pollution on humans and wildlife, especially in the Hawaiian Islands” she says.

She adds, “Artificial light pollution is a fairly straight-forward problem to solve. Altering or extinguishing artificial light in key areas could save hundreds to thousands of seabirds – and potentially sea turtles as they are also affected by light pollution.”

Read more on her work in Hawaiʻi Business magazine and BBC Earth Facebook.

Creating a safe and supportive environment for Oʻahu youths to express their thoughts, ideas, and values is an extremely worthwhile endeavor, especially during a pandemic. One of our goals in Hawaiʻi 4-H has been to provide a place at Urban Garden Center (UGC) for this very purpose. By way of an anonymous donation from a UGC volunteer through the UH Foundation (UHF), we were able to initiate a new rock garden to supplement the existing 4-H Children’s Garden. We also leveraged generous support from Hawaiian Cement and B&C Trucking to advance this 4-H initiative.

On a side note: CTAHR faculty, staff, and volunteers have spent much time and effort over the past year+ to refurbish and revamp UGC, which provides non-formal education to the general public via workshops, demonstrations, self/group/school tours, plant sales, public events, etc.

The new rock garden will be a waterless feature where Oʻahu youths can express their inner selves via art and agriculture. We hope UGC will attract and inspire young leaders to express themselves with visual art skills using critical and creative processing.

The generous donor granted us permission to use UHF funds for education. Therefore, we are concurrently transitioning our lower nursery into an outdoor educational area. We will use this area in lieu of our indoor classroom to offer horticulture and gardening workshops. CTAHR will adjust our pedagogy to accommodate COVID-19 precautions.

National Guard Youth Challenge

We invited a small group of cadets from the National Guard’s Youth Challenge to help us jumpstart these new changes at UGC. We pilot tested the new outdoor education areas with the young cadets. Cadets obtained training on creating virus-free banana plantlets and containerized food production, and were able to get their hands “wet” by restarting our static hydroponic lettuce beds.

New work benches were designed with UGC adult and youth clientele in mind, and painted by the cadets, 4-H youths, and family members of UGC faculty. Soon, the new outdoor educational area will allow our clientele to return to UGC and engage in hands-on educational workshops and demonstrations.

Another side note: All tissue-cultured banana plantlets currently being hardened off (transitioning from a lab to outdoor environment) at UGC have tested negative for banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) via a DNA amplification detection kit. These bananas are virus free but not resistant to BBTV. Ongoing tests are necessary to ensure they stay free of the virus.

Cadets really enjoyed being on a mission outside of their barracks and requested that we ask them to return for a subsequent visit. One cadet asked, “Ma’am, be sure to request our unit again, ok?”

For the time being, we must continue to limit visitors at UGC. Yet, we are using this downtime to re-purpose and revitalize our facilities. Luckily, with the help of the cadets and generous donor, much of the weight of these initiatives are shared and met with enthusiasm, good will, collaboration and a bill of good health.