My family is originally from Kaneohe O`ahu but I grew up in Utah, where I graduated from Utah State University with a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Management and a minor in Fish Ecology. My primary interests are in the conservation and restoration of Hawaiian forests, native birds, and the cultural practices that they support. For my thesis I will be determining the habitat use of `Ākiapōlā`au within the Pu`u Maka`ala Natural Area reserve. Additionally, I will evaluate differences in `Ākiapōlā`au song between different populations and individuals.

Kristina Montoya-Aiona has been a zoologist with U.S. Geological Survey at the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center since 2010. Her work at PIERC is focused on the ecology and conservation of the Hawaiian hoary bat, `Ope`ape`a. Active research projects include the ecology and distribution of the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus), monitoring and researching bat activity at wind turbines with infra-red videography and acoustic monitors, high elevation cave surveys for bats and white nose syndrome, and dynamics of koa looper moth outbreak and response by the native forest community.

Education: B.S. 2010 Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Recent Publications:

Bonaccorso, F., K. Montoya-Aiona, and C. Pinzari. 2016. Winter Distribution and Use of High Elevation Caves by the Endangered Hawaiian Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus semotus. Hawaii Coopertive Studies Unit, University of Hawaii Technical Report 68: 1-28.

Gorresen, P.M., P.M. Cryan, M.M. Huso, C.D. Heln, M.R. Schirmacher, J.A. Johnson, K.M. Montoya-Aiona, K.W. Brinck, and F.J. Bonaccorso. 2015. Behavior of the Hawaiian Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) at Wind Turbines and its Distribution Across the North Ko`olau Mountains, O`ahu. Hawaii Coopertive Studies Unit, University of Hawaii Technical Report 64: 1-68.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and have always been interested in animal behavior! I earned by B.S. in wildlife conservation and B.A. in German from Juniata College in 2016. I spent the following year abroad in Austria on a Fulbright research and teaching grant examining the visual signals of foot-flagging frogs at the Vienna Zoo. Now in Hawai`i, my thesis is creating a behavioral landscape of `Ōma`o vocalizations in a naturally fragmented habitat. Through the use of automated telemetry towers and a new technology known as broadcast transmitters to record song, I am able to map vocalizations across the landscape to evaluate resource selection.

I am fascinated by how different environmental factors, including habitat fragmentation, noise pollution, and ecological succession can affect animal vocalizations, specifically in bird populations. I got my B.A. in Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked with Dr. Rosemary Gillespie and Dr. Patrick Hart on a soundscape ecology project studying how the biotic soundscape changes with forest age on Hawai`i Island. I am super excited to be back as a Master's student in the LOHE lab, where I will be studying how helicopter noise affects the vocalizing behavior of birds at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

TBD

Born and raised in Hilo, Hawai`i, from a very early age I have had a keen interest in wildlife. As soon as I could walk my family took me hiking and camping in the forest and taught me the names of the Hawaiian plants and birds. In high school I got my first real taste of conservation as a field of study and a possible career during a summer internship with the Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps. I earned my B.A. in Biology at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, but came back to Hilo to do my undergraduate thesis research on Palila (Loxioides bailleui) nesting behavior with UH Hilo's PIPES internship program and the USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center (PIERC). After graduation I solidified my interest in ecology and conservation biology with HYCC Hana Hou internships at Hakalau Forest NWR and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park (HAVO); volunteer work in restoration ecology for HAVO's Natural Resource Management division; an internship with the USGS PIERC Avian Disease Lab; and a full-time position as a CREST TECC lab/field technician, where I managed the Hart lab and assisted principle investigators Dr. John Price and Dr. Patrick Hart and their graduate students with their research. I am currently pursuing a Master's degree in UH Hilo's TCBES program with generous financial support from the Hau`oli Mau Loa Foundation. I am investigating differences in vocalization between male and female `I`iwi (Vestiaria coccinea).

Shea Uehana is further investigating dendrochronology in a Hawaiian subalpine woodland and working on field acoustic recording & song analysis.

