Biological Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii

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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

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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.

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Research spanning gt9 orders of magnitude
1 m
1 cm
10 cm
0.1 mm
1.0 mm
10 mm
100 mm
1 mm
10 m
Viruses
Bacteria
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Nekton
Fish
Whales
Mycoplankton
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Across Diverse Ocean Habitats
Epipelagic biology and ecology
Corals, sponges, benthic ecology
Mesopelagic biology and ecology
Bathypelagic ecology
Abyssal sediments
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Q1. What are the impacts of climate change on
marine ecosystems?
Positive phase
Negative phase
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Q2. What is the biodiversity of the ocean and how
is it related to ecosystem function?

• 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.

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Q3. How are humans affecting marine ecosystems?
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Marine pollution and debris
Decline in fish stocks (Myers and Worm Nature
2003)
Invasive species in Hawaiian waters
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Q4. How do the oceans impact human health?
Ala Wai Sewage Spill
V. vulnificus
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Q5. What are the potential applications of
aquatic ecosystems and/or organisms for
biotechnolgy?
Green Alga Hydrogen Production
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Biological oceanography from molecular to
ecosystem scales