January 2023 Seawords

SEAWORDS

VolumeXXXVIII, Number 1

Aloha and Welcometo theJanuary issueof Seawords!

Hau?oli Makahiki Hou, Happy New Year! Sincebecoming editor at thebeginning of last year, Seawords has brought me opportunities for learning and exploration, and I hopethat you as thereader, haveexperienced thesame! Here's to another great year full of ocean lovin' and learnin'!

In this issue, follow MOP students as they tour theUH MarineCenter on page4. Read up on a new typeof insurance designed to protect an important marineecosystem on page6. Exploresomenewfound research, from species interactions in Hawaiian fishponds on page10, to marinebiofilm on page14. Lastly, enjoy our first Creatureof theMonth for 2023... the Laysan Albatross, or m?l? . What would you liketo seemoreof in Seawords?Send in your thoughts, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @mopseawords!

AbbieJeremiah, Seawords Editor

University of Hawai? i Marine Center Tour

Story and

Photos

by:Alexandrya Robinson,UHM MOPStudent

It was a beautiful day in November with light rains dotting the sky,complete with the signature rainbows Hawai? i is famous for. It made the perfect backdrop for another MOP field trip. Students headed to Pier 35,where the University of Hawai? i Marine Center was waiting for them. First,MOP students were able to look out at the visiting E/V Nautilus ship that sat docked in front of a visiting research vessel from Alaska. Students were guided inside to view the two decommissioned manned submersibles,the Pisces IV and Pisces V. Excitingly,they were led on the tour by one of the submersible pilots-Maximilian ?Max?Cremer. It was fascinating to hear about the research that the two submersibles had been a part of,and it set the scene for the procession of technology that has been seen in ocean exploration. The students were also able to explore the interior of the two subs,where it was easy to see how three-man groups of operators would submerge into the ocean?s depths piloting these fascinating machines.

Guided by Max and Meagan Putts, a jack-of-all-trades at the University of Hawai? i Marine Center,the tour continued to the main event--the R/V Kilo Moana?s amazing remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Lu?ukai. Max?s colleague Daniel,another trained ROV pilot,was there to show the students a live demonstration of the ROV Lu?ukai in action. Students were shown the two arms,named the Orion and the Mantis, in action. The Orion is the primary arm that is used and manipulated by a simplified 3-Dmodel of the arm on Lu?ukai Lights,cameras,and a basket were all deployed in a series of interesting demonstrations from powering up to lifting a traffic cone from one spot to another. In addition to Lu?ukai,students saw both the ROV Argus and the ROV Hercules which were in storage from the E/V Nautilus. The Spring semester already has a tour lined up of the E/V Nautilus which is exciting,especially having just glimpsed the outside of the vessel. Of course,a quick stop at the MOP boat is always necessary to end this amazing tour.

N ow i s th e T i m Get Cor al Reef I n su r an ce

By: L u ci an A n d er son , U H M M O P A lu

m e T o u m n u s

Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.Photo by:Jim Maragos/ USFWS;Flickr.

Starting in 2019, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the State of Quintana, M exico created the first coral reef insurance policy. Quintana is fam ous as a resort destination with the city of Cancun and M ayan tem ples located near Tulum The state shares a border with Belize to the south Offshore resides the second largest coral reef system in the world. The insurance policy was created to establish funds to repair dam ages to the coral reef caused by tropical storm s and hurricanes The following year, those funds were used to repair the dam ages to the reef caused by hurricane Delta. The policy is known as the M esoam erican Reef Fund (M AR) By collaborating with the W illis Towers and Watson Clim ate and Resilience Hub, the entire M esoam erican coral reef system , which is in M exico, Belize, and Guatem alan waters, is insured as of 2022

On Novem ber 21, 2022, TNC announced a second coral reef insurance policy in the United States in the state of H awai?i. In 2021, The H awai? i State Senate voted to get an evaluation of the coral reefs for insurance purposes The insurance com pany, M unich RE, was selected to provide the coverage Dam ages caused by tropical storm s with wind speeds at a m inim um of 57 m ph will be covered by this insurance policy. Funders for the policy include the Bank of Am erica Foundation and the Howden Group Foundation. The policy is in place for the 2023 hurricane season in H awai?i.

Coral reefs provide protection from dam age caused by tropical storm s and hurricanes to the nearby com m unities. Estim ates show that coral reefs protect

H awai? i from at least 831m illion dollars in dam ages per year Additionally, coral reefs in H awai? i provide 12 billion dollars in tourism annually.

The enactm ent of the insurance policy goes as follows:

1) TNC takes out an insurance policy on the coral reefs of H awai? i

2) If a storm dam ages the reef system s in the area, TNC gets a payout within 2 weeks

3) TNC will ask the State of H awai? i for perm ission to fix the dam ages

4 ) If approved, TNC will send divers to fix the dam ages as fast as possible to prevent coral death which can occur 6 weeks after the dam ages.