Growing up on O`ahu, I escaped the city by hiking along the shore and up in the mountain trails of Honolulu. It wasn’t until my first summer back from college that I realized how much the Honolulu of my youth had grown and the places I remember fondly had all but disappeared. I would like to help land managers retain and coexist with the natural Hawai`i that inspired me to continue my education in tropical conservation biology. I will be observing the Pearl Harbor population of Hawaiian Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni) Ae`o and Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai) `Alae ke`oke`o to better understand how restored wetlands are being used by Hawaiian waterbirds and the management practices that best sustain a population of waterbirds in Hawai`i.

My interest lies in wildlife conservation specifically in conservation of forest birds. For my undergraduate I attended University of Hawai`i at Mānoa where I was in the NREM program and received my B.S. in natural resources and environmental management with a specialization in wildlife management. I am currently a graduate student working with Patrick Hart on the acoustic ecology of the `Ōma`o. I am conducting my research in the kīpuka to see if fragmentation has an impact on song variability among the `Ōma`o.

I grew up in Roseburg, Oregon and first became interested in conservation and environmental issues in high school. I attended Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon and earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental science and minors in music and biology. I was fortunate enough to engage in undergraduate research with my marine ecology professor and studied the microbiome of Oregon sea sponges. After spending a semester abroad in Cairns, Australia, I fell in love with tropical environments and knew I wanted to study tropical conservation biology in graduate school. I therefore applied and was accepted into University of Hawaii’s Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Masters program. I’m uncertain as of yet what my graduate research will include, but I know I want it to include tropical conservation. I look forward to developing a research question at University of Hawai`i!

My mother revealed me to the world as the Sun traversed the passage of Virgo whence the Chinese celebrated the ennobled rabbit. Sixth of the seven children birthed by a stout woman therein guided by a faithful man, I was enlisted into Akau clan. The beloved hills, vast deserts, lush forest, and wind swept seas of majestic Ka`u nurtured our existence. Venerated austerity advocated raw interactions and bountiful simplicity, as I was engendered with ferocity beyond reason. Never would I trade a moment, enlightened I am forever grateful.

Hi! I’m Tishanna Bailey Ben. I was born and raised on Kaua`i and graduated from Kapaa High school on the east side of the island. I moved to the Big Island in spring 2006 and received my degree in Biology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. It was during my undergraduate career that I realized that the Big Island has so much to offer in terms of natural resources and environmental research. I started my work with UH Hilo’s TCBES program as a lab/field technician. The position allowed me to assist graduate students with their thesis projects as well as explore my personal interests as an environmental biologist. I’ve had opportunities to assist on a variety of projects, keep up on what’s going on in the research community, gain experience with useful research techniques and travel to beautiful remote and restricted areas. These awesome experiences are just a few of the reasons that I decided to apply to the TCBES program. I plan to start the graduate program in the fall of 2012 under the direction of Dr. Patrick Hart. I am currently exploring potential research projects involving tree rings in the native `Akoko.

The acoustic realm of avian species has received growing recognition from the scientific community in past decades. With the advent of early sound recording technology, researchers were able to begin documenting simple variability in bird acoustics. From there, research has now demonstrated that complex information, such as cultural aspects, are transmitted not only between individuals in a population but over generations as well. Transmission of information has also been shown to decline over time with increased habitat fragmentation in numerous bird species. With my research, I hope to begin documenting acoustic variability and complexity in a family of birds whom has yet to see proper acoustic research: the Hawaiian Honeycreepers. By first looking at variability across elevations and age groups, I hope to progress into possibly revealing a loss in variation and repertoire size across fragmented populations. It is crucial to document the sounds of Hawai`i's precious honeycreepers before its forests become silent forever.

Alex got hooked on birds while attending the University of California, Santa Cruz. After learning how to monitor birds at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory in Northern California, he had his first taste of Hawaiian avifauna banding albatross for the USFWS on Tern Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. He then spent a busy year back on the mainland, surveying desert birds in Arizona, monitoring seabirds on Buldir Island in the western Aleutian chain of Alaska, and surveying for oiled birds in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He then came back to Hawaii and spent a year with the non-profit, Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project (MFBRP), as an AmeriCorps intern banding and monitoring forest birds. Here he decided he wanted to conduct his Masters research on the endangered `Akohekohe of Maui and subsequent to his internship got a job with their sister organization, the Kaua`i Forest Bird Recovery Project, to learn radio telemetry on endangered Puaiohi and `Akikiki of Kaua`i. He plans to use radio telemetry to examine juvenile dispersal patterns of `Akohekohe in preparation for a future translocation to the newly created Na Kula Natural Area Reserve on Maui.

