Pineapples and gardens at Dole Plantation
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| 2008 Guinness World's Largest Maze at Dole Plantation in Wahiawā on Oahu. The foreground is landscaped to look like a pineapple fruit from above. Apparently China has the record now with a maze covering more than double the area of this one. |
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| There are many bromeliads in the landscaping here, which is fitting because pineapples are in the bromeliad family. |
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| Upon entering the maze, visitors walk into this garden area groomed into a giant pineapple when viewed from above. Shown here is the top of the pineapple. The garden is surrounded by a maze of walkways defined by tall pink hibiscus hedges. While finding the starting and ending point is not so difficult, the greater challenge is to find all eight display boards within the maze as fast as you can. |
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| Riding the Pineapple Express is another must do activity if you like trains. According to the Dole website, there are three trains that shuttle visitors on a twenty minute narrated loop tour. |
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| On the train, the recorded narrator talks about the history of the pineapple industry in Hawaii as you ride past small fields of pineapple. |
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| You pass plantation workers in the fields, and learn who Dole was. |
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| There are also small fields of cut flowers and rows of tropical fruit trees. |
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| There is an agroforestry project where I believe young cacao saplings are intercropped with something larger that I am guessing is a nitrogen fixer whose branches are being used like mulch to keep weeds down, retain water, and replenish the soil. |
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| The signage said this is Tanada Reservoir. I wonder what the history of that is. Who was Tanada? There is another pond where people feed koi fish. |
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| After exiting the train station, you walk through a garden of different pineapple varieties. |
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| Most of the pineapples I saw were pretty small. This is the best photo of a pineapple I got. I'm guessing it's an ornamental one because of the vibrant pink color. |
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| Resident chickens are a welcome sighting. |
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| The Pineapple Maze again. This is a fun activity for kids of all ages, and it also makes for a nice walk, especially if you treat yourself to Dole Whip (like a pineapple frozen yogurt or soft-serve) first. The third attraction is the Plantation Garden, which I haven't made it to yet, but can't wait to see. |
Weekend reading: advice for aspiring scientists (not from me)
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| Olivier Levasseur's cryptogram supposedly describes directions to treasure he helped loot from a Portuguese ship in the 1700s. Just a random nugget o' knowledge, not the secret to success written in gibberish. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons. |
For anyone considering pursuing graduate study, here is a list of six books recommended by a scholar on succeeding in academia. A couple of them are currently available online in PDF format (see links below).
Advice to a young scientist
(Sir Peter B Medawar, 1981, Basic Books)
E.O. Wilson's advice to a young scientist
The incomplete guide to the art of discovery
(Jack E Oliver, 1991, Columbia University Press)
Getting what you came for: The smart student's guide to earning a Masters or PhD
(Robert L Peters, 1997, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The PhD Process: A student's guide to graduate school in the sciences
(Dale F Bloom, et al., 1998, Oxford University Press)
Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for academic careers in science and engineering
(Richard M Reis, 1997, IEEE Press)
(also see notes: http://peterc.org/pedia/getting-what-you-came-for/)
Scientific method for ecological research
(E David Ford, 2000, Cambridge University Press)
Upon seeing this list, I was at first struck by the apparent lack of women authors. Some of the names on the original list were abbreviated to initials, so I looked them up. When I tried to look up one of the names, the first Google hit was the Wikipedia page for a seventeenth century French pirate named Olivier Levasseur, who apparently is remembered for stashing an enormous bounty and describing its location with a cryptogram that no one has quite been able to understand, and whose story supposedly influenced Robert Louis Stevenson's writing of Treasure Island. Who knows how many words on that page amount to fact, but it sure makes for a great story.
