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USM Students Trek to Hawaii for Hands-On Field Experience

This January, two USM biology students and USM Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Lisa Moore traveled to Hawaii to participate in a 10-day study of one of Hawaii's more unique natural features, the anchialine pond.

USM senior Tammy Sweetsir and USM sophomore Emily Pighetti, along with USM biology professor Lisa Moore, joined 20 other students and faculty from Tufts University and MIT to conduct field research of the anchialine ponds located within the boundaries of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park (NHP) on the island of Hawaii. The effort was all part of a project run out of MIT's Traveling Research Environmental Experiences (TREX) program, designed to provide MIT undergraduate students opportunities to study environmental issues through hands-on research.

Anchialine ponds are landlocked coastal ponds, typically found on volcanic islands such as the Hawaiian Islands. The brackish ponds, which vary in size from a small pothole to a large pond, are influenced by tides as fresh water contained within the pond mixes with seawater that enters from underground fissures and tunnels. Although many ponds are located very close together, it remains uncertain whether or not direct connections exist between the ponds. What is certain, says Moore, is that anchialine ponds are quickly becoming endangered ecosystems.

“As many as 90 percent of anchialine ponds have disappeared primarily due to human impact, such as housing development, land use and the introduction of organisms like tropical fish and other substances that can disrupt the whole ecosystem,” says Moore.

While anchialine ponds within the Kaloko-Honokohau NHP remain, for the most part, unaffected by nearby development, Moore says one of the TREX team goals is to develop baseline chemistry and microbiological information about the Hawaiian ponds to enable future study.

In previous years, chemists and environmental engineers ran the MIT program, sponsored by Northeast Educational Services Inc., as a way to provide MIT students with field research experience and to help determine how earth systems can be managed in a sustainable way. But last year, the team invited Moore, an MIT graduate herself, to head a USM subgroup that could assist with researching the biological diversity of the ponds on the microbial realm.

“By connecting with me up in Maine, it allows for some Maine students to get exposed not only to students from another university, but also to field work that they may not have a chance to do otherwise.” adds Moore.

While many of the tests the students conducted could be done in the field, including testing pH, salinity, oxygen levels and temperature at different hours of day, nutrient tests were conducted using a makeshift lab at the NHP station. The teams also collected water samples that were frozen and transported back to USM for further analysis. Now back on campus, the USM researchers are working to uphold their part of the bargain, which is to analyze the samples for microbial growth and to determine their biodiversity.

“Right now, we are working using molecular techniques to figure out what kinds of DNA are in there, and from that information finding out what kinds of microbes are in there and comparing the biodiversity,” says Pighetti.

“I spent last year working out the methods with the two students that went on the TREX trip last year," adds Sweetsir. "So, we've got the process; we just need to find the time between classes to process this information.”

Pighetti and Sweetsir say they hope to finish compiling their data by the end of the semester. Once complete, they will send the data back to the national park for further evaluation and use. Pighetti and Sweetsir also will present their research at USM's upcoming Thinking Matters forum on April 21 and 22.

But the goal of the project isn't just about the science, says Moore. It's also about giving the student the experience of field research. And Pighetti and Sweetsir agree that the experience has paid off.

“This was a really neat project to do the research and have that be meaningful. But I thought it much more useful to get the experience of being in the field and to realize that its not like being a lab where everything is sterile and you have as much as you need of any particular compound,” says Pighetti. “It teaches you to plan for the right resources and also how to be resourceful-make use of what you have.” The experience also has given her a new appreciation for how much work goes into publishing articles and conducting research, she says.

Sweetsir, who has worked in Moore's lab for the last three years, says her experience in the lab and in the field has helped her fine tune her academic choices and future career goals, which include looking at possible job opportunities in biotechnology.

“Three years ago, I started working in [Moore's] lab and it helped me realize that science was a field and biology was really an area that I looked forward to studying.”

Pighetti agrees that her hand-on experience has helped to shape her aspirations.

“Before I felt I was floundering a little bit, and while I really knew I liked biology, I wasn't sure what I wanted to go into in biology, because it's a pretty big field," says Pighetti. "This experience has been a huge help in figuring out my plans for the future.”

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