Abundance, Biodiversity, and Community Structure Monitoring of Freshwater and Estuarine Communities in Hālawa Stream, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i
Date
2023-05-03
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
In November 2021, it was reported that the U.S. Navy inadvertently contaminated an aquifer that supplied potable water to southern O‘ahu with jet fuel. This initiated the ‘Red Hill Shaft Recovery and Monitoring Program.’ Since January 2022, they have been filtering and discharging water from the aquifer at a rate of approximately five million gallons nearly every day directly into Hālawa Stream. Like many Hawai‘i streams, flow patterns of Hālawa Stream are characterized as intermittent, which determines the community structures of their fluvial ecosystems. This alteration caused the natural flow pattern to change from intermittent to a constant flow. Hawai‘i streams play a key role for Hawai‘i’s ecosystems and maintaining natural streamflow regime is critical to protecting native species. This change in regime has not been studied in Hawaiian streams and thus it is unknown how it will impact the stream’s ecology. I propose to investigate the abundance, biodiversity, and community structures of fish and benthic macroinvertebrates in Hālawa Stream to better understand how the artificial flow will affect the ecology of a naturally intermittent stream. Benthic macroinvertebrates are commonly used for stream monitoring and assessments because of their short-term life cycles and varying sensitivity to disturbances. Benthic ecosystems in tropical streams influence fishes through trophic food chains, including primary production and nutrient cycling. Project updates are presented monthly to the Navy Environmental Planning and Conservation Command (NAVFAC Pacific), the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM), the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), and Fisheries and Wildlife Services (FWS). This study provides timely biodiversity monitoring to resource managers, serves as a repository resource of fish and benthic macroinvertebrate community structures at Hālawa, as well as documenting a standard protocol of sampling benthic macroinvertebrates for streams in Hawai‘i. Together, these outcomes will assist managers determine trends and impacts on Hawai‘i’s stream ecosystems. Surveys of Hālawa Stream began in January 2022 and will be collected for a total of two years every quarter. This collaborative effort is assisted by Tsang Lab at UH Manoa, DAR, and CWRM, and is funded by the U.S. Navy with the mandate requested by CWRM, DAR, and FWS.
Description
Keywords
Benthic, Bioassessment, Fish, Hydraulic alteration, Macroinvertebrates, Tolerance
Citation
Extent
15 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
In Copyright
Rights Holder
Rousseve, Alyssandra
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.