O KE KAHUA MA MUA, MA HOPE O KE KŪKULU: IMPACTS OF A DECADE OF BIOCULTURAL RESTORATION ON AQUATIC BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND DIATOM COMMUNITY ABUNDANCE IN HEʻEIA FISHPOND

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dc.contributor.advisor Alegado, Rosanna A.
dc.contributor.author Beebe, Charles Albert Kaiaka
dc.contributor.department Oceanography
dc.date.accessioned 2024-02-26T20:13:51Z
dc.date.issued 2023
dc.description.degree M.S.
dc.embargo.liftdate 2026-02-23
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10125/107875
dc.subject Biogeochemistry
dc.subject Aquatic sciences
dc.subject Microbiology
dc.subject biocultural restoration
dc.subject diatoms
dc.subject Heʻeia Fishpond
dc.subject loko iʻa
dc.subject seasonality
dc.title O KE KAHUA MA MUA, MA HOPE O KE KŪKULU: IMPACTS OF A DECADE OF BIOCULTURAL RESTORATION ON AQUATIC BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND DIATOM COMMUNITY ABUNDANCE IN HEʻEIA FISHPOND
dc.type Thesis
dcterms.abstract Biocultural restoration and Indigenous resource management that benefit coupled natural-human ecosystems has recently gained attention as an alternative to nature-only based approaches. In Hawaiʻi, Native Hawaiian stewardship of ʻāina has also regained traction; yet, few large-scale efforts have evaluated the ecosystem shifts that result from biocultural restoration. In this contribution, we assess shifts in physical and biogeochemical conditions concomitant with over a decade of biocultural restoration at Heʻeia Fishpond, a traditional Hawaiian mariculture system built in an estuary of Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu. Using discrete sampling of nutrients and quantification of diatom abundance, we further link customary management practices with potential for primary production in this estuarine system. We hypothesized that biocultural restoration, including but not limited to the removal of invasive vegetation and rebuilding of traditional fishpond structures, engendered environmental conditions that increased the potential ecological capacity for efficient food web dynamics required for production of target fish species. We found that restoration increased freshwater input, particularly during the wet season, associated with increased diatom abundance. Furthermore, these infrastructure changes increased the horizontal spatial homogeneity of water quality conditions, allowing increased access to freshwater and nutrients throughout the fishpond with positive implications for resource management. These data parameterize the results of biocultural restoration into metrics that can be applied to other coastal ecosystems undergoing restoration, providing a model for increasing ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change.
dcterms.extent 100 pages
dcterms.language en
dcterms.publisher University of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rights All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.type Text
local.identifier.alturi http://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:11949
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