I'm not sure how I got from there to this thesis (links to PDF) for a Masters of Landscape Architecture degree circa 1999, but there it is. The MLA candidate surveyed local landscape architects in Hawaii about their awareness and employment of native Hawaiian plant species in project designs. The survey results start on page 37 of the document. Although the survey sample size is small, it was interesting to note that:
- There was a lack of consensus on the definitions of endemic, indigenous, native, and Polynesian introduced/canoe plants
- There is state legislation requiring the use of native plants in landscape design in some cases
- Most firms are engaged in residential work
- Less than a quarter of the planting budget appears to typically be allocated to native plants
- Aesthetics followed by ecological compatibility are the primary drivers of residential design decisions whereas maintenance and aesthetics tops the list for public sector work
- One survey respondent commented "the public sector lags in accepting a more open, less manicured look"
- Another comment was "...very few native plants on the list will survive in landscape areas without proper maintenance. More research in application of native plants is needed"
- And "we want to use some endangered plants but we can't because of the regulations"
- "some natives do well in harsh conditions but are not attractive"
(how people perceive beauty could be an endless conversation)
- Included are two case studies, one a public works project, the other private residential, for comparison
weedmandan on flickr has a lot of great photos of endangered tropical flora and fauna, with an emphasis on Hawaii. more photos
Cool stuff: artistic endemism
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| Culture and conservation meet in aloha shirt prints designed in Hawaii by brands like Reyn Spooner. Current favorite plant-inspired prints (clockwise from green shirt): Forest Tapa, Lahaina Sailor (a nod to history, heritage, and modernism), Hapuʻu, Kula Forest, ʻUlu Kanu. If you want something truly made in Hawaii, the bags above fit the bill according to the Reyn Spooner website. |
I have never seen so much nature-inspired fashion and body art in one place before than at the Hawaii Conservation Conference last week.
I have never seen so much Sig Zane and Kealopiko and Reyn Spooner in one place before, either.
I saw at least half a dozen on-point ʻōhiʻa-inspired prints on garments on the day of the ROD session, and even a sizeable ʻōhiʻa tattoo. I would not be surprised at all if that was not the only one in the Convention Center that day...
I also saw a lot of nature-inspired tattoos, which makes me think that for every topic covered in this conference, there is at least one piece of art out there either in someone's closet or epidermis related to it somehow. Conservationists are dedicated!
If you love bold, geometric patterns, Sig Zane must not be missed. Current favorites:
To take your love of Hawaiian coffee and agriculture to the next level, the Aʻeloa print.
If you love maps and want to avoid getting lost in Hilo, the Hilo One print, a personal all-time favorite.
If you need a handy conversation piece about current events, one of these just released ʻōhiʻa prints (or at least they look like ʻōhiʻa to me): for women, for men, for anyone.
Kealopiko stands out for their commitment to showcasing endemic flora and fauna of Hawaii, and for clearly stating production stays within the US. Prints on my (and everyone else's) wishlist: Leho, Hīnaʻi, Olonā.
One day I will work up the nerve to approach people about doing a People magazine style post on conference fashion, because there were several attendees with excellently thought out attire at HCC that elevated fashion from purely functional to finely curated narrative of self-expression. Until then, I leave you with this sneaky low-res composite image that is only the liko of a very large ʻōhiʻa tree (to sign off with a really bad metaphor).
Endemic art!
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I wonder what people are wearing to the CVPR2017 conference that was setting up as we were leaving? Here's the conversation I had with someone setting up the registration area:
Me: (Looking at the large banners and posters everywhere that read "CVPR".) What's this conference for?
Genius superwoman: (Kindly) CVPR.
Me: What's CVPR?
Genius superwoman: (Again, super kindly even though she looked a little overworked as I approached her) Computer Vision Pattern Recognition.
* Crickets *
* Three slow steps backwards (like this) *
Soo... yeaahhh..... thaaat's happening right now........
