The Future of Climate: Threatened Island Worlds
As living laboratories, islands attract biologists from all over the world. “We see in microcosm what’s happening around the world happen on islands quicker and more intensively, so that’s a really important reason why we should care what’s happening on these really small land masses,” says Professor Evan Economo of the Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit at OIST. As a result, islands can serve as a bellwether for what’s to come at a larger scale.
Islands, particularly as they relate to climate change, were the subject of the OIST Foundation’s first webinar in the Future of Climate series. Funded by a generous grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the three-part webinar series focuses on some of the most important global issues of deep concern to the United States and Japan: climate change, mitigating its impact, and environmental conservation.
Economo and colleagues George Roderick and Rosemary Gillespie (both from the University of California–Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) were the featured panelists for the first webinar on November 11, 2020: “The Future of Biodiversity in the Pacific Region: Conserving a Threatened Island World.”
The combined research of these three scientists spans decades and reveals how climate change impacts islands first — and dramatically. Approximately 100 attendees tuned in, including academics, scientists, environmental and climate experts, and nonprofit leaders, including those at the fore of fostering the relationship between the U.S. and Japan.
Island ecosystems are extremely fragile, and populations of each species are quite small, making them more vulnerable to external threats. The panelists discussed three particularly pressing threats facing islands today: habitat destruction, rising sea levels, and invasive species.
Habitat destruction by humans is largely related to the degradation of forested land. These natural habitats are often converted to pasture for raising animals or farmland for raising crops, such as sugarcane. As forests shrink, the species living within them shrink as well. They become isolated, increasing the spread of disease and decreasing genetic diversity.
Higher temperatures due to climate change leads to rising sea levels. As the surface of the water rises, the surface of the island shrinks. Some islands, especially low-lying atolls, are on a track to be completely submerged, and any species that cannot safely disperse will not survive. In particular, endemic species — those that exist only in one location — face extinction.
While some islands, like Okinawa, formed when they were cut off from the mainland of continents, others, like Hawai‘i, rose up from the ocean. They were populated by species that landed there over hundreds of thousands of years and found a way to survive and to thrive. Today, the introduction of new species is happening daily, and even hourly. Cargo ships bring new organisms in their ballast water or attached to the side of the boat. The cargo itself, whether horticulture, food, or fiber, can introduce new species. And microbes, as we know all too well from the coronavirus pandemic, can quickly circle the globe on airplanes as people travel. Those people can also inadvertently bring other organisms with them too, in luggage or on their shoes, for example.
In the wake of these dangers, scientists are implementing new technologies to monitor island ecosystems and learn more about how species are adapting and surviving. These include DNA sequencing, remote sensing from satellites, eco-acoustics, and radar. Traditional methods using still and video cameras remain in use, but applying machine learning to image collection can now analyze the information more quickly and efficiently.
Citizen scientists also aid in the effort. In Okinawa, for example, Economo’s team has trained teachers and students in Okinawa to collect insects that aid in climate change research at OIST. Roderick says, “Researchers can do what they do but there’s also opportunities for everybody to be involved through local citizen science projects or volunteering in different ways.”
Other collaborations are numerous and varied. Pacific island nations have worked closely with New Zealand and Australia to coordinate and share information on species monitoring and conservation efforts. In Okinawa, scientists worked with the prefectural government to implement climate-friendly policies, including laws that resulted in the reduction of red soil run-off, which was negatively affecting coral reefs. Even the U.S. Department of Defense is playing a role by funding projects that will to prevent the spread of invasive species.
One of those projects is IslandScanner, a new research initiative that Economo, Gillespie, and Roderick are collaborating on to take a snapshot of the health of Pacific island ecosystems. By linking data from different islands in a region, new information can be gleaned, and invasive species can be monitored more widely.
Ultimately, Economo says he hopes one day to have a weather station-like system that can tell scientists what is happening with a given location’s biodiversity and make predictions about what’s to come. “We have a lot of work to do, but it’s hopeful because we have a lot of new tools and new technologies that we can leverage to get a handle on this problem. I think it’s a great topic for U.S.-Japan collaboration and for OIST.” he says. Roderick adds, “It’s really through all of our activities that we can make a difference.”.
Gillespie agrees, but she cautions, “We need to act right away. Climate change is a huge issue, but it’s like sitting on a bridge and worrying about the water coming up when actually there’s a train coming right at you. This is an immediate problem. But what’s exciting about this work is that we’re coming together. We can work together and actually solve this problem.”
The OIST Foundation is grateful to the University of California–Berkeley for co-sponsoring this event and to the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership for funding the webinar series and strategic report that will follow. The report will outline how the OIST Foundation can play a central role in bringing together American and Japanese leaders on climate change topics in order to expand partnerships and help policy makers by sharing informed scientific insights with them.
