The islands have long been admired for their natural beauty. But in recent decades, our native species have struggled to survive. The Laukahi Network is looking to change that through a coordinated effort to help save Hawaiʻi’s native plants before they disappear.
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248 00:15:54,420 –> 00:15:57,222 As much as Hawaii is recognized for its surfing, 249 00:15:57,222 –> 00:15:59,858 the islands have long been admired for their natural 250 00:15:59,858 –> 00:16:03,329 beauty. But in recent decades, our native species have 251 00:16:03,329 –> 00:16:06,765 struggled to survive. The Laukahi Network is looking to
252 00:16:06,765 –> 00:16:09,835 change that through a coordinated effort to help save 253 00:16:09,835 –> 00:16:13,005 Hawaii’s native plants before they disappear. 254 00:16:39,031 –> 00:16:42,234 With Hawaii’s native plants, they’re in a rather dire 255 00:16:42,234 –> 00:16:47,272 situation. There’s a multitude of threats facing our native 256 00:16:47,272 –> 00:16:53,178
Plants. Hawaii’s native plants occupy 44% of the list of 257 00:16:53,178 –> 00:16:58,217 endangered species in the US. So we’re facing a real uphill 258 00:16:58,217 –> 00:17:03,589 battle right now. The Laukahi Network is an alliance of 259 00:17:03,589 –> 00:17:09,128 organizations, individuals and agencies all aiming to protect 260 00:17:09,128 –> 00:17:14,566
Hawaii’s native plants through coordinated conservation. Our 261 00:17:14,566 –> 00:17:18,270 network consists of all these partners, the state and federal 262 00:17:18,303 –> 00:17:24,843 agencies, other nonprofits, the Botanical Gardens, and land 263 00:17:24,843 –> 00:17:29,348 managers. Every one that has a component of plant conservation 264 00:17:29,348 –> 00:17:34,453
Mission. And so we try to align all of our work together to try 265 00:17:34,686 –> 00:17:38,090 and advance plant conservation in the state of Hawaii. 266 00:17:48,300 –> 00:17:51,170 Yeah, so the seed Conservation Lab is a repository 267 00:17:51,170 –> 00:17:55,140 seed bank for the entire Hawaiian archipelago. So we bank
268 00:17:55,140 –> 00:17:58,744 seeds from all the other islands. And we put them in long 269 00:17:58,744 –> 00:18:01,380 term storage, whether it’s a freezer or refrigerator, 270 00:18:01,380 –> 00:18:04,516 depending on the storage behavior of that species, in the 271 00:18:04,516 –> 00:18:08,587
Hopes that we can preserve that genetic diversity long term for 272 00:18:08,587 –> 00:18:12,357 propagation, restoration and restoration efforts later on. 273 00:18:12,357 –> 00:18:16,895 We have little over 31 million seeds banked in our collection. 274 00:18:17,262 –> 00:18:22,801 It covers about 550 of the total taxa. And then we have about 315
275 00:18:23,535 –> 00:18:27,906 rare, endangered species. The seed bank’s really important 276 00:18:27,906 –> 00:18:31,176 because in these kinds of extinction events, or rapid 277 00:18:31,176 –> 00:18:35,280 population decline, even population shifts, we have these 278 00:18:35,280 –> 00:18:37,916 individuals in a safe location. And so part of our a big part of
279 00:18:37,916 –> 00:18:41,720 our work and research is pulling these in germinating them and 280 00:18:41,720 –> 00:18:45,457 providing individuals to go back out into the wild to restore 281 00:18:45,457 –> 00:18:50,429 populations. Between species, between genera, there are 282 00:18:50,429 –> 00:18:54,833 different storage behaviors. So we have orthodox species and
283 00:18:54,833 –> 00:18:57,669 they can tolerate freezing in a conventional freezer. What we 284 00:18:57,669 –> 00:19:00,973 would consider intermediate species are ones that freeze 285 00:19:00,973 –> 00:19:04,076 sensitive. And so instead, we put those in the refrigerator. 286 00:19:04,710 –> 00:19:07,279
Ideally, we want to get them as cold as possible if they can 287 00:19:07,279 –> 00:19:12,184 handle it, because the colder we get them, the longer we can, we 288 00:19:12,184 –> 00:19:15,687 can slow the metabolic rate of the seed down to extend its 289 00:19:15,687 –> 00:19:19,391
Shelf life long term. The third category are seeds that we 290 00:19:19,391 –> 00:19:22,060 consider recalcitrant. So that means I can’t put them in a 291 00:19:22,060 –> 00:19:24,997 standard refrigerator or freezer. So it’s very difficult 292 00:19:24,997 –> 00:19:29,501
For us to maintain those in the seed lab, for the most part. At 293 00:19:29,501 –> 00:19:33,071 this time, we don’t, and a lot of those species are represented 294 00:19:33,071 –> 00:19:35,240 in our micropropagation lab. 295 00:19:42,581 –> 00:19:43,282 So this room 296 00:19:43,282 –> 00:19:47,486
Contains our tissue culture collection. And so all of these 297 00:19:47,486 –> 00:19:52,457 plants are being grown in sealed test tubes in tissue culture. 298 00:19:54,493 –> 00:19:57,362 And so the vast majority of these plants are actually 299 00:19:57,362 –> 00:19:59,831 critically endangered. So that means they have less than 50
300 00:19:59,831 –> 00:20:03,502 individuals in the wild. And we also have a handful plants that 301 00:20:03,502 –> 00:20:05,704 are currently extinct in the wild. So they’re not found 302 00:20:05,704 –> 00:20:09,541 anywhere else in the wild or in any other facilities. We 303 00:20:09,541 –> 00:20:14,346
Currently have 43,000 plants growing in tissue culture. And 304 00:20:14,346 –> 00:20:17,649 so it’s an incredible amount of work for us to maintain this 305 00:20:17,649 –> 00:20:24,923 collection. We have about 220 rare and endangered taxa of 306 00:20:24,923 –> 00:20:28,360 native wind plants. But in addition to that we also have a
307 00:20:28,360 –> 00:20:32,831 lot of culturally significant plants like taro, sweet potato, 308 00:20:33,131 –> 00:20:39,037 and banana. We currently have 89 different varieties of taro that 309 00:20:39,037 –> 00:20:43,041 we grow and maintain here in culture and provide to other loi 310 00:20:43,041 –> 00:20:46,878
Farms for them to grow and perpetuate those specific 311 00:20:46,878 –> 00:20:51,516 varieties. So over the course of a year, these plants will 312 00:20:51,683 –> 00:20:54,486 outgrow their test tubes, they’ll grow to the top, they’ll 313 00:20:54,486 –> 00:20:58,190
Suck up all the nutrients in the media. And what we have to do is 314 00:20:58,190 –> 00:21:01,627 take them out, take cuttings from them, and plant them back 315 00:21:01,627 –> 00:21:04,997 into fresh media. So that they can continue to grow for the 316 00:21:04,997 –> 00:21:09,968
Next year. The work that we do here in the lab is extremely 317 00:21:09,968 –> 00:21:13,639 important because a lot of these plants don’t exist anywhere else 318 00:21:13,639 –> 00:21:17,042 in the world outside of Hawaii. So if we were to lose the 319 00:21:17,042 –> 00:21:20,812
Species, they would be lost forever. The micropropagation 320 00:21:20,812 –> 00:21:23,515 lab doesn’t actually own any of these species. These are all 321 00:21:23,515 –> 00:21:27,386 species that are owned by the different land managers such as 322 00:21:27,419 –> 00:21:32,524 DLNR DOFAW, or the National Army Resource Program, who then give
323 00:21:32,524 –> 00:21:35,727 us the task of taking these plants and preparing them for 324 00:21:35,727 –> 00:21:40,232 outplanting when they determine that they have enough resources 325 00:21:40,232 –> 00:21:44,236 available to put those plants back out into the wild. 326 00:21:56,715 –> 00:22:00,519 So today we’re gonna be out planting lobelia oahuensis.
327 00:22:00,519 –> 00:22:06,158 This is part of a larger project. We’ve grown 2,500 of 328 00:22:06,158 –> 00:22:10,162 this species to help restore it. There are only 20 left in the 329 00:22:10,162 –> 00:22:16,001 wild. So we’re hoping that by outplanting these individuals, 330 00:22:16,034 –> 00:22:19,938
All of different founders, so that we have a good genetic mix 331 00:22:19,971 –> 00:22:23,508 that we will start to see some natural recruitment . This is a 332 00:22:23,508 –> 00:22:28,647 monocarpic species. So when it flowers it dies, you know, so 333 00:22:28,680 –> 00:22:32,784
We’re putting out high numbers in the hopes that we’ll see more 334 00:22:32,784 –> 00:22:36,588 growing in the future. So for 335 00:22:36,588 –> 00:22:39,358 Extinction Prevention Program – PEPP – we deal with plants that 336 00:22:39,358 –> 00:22:41,760 have 50 or fewer founders remaining in the wild. So the
337 00:22:41,760 –> 00:22:47,799 founder is the mature individual plant that’s in the wild that we 338 00:22:47,833 –> 00:22:50,502 go and survey for and monitor and we’re making those 339 00:22:50,502 –> 00:22:52,938 collections from. So it’s really important that we know 340 00:22:52,938 –> 00:22:56,575
Exactly all the different founders where they came from. 341 00:22:56,775 –> 00:23:00,045 We follow them through when we collect the seeds, we labeled 342 00:23:00,045 –> 00:23:03,081 them down to know where these individuals came from. And, and 343 00:23:03,081 –> 00:23:06,618
So when we plant them out into the wild, we know which mama 344 00:23:06,618 –> 00:23:09,020 plant they came from. And so when they go back into the 345 00:23:09,020 –> 00:23:12,891 ground, we’ll track it. And then when those baby plants produce 346 00:23:12,891 –> 00:23:15,861
Seeds of their own, we’ll collect that information as 347 00:23:15,861 –> 00:23:19,531 well. We are seeing some trends of maybe like some, like 348 00:23:19,531 –> 00:23:23,068 some of the plants are put out. Environmental factors are making 349 00:23:23,068 –> 00:23:27,072 them flower or mature a little bit quicker. So we’re, it is
350 00:23:27,105 –> 00:23:29,441 maybe a little bit of a rush for us to try and go back to these 351 00:23:29,474 –> 00:23:31,810 different individuals to make sure that we’re making 352 00:23:31,810 –> 00:23:34,980 collections from these, these plants before they die off. So 353 00:23:34,980 –> 00:23:39,518
That we have those founders, those, the genetic information 354 00:23:39,518 –> 00:23:42,754 kind of represented for the future. Challenges 355 00:23:42,754 –> 00:23:47,526 that we’re seeing are the degradation of their natural 356 00:23:47,526 –> 00:23:51,463 habitat by invasive species, such as ungulates, pigs and 357 00:23:51,463 –> 00:23:56,968
Goats, as well as invasive weeds. Additionally, recently, 358 00:23:56,968 –> 00:24:00,839 we’ve had more human visitation of these habitats. So as you’re 359 00:24:00,839 –> 00:24:05,210 enjoying the natural environment here on Oahu, I recommend that 360 00:24:05,210 –> 00:24:08,880 you stay on the trail. Going off trail really makes a big impact
361 00:24:08,880 –> 00:24:12,417 to the surrounding habitat by introducing weeds on your shoes, 362 00:24:12,684 –> 00:24:17,556 and degrading the habitat by stepping on sensitive plants and 363 00:24:17,589 –> 00:24:22,294 in the area and it also invites other animals such as rats, to 364 00:24:22,294 –> 00:24:26,097
Follow you into the forest or pigs even. So, stay on the 365 00:24:26,097 –> 00:24:31,269 trail. Be aware of your surroundings. These are a lot of 366 00:24:31,269 –> 00:24:36,408 times sacred places and coming to the forest with the mindset 367 00:24:36,441 –> 00:24:49,788
Of doing no harm. You were ready. Here you go. When we 368 00:24:49,788 –> 00:24:53,792 plant them, we learned from our partners in the Big Island that 369 00:24:53,792 –> 00:24:59,531 we have been saying, “E ola oe. E ola makou nei.” Because of you 370 00:24:59,531 –> 00:25:04,936
We all live, if you live, we all live. So it’s really cool to 371 00:25:04,936 –> 00:25:09,608 give purpose when you’re doing it. And to give them a little 372 00:25:09,608 –> 00:25:13,879 blessing on their way. Here you go. The best part is that every 373 00:25:13,912 –> 00:25:19,217
Species has a story from start to finish from either it was 374 00:25:19,217 –> 00:25:24,489 culturally used or that it is, you know, recognized worldwide 375 00:25:24,489 –> 00:25:29,427 for its evolutionary history, or that it has a really unique 376 00:25:29,427 –> 00:25:34,533 breeding system or that they have an interesting seed storage
377 00:25:34,533 –> 00:25:38,937 behavior, or, I mean, there’s always an interesting aspect. So 378 00:25:38,970 –> 00:25:43,408 every day, all the plants have something to tell you, if you’re 379 00:25:43,408 –> 00:25:47,746 there to listen. Something that I want people to take away we 380 00:25:47,746 –> 00:25:53,685
Really care. This is something that is from our heart, and we 381 00:25:53,685 –> 00:25:59,658 become intimately connected with the plants that we collect, and 382 00:25:59,658 –> 00:26:04,095 then rear up and then plant out. And we really have the best 383 00:26:04,095 –> 00:26:09,000
Intentions to see them through and to see them recovered, so 384 00:26:09,267 –> 00:26:14,272 that our keiki and their keiki and generations to come can 385 00:26:14,272 –> 00:26:18,076 still come out and to see these plants or to know that they are 386 00:26:18,076 –> 00:26:21,279
There and that they are part of an ecosystem. There’s always 387 00:26:21,279 –> 00:26:23,748 hope, you know, we wouldn’t come to work if we thought that it 388 00:26:23,748 –> 00:26:26,017 was hopeless, you know. So, we, we hope every day that we’re 389 00:26:26,017 –> 00:26:29,754
Making the best difference that we can make, and we show up 390 00:26:29,888 –> 00:26:34,659 thinking we’re gonna give 100% and I see my team giving 200%, 391 00:26:34,659 –> 00:26:37,796 500% They’re working super hard, every day. 392 00:26:38,096 –> 00:26:41,499 Something that I think is really special with the Laukahi Network
393 00:26:41,499 –> 00:26:45,437 within these partnerships, is when I hear people say that they 394 00:26:45,437 –> 00:26:48,373 feel like they’re being brought up. And it’s because some of 395 00:26:48,373 –> 00:26:51,876 these shared resources that they have the tools to succeed now. 396 00:26:51,876 –> 00:26:55,080
You know, every single one of them in the greenhouse and the 397 00:26:55,080 –> 00:26:59,718 seed bank out in the field. I’m just always so impressed and 398 00:26:59,718 –> 00:27:04,589 motivated by everyone’s dedication, that this community, 399 00:27:05,557 –> 00:27:09,494 they make it possible for Laukahi Network to exist. And
400 00:27:09,561 –> 00:27:13,498 for us to do what we do. Everyone’s agenda is the plants. 401 00:27:13,665 –> 00:27:17,969 So we can, through collaboration, advance plant 402 00:27:17,969 –> 00:27:19,771 conservation in Hawaii.
3 Comments
Ko'u mahalo's to lau kahi network
Awesome
Thank you for what you do!! we appreciate your efforts to protect and preserve seeds for future plants.