Two coral reef system s now possess insurance or a rainy-day fund Hopefully others will be insured to restore them quickly after hurricanes and storm s. An independent organization m ay be the best m ethod to ensure that these coral reef system s get insured That way these system s don't get stuck in political bureaucracy or a divided governm ent This plan could possibly evolve into a m ulti-country effort in island nations such as those in the Caribbean and South Pacific Ocean. It is possible that TNC could evaluate countries' perform ances in their own coral reef insurance plans M ore coral reef system s and other coastal resources such as m angroves and the Everglades will likely need insurance to repair after hurricanes. Since clim ate change will create stronger hurricanes, it is a positive sign that at least funds are put aside to repair two m ajor coral reef system s should anything happen to them .

Bright Coral.Photo by:Christian Gloor;Flickr.

Moloka?iFishponds.Photo

by:JamesBrennan;Flickr.

Hawaiian Fishp & InvasivEspe

By:Hal eyChasin,UHMMOPAl umn

Leadauthor of therecently publishedpaper titled,?Predatory FishDietsShift TowardsanInvasive Mullet inaTraditional Hawaiian AquacultureSystem,?andUH M?noagraduatestudent,Anela Akiona,talksabout how local predatory fishessuchasjacksand barracudamay betargetingthe invasiveAustralianmullet asfood. Hawaiianfishpondsor aquaculture,lokoi?a,wereonceall over Hawai?i,creatingasecurefood sourcefor local people.Fishponds wereusedby theHawaiiansfor food,trade,andwereconsidered part of theland.If anali? i or chiefs hadmorelokoi?a,they were considered morewealthy.

Oncetherewere500 fishpondswithaquacultured speciesbut today thereareonly four.Changesingovernment and economics,theoverthrow and annexationof theHawaiian kingdom,andnatural disasters brought fishpondproductiondown.

Thoughmany peopledonot know, fishpondsprovidecultural and physical sustenance,increasing foodsecurity andthedemandsfor locally farmedfishes.Fishponds curatedthecultivationof native herbivorousfishes,like?ama?ama (stripedmullet),awa(milkfish), andmoi (sixfinger threadfin).

TheAustralianmullet was introducedinthe1950?sandtheir introductionalteredfishpond marinefoodwebs.Nativejacks andbarracudaonceatenative mulletsandmoi andwerefished, but now thejacksandbarracuda seemtoact asbioeradicators, preferringtofeedontheinvasive Australianmullet rather thanthe nativeherbivorousfishes. Scientists' studiesonthese predatoryfishes?dietsallowed themtoexpandtheir knowledge of fishpondfoodwebandfood webinteractionsinthesesystems. Thestudy foundthat native jacksandbarracudamostly target

theinvasivespecieswhocompete for spaceandresourceshelping control theinvasivepopulation. Analysesusedtheabundanceand prey of predatory fishesinthe He?eiafishpond.Thestudy useda tag-recaptureexperiment conductedby volunteer fishermen fromthecommunity,genetic barcoding,stableisotopeanalysis conductedby thevolunteer internsfromtheLaulimaA ?Ike Ponoprogramtoestimatethe predators?populationsand dietary preferences.

Morethan80%of thefood consumedinHawai? i comesfrom outsideresourcesat acost of $3 billionannually.Studieson economicsshow that replacing importedfoodswill increasesales, earnings,statetaxand employment for theseafood sector,ImprovingHawai?i?s economy.Thereisstill lotstolearn about thefoodwebdynamicsof fishponds.

Fishpond.Photo by:Chris Arnolds;Flickr.

Bac t er ial Mul t ic el l ul ar it y

By: Alexandrya Robinson, UHM MOP Student

Vibrio Bacteria.Photo by: Tina Carvalho,University of Hawai?i;Flickr.

The ocean is host to many different forms of life, ranging from the massive blue whale to the unseen world of the drifting, microscopic bacteria that float in the upper column of the ocean. Oftentimes, observing bacteria living alone is rare.Some bacteria aggregate into large groups and secrete what is known as a biofilm. Biofilms can vary in their composition and function, but the main ?ingredients?are polysaccharides (sugars)and secreted DNA and proteins.This mixture makes a slimy layer that houses large groups of bacteria.

Bacteria that live in biofilms utilize quorum sensing.When bacteria secrete organic compounds,the other bacteria within the biofilm can use them to communicate with one another. Together these bacteria can function essentially as a single unit to regulate growth,movement, and nutrient uptake.It is advantageous to host a large number of bacterial cells together because a biofilm is much stronger than the slime secretion that a single bacterium

can release, so strong in fact that biofilms can actually degrade metals and plastics over time with ease.

