Biological Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth

Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii

BOD Faculty: Bienfang, Church, Drazen, Huntley, Johnson, Karl, Kemp, Selph, Smith, Steward, Waller, Wang, Weng

Biological Oceanography in SOEST

Biological oceanographers seek to understand how biology influences and responds to the ocean habitat and environmental variability.

Breadth of biological oceanography research and education conducted at UH spans subcellular to ecosystems scales, including everything from viruses to whales.

There is enormous potential for growth in the field, and our proximity to the sea provides SOEST with strategic opportunities.

0.1 m 1.0 m 10 m 100 m 1 mm 1 cm 10 cm 1 m 10 m

Viruses Bacteria Phytoplankton Zooplankton Nekton Fish Whales

Research spanning >9 orders of magnitude…

Mycoplankton

Mesopelagic biology and ecology

Abyssal sediments

Bathypelagic ecology

Across Diverse Ocean Habitats

Epipelagic biology and ecology Corals, sponges, benthic ecology

PDO

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Q1. What are the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems?

Positive phase Negative phase

Q2. What is the biodiversity of the ocean and how is it related to ecosystem function?

Year95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

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Wealth of information emerging on ecosystem diversity

Oceanographers need to assimilate this information to better understand ecosystem processes such as metabolism, predator-prey interactions, physiological tolerances, etc.

Q3. How are humans affecting marine

ecosystems?88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06

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Let’s have the ahi. It’ll be extinct soon.

Decline in fish stocks(Myers and Worm; Nature 2003)

Marine pollution and debris

Invasive species in Hawaiian waters

Q4. How do the oceans impact human health?

Ala Wai Sewage Spill

V. vulnificus

Q5. What are the potential applications of aquatic ecosystems and/or

organisms for biotechnolgy?

Green Alga Hydrogen Production

Biological oceanography from molecular to ecosystem

scales