Notes from Hawaii Conservation Conference 2017
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| One must cross three crosswalks to start the day on the right side (of the Convention Center, if you exit the Convention Center from the main point of egress, where there is great espresso and acai bowls). |
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| But those that make the journey are rewarded with this inviting outdoor dining space, a surprisingly rare commodity in Honolulu given its unrivaled year-round weather. |
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| Three rooms of people showed up to hear Nainoa Thompson give the opening keynote. Conch shells were sounded as he entered the room, and as he left the stage to a standing ovation. Tucked away in his stories were poetic and poignant gems of wisdom that made us wish we had taken notes. |
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| Attendees were asked to take a photo and visually link it to the place they represent or feel most connected to. |
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| Ruud Kleinpaste gave an entertaining keynote on Day 2, calling us all to action and keeping the audience laughing. Many people remarked that his talk was the highlight of their day. |
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| Everyone was stoked about the graphic design of the t-shirts this year. |
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| The difference in appearance of queen, drone, and worker bees, plus a small hive beetle and varroa mite: just one of the many fascinating things to see in the exhibition hall. |
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| Achatinella diversity, another. |
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| About an entire day's worth of sessions were devoted to Rapid Ohia Death, including a demonstration on the proper way to collect ʻōhiʻa seeds in the field and submit them for storage. |
There were fifteen fifteen-minute talks about Rapid Ohia Death (ROD) plus about half a day of training on ʻōhiʻa seed collection and a Q&A lunch session about ROD, so that seems like a good place to start. Please remember I am a layperson and each talk was only fifteen minutes long with almost no time for questions.
ROD apparently became a known problem around 2013, and has, as of May 2017, affected 75,000 acres of forest on the Big Island. The latest news is that there are two species (strains?) of fungi new to science (or just Hawaii? the implication to me was new to science) that each cause a disease of ʻōhiʻa. One causes a wilt and the other a canker. Although I'm pretty sure it was said that there were two new species, reference was made over and over again to the culprit fungus as Ceratocystis fimbriata, which is the long-known fungus that is notorious for causing disease in some agricultural crops, but which someone stated does not cause disease on ʻōhiʻa (they tested this) and did not evolve into new pathogens (how do they know this?). It was said that the wilt disease is a globally infamous tree decimator, while not much is known about the canker, but it seems like a paradox that this can be true on one hand while on the other the disease and pathogens are both new... Perhaps there are two strains of C. fimbriata new to Hawaii, the wilt causing strain being the notorious tree assassin and the canker causing strain being the stealthy mysterious one. That is not what I heard, but that is the most plausible story I can deduce from the scrawl fragments I have.
Most of the discussion centered around the C. fimbriata (strain?) that causes ʻōhiʻa wilt, which leads me to believe that this one is having a significantly larger impact. This pathogen spreads by ambrosia beetles or by moving wood around. There are four ambrosia beetles that go after ʻōhiʻa, one of which is native to Hawaii (Xyleborus simillus). The main beetle of concern is Xyleborus ferrugineus. The spores stick to the beetle's body, or in the case of at least X. ferrugineus, the spores can be transported around in the beetle's gut (new discovery), and I suppose they pass through the digestive tract with their viability intact. As these beetles burrow into the woody plant parts, they generate frass, which can also carry spores and become airborne or fall into the soil. Contaminated frass can cause disease in ʻōhiʻa only if it comes in contact with a wound on the tree (recent study findings). I think the severity of staining on the wood correlates with disease severity.
Someone found there were more viable spores in the lower (under six feet height) portion of ʻōhiʻa trees than upper (above six feet high), and that the window of viability for these spores is small (why?).
Another interesting finding is that older stands have higher mortality rates than younger stands.
Because the spores have potential to become airborne, air currents are being modeled (to predict potential paths of spread to guide management decisions?).
A lot of people are monitoring the health of individual trees in different ways and at different scales. Aerial surveys are being conducted every three to twelve months on the Big Island, with on-ground follow-ups to diagnose ROD. Drones are flown monthly over certain transects to identify spatial and temporal trends in ROD spread. Statewide surveys have also been done. There is an ESRI group for ROD. There was also reference to an app used to aggregate spatial ROD data and an effort to use modeling to identify areas where ROD may spread to in the future. It sounded like major efforts were targeting control in the northern Big Island region because wind patterns in that region track towards Maui, which would be a potential way of it moving up the island chain.
The main practical takeaways from all of this were clean your gear, don't move wood around, and do not injure the trees.
Despite the sad state of affairs, I am comforted by the fact that there are a lot of smart people working on this.
Here are some other interesting things I heard:
- Twenty-two new plant (species?) are naturalized each year in Hawaii.
- Taxonomic, ecological and geospatial data are drawn on to prioritize which invasive species to target for eradication.
- Mangroves were introduced to Hawaii over a hundred years ago (missed what the reason for introduction was). It's invasive in this state. All estuaries state-wide are invaded (not sure if this was a general statement or specifically referring to mangrove presence and extent). Paragrass can cover 1.3 square meters per day in Hawaii. Sedge marshes consisting of species like Cyperus laevigatus (makaloa) and Schoenoplectus californicus (ʻakaʻakai) were probably the major vegetation cover type prior to invasion. There is a pilot project underway where mangrove was cleared and native marsh plants like the ones above are being planted.
- Albizia (Falcataria moluccana) was introduced to Hawaii by Joseph Rock in 1917 and is the fastest growing tree in the world. There are a few different potential biocontrols. The ones given the most airtime at the conference were a gall rust fungus and eriophyid mite that is so difficult to identify that only one person in the world can really do it.
- The endangered honeycreeper ʻakikiki cracks open ʻōhiʻa capsules with its beak (to get at food?).
- Walked in on this presentation pretty late, but the speaker referred to a "leaf smoothie" concocted from the wild relative Phyllostegia mollis, somehow applied to plants of Phyllostegia kaalaensis, a rare endemic prone to powdery mildew, that seems to confer some degree of resistance to this disease (due to the microbiological stuff that's in the P. mollis plant, not sure precisely what). Magical! How does this work?!
- Kahoʻolawe has eleven wetlands. Restoration plantings are surficial; digging is a bad idea due to potential unexploded ordinance.
- I speculated about the decline of Pandanus forest in the past, and am sad to learn this is probably true (but maybe not for the reasons I thought). The Pandanaceae family has 800 species and five genera. There are thirty-six species known to occur in Hawaii, of which two are native: Pandanus tectorius (hala) and Freycinetia arborea (ʻieʻie). Somewhere there exists maps of "pre-human" and current distributions of P. tectorius. There is a scale (Thysanococcus pandani; links to a PDF doc) that affects Pandanus. It was discovered in Hana, Maui in 1995 and came from Southeast Asia.
Please feel free to post any corrections or additional information in the comments below.
Foster Botanical Garden's Midsummer Night's Gleam 2017
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| Lights and prehistoric cycads. |
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| Waiting for the magic to start. |
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| Jumbo flowers made from wire and fabric. |
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| Throw the seed into the papaya and win a potted plant. |
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| Lights and mobiles. |
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| Effervescent sculptures made from plastic soda bottle sections strung together. |
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| Luminaries and a packed lawn. |
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| Can't get enough of the string lights in the garden. |
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| The walkways are lit with candles that glow in white bags. |
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| When else will you see a Pandanus lit like this? |
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| Star Wars inspired LEGO landscapes. (The theme this year is Star Wars.) |
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| Tree of wishes. |
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| Live music and dancing. |
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| The Amorphophallus titanums are in there, but currently in the vegetative phase. |
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| There they are! |
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| Jedi knight training, Lightsabers 101. |
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| This is a branched palm! |
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| Happy gleam to all, and to all a gleam night! |
Native vs invasive
It seems to me that highly invaded ecosystems tend to have lower species diversity and less complexity, but it's hard to say for sure. Womp, that just catapulted me into the black hole that is Google Scholar.