With the knowledge that multiple bacteria can be more successful than lone planktonic cells,comes recent research into the specific bacterium, Vibrio splendidus12B0.This is a gram-negative bacterium, meaning it has an outer membrane with a layer of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), a thin peptidoglycan layer, and an innermost phospholipid bilayer. The LPSlayer is important for secreting exotoxins for protection and is very important for making biofilms.

V.splendidusis a species of rod-shaped bacteria that lives within salty marine waters, and gains energy through chemoorganotrophy.In microbiology, organisms are named this way to explain how they obtain energy, the first part is in reference to how the organism gets its energy, hydrogen, and carbon in order.In the case of V.

splendidus,this means that it obtains energy from inorganic chemical sources and organic carbon is necessary for its nutrient uptake.

Previous research has indicated that often, for biofilms to form, as seen in the case of V. splendidus,there needs to be an anchor for the bacteria to hold onto but imaging shows that there are large colonies of V.splendidus surviving easily in a planktonic, free-floating stage.Together these biofilms of V.splendidus gather nutrients from a very

specific source, alginate.This is a polysaccharide polymer formed by brown algae.Interestingly, alginate is a much larger molecule than a single V. splendiduswhich had researchers at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)wondering how V.splendiduswas able to so successfully consume alginate.

While testing occurred, V. splendidusbehaved differently than traditional microbes do in a nutrient broth.Usually, there

Marine Biofilm Complexity.Photo by: LindenGledhill;Flickr.

tends to be an even and linear growth before maximum growth is achieved and cells start to die off. Instead, V.splendidusgrew in irregular intervals that had clustered growths in circular formations.V.splendidus proceeded to exhibit different phases in which it staggered growth in order to avoid growth competition for available nutrients.The circular growth formations only released inner V. splendidusthat had consumed the alginate to best compete for more resources.The individual V.

splendidusdivided rapidly, forming its own circular colony covered in a biofilm and starting the cycle anew.

Creatureof theMonth:

M?l?

By:AbbieJeremiah,SeawordsEditor

LaysanAlbatrossonMidway

Atoll.Photo by:Forest and Kim Starr;Flickr.

Albatrosses arelarge seabirds in thefamily Diomedeidae. They can be found in thePacific and Atlantic Oceans and are known for their largesize, long wingspans stretching up to 1.8 meters (6 feet), and graceful flight. The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), or m?l?in Hawaiian, is one of two species of albatross found in Hawai?i. They can berecognized by their white bodies that contrast with their wings and tails dipped in black. However, m?l?can be difficult to study because likeother albatrosses, they arepelagic and spend 90% of their lives out on theopen ocean. They can cover great distances, sometimes feeding up to 1,770 kilometers from their breeding and nesting

colonies. When they are seen, it's usually at their nesting sites located throughout theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) as well as on Kaua?i, O?ahu, and Lehua Island off Ni?ihau. M?l?areopportunistic feeders, and will eat a variety of items, including fish, squid, and crustaceans. They sit on thewater and seizetheir prey when it comes closeenough to thesurface. They arealso known to scavengefor food, and will often eat things that arethrown overboard from boats, though not as frequently as theother species of albatross found in Hawai?i, theka?upu or black-footed albatross (P. nigripes).

M?l?areknown to bevery social birds, and will often congregatein largegroups. They aremonogamous, and form strong pair bonds. Couples engagein long, noisy, ritualized

courtship dances. Females will lay oneegg per year, and thechicks aretypically raised by both parents. For m?l? , theegg laying season lasts from November to December, with chicks taking flight in July. Once they enter thepost-fledgling stage, they leavetheir parent?s care. After taking flight, young m?l?won? t return to land for up to threeyears. When they finally do return, they don? t materight away but spend 3-5 years building nests and looking for prospectivemates. They havea long-lifespan, living between 12-40 years, although theoldest known m?l? , named Wisdom, is morethan 70 years old. M?l?areinteresting birds to watch, and they are a popular tourist attraction in Hawai?i. They arealso important to theecosystem,

as they help to control the population of fish and other sea creatures. They are negatively impacted by introduced predators including pigs, dogs, mongoose, and feral cats. Additionally, their nesting habitats can bedegraded by invasiveplant species.

M?l?arealso threatened by human disturbances, such as fishing, fisheries bycatch, plastic pollution, and aircraft collisions, so it is important to actively protect thesebirds. Today, m?l?areconsidered to bea vulnerablespecies, and are listed as near threatened by theIUCN. Dueto many conservation efforts, m?l? populations aresteadily increasing after hitting dangerous lows in thelate 1990?s to early 2000?s. With continued protection and support, m?l?will be ableto thrive.

Layssan Albatross. Photo by:Chris Swenson/USFWS;Flickr.