Marine, terrestrial, lentic, and lotic habitats in Hawai‘i provide a multitude of opportunities for investigating evolution in the native and introduced biota. But this legacy is vanishing fast, and many of its secrets have yet to be unlocked. PBRC researchers have used comparative approaches to understand island biodiversity and the processes underlying adaptive radiation both within the Hawaiian archipelago and across habitats while developing strategies for conserving the unique biota.
Research areas of focus include: diversification and conservation of native Hawaiian Drosophila, diversification and land snails, zoo plankton community structure and trophodynamics, population-level interaction amongst symbionts and natural Hawaiian bobtail squid populations, invasive species biology, emerging infectious diseases including rat lungworm disease and Dengue virus, biofouling and the molecular basis of larval settlement, identifying and mitigating threats to coral reefs, and Native Hawaiian health.
PBRC Faculty with interests in Ecology, Evolution, Conservation Biology & Sustainability Science: