Students Flourish with Field Experience on Hawaii Trip
Students thrive on Hawaii field experience.

Students Flourish with Field Experience on Hawaii Trip

While most students were battling the cold January winter, 16 students experienced the diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Through a field biology course offered from Jan. 6 through Jan. 20, students traveled through volcanoes, organic farms, national parks and coral reefs to experience one of the most isolated islands in the world.

One of the largest opportunities the trip offered was hands-on field experience for students wanting a future in natural resources.

Field experience in Hawaii differs from other opportunities because its habitat, below 2000 feet in elevation, is completely invasive. This means nothing in the lower elevated habitats are native to Hawaii.

Dr. Todd Huspeni, the parasitologist and marine biologist professor on the trip, said this was “our opportunity to give back to one of the most invaded and beleaguered habitats on Earth.”

Exploring ecosystems with so many invasive species allows students to learn how to maintain invasive species in environments beyond Wisconsin.

Between hikes, students worked on organic farms and sprayed herbicides on Himalayan ginger, which is an invasive plant destroying the native Hawaiian habitat.

Tara Buehler, junior wildlife ecology and biology major, said, “spraying was the part of the trip that was closest to what I might do in the future.”

BIOL 309 Winterim 2016 students Briana Wojcik and Tara Buehler prepare for Himalayan Ginger control

Photo courtesy of Dr. Todd Huspeni.

For Buehler, this trip increased her love for wanting to put her natural resource majors to use there. Helping to reduce these particular plants gives eager students insight into natural resource jobs after graduation.

“Their invasive species make you think about all the different aspects of management that we need to look into,” Buehler said.

Not only are plants affected with the introduction of foreign species like Himalayan ginger, but insects such as mosquitoes eradicate many bird species through the spread of malaria.

Since Hawaii has a great concentration of particular species, learning about how an environment can drastically change in a focused area is a biologist’s dream.

Adam Kamal,  junior biology major, said that “seeing Hawaii get absolutely colonized by plants from other places is crazy, so all the Hawaii you picture in your head is invasive, not native.” Kamal said this trip was beneficial because “I was always interested in being a biologist so this reaffirmed that it was something that I should do.”

Experiencing such a diverse environment ensures that students will gain knowledge for their future in natural resource fields. Huspeni said, “this is the reason why CNR still maintains its field experience requirement – because of the fundamental importance of those experiences and outcomes to their majors.”

Alexa Dickson

Contributor

About pointer

Avatar

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*