An Evaluation of Proposed Hawaiian Study Sties for the Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect (PABITRA)

J. O. Juvik

Department of Geography, University of Hawai‘i-Hilo, Hilo, Hawai‘i, USA

Two different research sites have been identified in Hawai‘i that provide representative environmental, biodiversity and land use gradients suitable for integration into the regional PABITRA network: 1) Pu‘u Kukui (elevation 1,764 m) and the West Maui watershed, and; 2) the windward (Waiahole & Waikane valleys) and leeward slopes of the central Ko‘olau mountains (elevation 800 m) on the Island of O‘ahu. Criteria for site selection include: 1) topo-climatic diversity associated with traditional aboriginal land divisions running for the coast to mountaintops (ahupua‘a); 2) high localized biodiversity and endemism threatened by changing land uses and alien species introduction; 3) a mix of human land uses ranging from small scale traditional substance farming to commercial scale faming and urbanization; and 4) conflicts over water allocation and “rights" to and sustainability of existing ecosystems services under a rapidly changing land use regime. An evaluation of the proposed West Maui and central Ko‘olau Research sites indicates they possess attributes favorable for study in comparative context with other proposed Pacific Island sites in the PABITRA network.

Abstract from: XIX Pacific Science Congress, July 4-9, 1999, Sydney, Australia.