The Scientific Benefits of a Statewide, Standardized, Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program in Hawa'i

Abstract

In this viewpoint, we provide a scientific justification for a statewide, standardized, coastal wetland monitoring program for Hawai'i, USA. Hawaiian coastal wetlands provide important habitat for endangered waterbirds, invertebrates, plants, and the Hawaiian hoary bat ('ōpe'ape'a; Lasiurus semotus) as well as support Indigenous food systems. Currently, numerous agencies and groups in Hawai'i collect data on coastal wetlands, but information is not typically shared and methods are not standardized. A statewide, standardized, coastal wetland monitoring program with a centralized database would allow managers to keep better track of progress toward restoration goals, population changes of conservation-reliant species, outbreaks and impacts of avian botulism, rates of coastal salinization, and many other critical issues across space and time. Monitoring combined with targeted research could fill critical knowledge gaps about the types, functions, values, and biodiversity of Hawaiian coastal wetlands. Ultimately, the improved knowledge gained from long-term coastal wetland monitoring could inform landscape-scale restoration actions and adaptive management of coastal wetlands under sea-level rise and climate change.

Keywords: adaptive management; agricultural wetlands; climate change; coastal wetlands; endangered waterbirds; environmental monitoring; loʻi kalo; sea‐level rise.

FIGURE 1

Coastal wetlands along the south shore of Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi: (a) Punalau Pond I, an herbaceous coastal wetland containing non‐native pickleweed ( Batis maritima ) in the foreground and non‐native red mangrove ( Rhizophora mangle ) in the background, and (b) Kaupapaloʻi o Kaʻamola, a spring‐fed wetland agro‐ecosystem (loʻipūnāwai), containing taro ( Colocasia esculenta ) (photographs by Drexler, U.S. Geological Survey).