In 2010 an infestation of Yellow Crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) was discovered on Johnston Atoll, one of the most remote seabird colonies in the world. In a very short time the ants had reached “supercolony” densities and effectively displaced all ground nesting seabirds within the 135-acre infestation. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) hired me through their Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) to put together a field camp and lead a strike team on a 9-month expedition to investigate and address the problem. My thesis research has focused on studying the ecology of the yellow crazy ants, developing control and eradication techniques, and measuring the resulting impacts on the island’s seabird community. FWS has extended my position and I am currently in the middle of my second deployment to Johnston and as of March 2012 we have developed an effective control technique that has decreased the ant population by 99%. The seabird response has been immediate with substantial numbers of red-tailed tropicbirds establishing nests within the bounds of the infested area that they had previously abandoned. My crew of volunteers and I are continuing to monitor seabird reproductive success and working towards an actual complete eradication of the ants from the atoll. After I defend and graduate in Dec-2012, I hope to continue working in the field of island conservation biology.

Austin Aslan is a Masters candidate studying the impacts of non-native bird pollinators on endemic Hawaiian flowering plants whose native Hawaiian honeycreeper pollinators are mostly extinct. Austin uses controlled pollination crosses of flowers and radio telemetry of birds to determine the likelihood that the novel pollinator in this system will impact plant reproductive success by altering the spatial dynamics of pollen flow. Austin joined Dr. Hart's lab after a 10 year hiatus from science, during which he served as a Protected Areas Management Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras and worked as a professional community organizer in inner-city Sacramento. Austin enjoys writing and camping and backpacking with his wife and two young children whenever he can spare a moment away from classwork and fieldwork.

Christopher Todd conducted his TCBES research on seasonal movements and feeding ecology of the Hawaiian hoary bat. His research demonstrated how bats in Hawaiʻi seasonally move across an elevation gradient in response to changes in temperature, precipitation, and insect abundance. Hawaiian hoary bats occupy lower elevations during the summer and fall months when warmer temperatures, less rainfall and increased prey are favorable for giving birth and mating. During the rainy winter months Hawaiian hoary bats will move to higher elevations where colder temperatures allow them to induce torpor as a means to conserve energy during periods of infrequent foraging opportunities. Christopher’s Masters Thesis has provided a critical understanding of the ecological and biological factors that influence movements of this cryptic and Endangered species across the island. In addition to his work on bats here in Hawai`i, Christopher has conducted research on bats in Costa Rica, South Africa, the Mariana Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Currently, Christopher is a PhD candidate at The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University in Australia, where his research is focused on addressing important information gaps in the ecology of the Critically Endangered Christmas Island flying-fox (Pteropus natalis).

`Ano`ai kākou! My name is Kainana Sachi Francisco. I am from Hilo on the island of Hawai`i. I was raised just across the street from the ocean in Keaukaha so the natural environment has always been a major influence in my life. The understanding that there is a kinship between the natural environment and our people has been instilled in me since I was young. I chose to study at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo to strengthen my abilities and knowledge in the conservation of Hawaiʻi’s unique environments, as well as to continue to build social connections and relationships that will enable me to get into a position where I will be able to effectively help to protect and sustain our island’s natural resources. I received my B.S. in Environmental Science in 2008, and decided to continue my education here at UH Hilo in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science program, with a focus on native forest ecology.

My current Masters research focuses on Hawaiian forest bird species and their sensitivity to habitat fragmentation. Using a model system of forest fragments (kīpuka) isolated by recent volcanic activity, I am examining relationships between bird density, patch size, isolation, food availability, and forest structure. A better understanding of the ecological needs of Hawaiian birds, including minimum patch size requirements, can help better direct the management and conservation of these species. Prior to coming to UH Hilo, I obtained a B.Sc. in Environment from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. My broader interests include developing better ways to solve complex management issues arising from the competing interests of human development and species conservation.

“Habitat selection of the endangered Hawaiian Goose: a multi-scale approach”

I used satellite telemetry with GPS capacity to track the endangered Hawaiian Goose to identify previously unknown non-breeding season locations, daily movement patterns, and to study habitat use versus availability. My research documented that Nene are reestablishing traditional movement patterns across Hawaiʻi Island, patterns thought to have been lost after a severe population decline in the early 20th Century. Habitat selection analyses revealed dramatic seasonal movements across an elevation gradient, and seasonal shifts between use of remote, native landscapes and alien habitats with substantial human presence. This was among the first studies with avifauna to use satellite telemetry data for high-resolution, fine-scale habitat analyses. Results of this research were used to inform conservation management planning for the Hawaiian Goose by state and federal agencies.

Seth Judge conducted his TCBES research on the behavior, morphology and vocalizations of the endangered Hawaiian Petrel. His findings documented character differences among populations in the main Hawaiian Islands. Each petrel colony studied displayed unique breeding behavior, wing and leg sizes; as well as vocal characteristics. Seth's Masters Thesis elucidated many facets of this rare and cryptic species and will facilitate management decisions concerning the species' statewide status. In addition to seabird research, Seth has conducted several forest bird surveys in the islands for several agencies; including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, and the USGS. Currently, Seth is conducting forest bird survey work in Haleakalā National Park and he has published research papers regarding forest bird densities in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and the National Park of American Samoa.

My research investigated the role that feral pigs (Sus scrofa) play in the dispersal of strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) seeds throughout a native Hawaiian wet forest and across a gradient in elevation. Also, the characterization of strawberry guava distribution and fruiting phenology along the same elevational gradient was assessed. Results demonstrated that feral pigs spread seeds to areas that do not have established strawberry guava trees and thus they play a major role in the invasion of native Hawaiian forest by strawberry guava. The density of strawberry guava trees, seedlings, and fruits declined with elevation, as did the mean number of seeds per fruit.

My master’s thesis was focused on the effects of non-native riparian shading on stream ecology. Specifically my research examined changes to both hīhīwai (Neritina granosa) and benthic algal distributions caused by shading. My study was conducted along Honoli`i stream near Hilo. Prior to studying under Dr. Hart, I worked for the Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry & Wildlife, Koloko-Honokōhau National Park - Kona, and the Forest Service in Hawai`i, Oregon, Washington, and Montana. My goal after completing this degree is to conduct forest ecology/watershed research and management for a state or government agency. Other interests include: the great outdoors, hiking, running, reading, traveling, and surfing.

While earning my B.S. at Providence College, I became intrigued by the role of plumage ornaments with respect to avian behavioral ecology. During my time as an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates, NSF) and research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Ellen Ketterson & Dr. Val Nolan Jr. at Mountain Lake Biological Station (Pembroke, VA), I explored this topic in dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis carolinensis). After graduation, my assistantships have included banding migrants in Nova Scotia, aviculture of endangered Hawaiian birds, radio-telemetry and monitoring of an endangered, finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper (Loxiodes bailleui), and nest searching/monitoring of the endangered Maui Parrotbill (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) in high elevation cloud forests in East Maui. My master’s thesis at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo was a continuation of my interest in the roles of plumage coloration and ornamentation in birds. I sampled yellow plumage patches from adult males and females of a common Hawaiian honeycreeper, the Hawai`i `amakihi (Hemignathus virens virens) at eight island-wide sites, which vary by elevation and climate. I used spectrophotometry in order to objectively assess plumage coloration across the entire spectral range. Intraspecific variation in yellow, carotenoid-based plumage (derived directly from diet) could have implications of food availability, evolutionary divergence and natural selection, and even disease status (avian malaria) signaling in Hawai`i `amakihi.

I joined the TCBES program at UH Hilo on 2006 to pursue my interest in the conservation of Hawaiian honeycreepers. For my thesis project, I have examined the mechanisms of passive immunization (a.k.a. maternal antibody) against avian malaria in Hawai`i `amakihi. The speculation is that female `amakihi pass on antibody to their offspring as an added form of resistance to avian malaria. Currently, I am desperately looking for `amakihi nests at different elevations, in order to examine the presence of the malaria antibody in the eggs. The study is an extension of the Biocomplexity Project, for which I was an intern in 2003. Before joining the TCBES program, I also worked on several field ornithology projects in California, Oregon and Hawai`i. I graduated from U.C. Davis in 1999 with a B.S. in Environmental Biology.