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From the ancient Kumulipo to a 1930s British ecologist to today, all agree that relationships in nature matter. What’s our role?

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

Relationships surround us – family members and friends, casual acquaintances and familiar faces. The people we know through work, school, or church and those we see in passing at the grocery store and post office. We swim in a sea of relationships; we shape and are shaped by all the interactions in our lives. Each of us is part of an ecosystem of relationships that has grown and evolved since our first breath.

The term ‘ecosystem’ was coined in 1935 by British scientist Sir Arthur Tansley, who urged fellow ecologists to consider the ‘whole system’ and not just the components. He promoted an understanding of the interactions between plants and animals, the minerals in the soil, the climate, and everything connected to them. Ecologists studying big-picture interactions began using the term as a framework, looking at how energy flows through the entire system, from the producers that transform the sun’s energy to food, through all the layers of consumers and decomposers.

Tansley’s terminology stuck, but the concept was hardly new. Over thousands of years, humans have observed and studied relationships and interactions in their surroundings. The Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, emphasizes the interconnectedness of the earth, sky, ocean, plants, animals, and humans. So do ancestral narratives from cultures worldwide. Like our own origin stories, there is a beginning—a first arrival, from which all relationships flow. In Hawai‘i, the connections were forged over the millennia, with new species successfully established once every few thousand years—finding or creating new places within the larger fabric. The pace of arrivals has erupted over the last two hundred years, and each new arrival exposes our environment to a potential risk. When a plant, animal, or microorganism has a disruptive or destructive impact, we label it invasive.

Hawaiian soils are naturally low in nitrogen. The ability to thrive in nutrient-poor soils helped ancestral plants colonize the islands, slowly creating forests from bare lava. The invasive albizia tree increases nitrogen in the soil, modifying the ecosystem to support non-native plants. Unfortunately, the excess nitrogen stunts the roots of some native plants, literally throwing them off balance. Invasive plants disrupt other relationships, with impacts cascading throughout the ecosystem.

Invasive species like albizia do more than displace native species, they can disrupt the relationships throughout the ecosystem. For example, albizia increases soil nitrogen content, facilitating other invasive plants’ growth. Photo by Forest and Kim Starr.

Invasive grasses are ecosystem modifiers. Soil moisture is affected by these invasive grasses, as well as the composition of microbes and nutrients that affect the growth of other plants. Often drought tolerant, the grasses grow vigorously over a few months. Then, leaves die back but don’t decompose, and, after a season or two, the leaves accumulate and create a mass of fuels ready to burn.

When fire does happen, native plants generally don’t survive. Of all the amazing forces that shaped the natural history of Hawaii, fire is notably absent; before humans arrived, there was no ignition source (other than lava flows). In contrast, non-native grasses are adapted to seasonal fires, often triggered by lightning strikes. They quickly recolonize a burn scar, from a seedbank, from nearby plants, or sometimes thanks to deep underground roots. Over time, invasive grasses reduce the growth of native plants in Hawaii, and the plant community shifts. Grasses have transformed an ecosystem where fire is rare into a fire-prone one, waiting for a spark.

guinea grass
Guinea grass and other invasive grasses alter soil moisture and an accumulation of dead, dry leaves that don’t decompose, creating a fire-prone landscape. Subsequent grass fire cycles creep farther into the native forest. Photo by Forest and Kim Starr

Even without fire, these altered ecosystems don’t return to native plants. Researchers who examined sites on Hawai‘i Island found that an area that had burned twice was already beyond the threshold for natural recovery, even after 20 years of fire suppression. Plants in these historical burn sites included grasses and invasive woody shrubs.

Like the individual relationships we forge over our lives, most are positive—or at worst annoying. Most non-native plants are desirable for their food or beauty, and either play well with the rest of the clan or can be kept in check with regular maintenance. But some are simply incompatible. Native plants and animals can’t uproot and move elsewhere. Without vigilance, more disrupters will arrive, establish, and forever alter the ecosystems they and we call home.

Sir Arthur Tansley and his peers don’t always include people as a part of the ecosystem. The Kumulipo emphasizes the place of kanaka in the ecosystem. People are not separate from the environment; we are of it. Our relationships are as interwoven with places, plants, and animals as with other humans; as a community, we have he pilina wehena ‘ole – an inseverable relationship – to our environment. When we care for the land, we benefit as well.

Lissa Strohecker is the public relations and education specialist for the Maui Invasive Species Committee. She holds a biological sciences degree from Montana State University. Kia’i Moku, “Guarding the Island,” is prepared by the Maui Invasive Species Committee to provide information on protecting the island from invasive plants and animals that can threaten the island’s environment, economy, and quality of life.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on September 9, 2023, as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

Read more Kiaʻi Moku articles

Filed Under: Kia'i Moku Column Tagged With: 2023, albizia, guinea grass, invasive species impacts in Hawaii, invasives grass fire cycle, pilina

Asking albizia to go-Moloka‘i style

Posted on December 17, 2011 by MISC Leave a Comment

Tackling a giant albizia

Tackling a giant albizia

How does a two-person team control 850 invasive trees? If you’re MoMISC, you ask for permission first—from the landowner, the ancestors, and the trees themselves.

When Lori Buchanan of the Moloka‘i/Maui Invasive Species Committee (MoMISC) learned that albizia trees were invading a steep gulch in Nā‘iwa, she started strategizing. Native to the Indonesian archipelago, albizia rapidly monopolizes disturbed mesic and wet forests in Hawai‘i, and can rise to over 120 feet tall with wide, interlocking canopies. Because albizia trees fix nitrogen in the soil, they alter Hawaiian forests to favor non-native plants.

The Nā‘iwa discovery was the only albizia population on Moloka‘i—making it a good candidate for eradication. But controlling the trees would be a huge project, requiring the cooperation of many stakeholders.

Albizia

These giants reach over 120 feet tall.

First Buchanan approached the landowner, who granted access to the site. Land and air surveys revealed a fifteen-acre patch of mature trees, some with trunks measuring seven feet in circumference. Before rounding up extra hands to help with control work, Buchanan consulted kumu Mikiala Pescaia, who has genealogical ties to the area.

“It’s a good idea to ask permission before you do anything,” says Buchanan. “Every place is sacred, or has some history, and so it’s always a good idea to consult the indigenous culture.

“Nā‘iwa is makahiki and hula grounds. The crew needed to know why it’s special before working there.”
Pescaia agreed to ask her ancestors to bless the project and to share the importance of the site’s numerous platforms and heiau with the crew. She explained how killing during the makahiki season would be inappropriate, since it was a time of peace and rest.

Kumu Mikiala Pescaia and the crew at the edge of Kalaupapa.

“She took us to the edge of Kalaupapa and said, ‘This is where the spirits leap off,’” says Buchanan. “After that, the crew was hyped. We knew we were going to sweat and work our butts off, but people would appreciate what we were trying to do. It put our work in a whole new light.

“Mikiala sees all her cultural sites being taken over by invasive species. Our work is important to her, to her ancestors, and to future generations. It’s a step in restoring a whole genealogy.”

Mikiala Pescaia asked her ancestors for permission before entering the work site. She outlined appropriate behavior for the crew to observe while working: no swearing, negative thoughts, smoking, or removing anything from the area.

Kumu Mikiala Pescaia and the crew at the edge of Kalaupapa.

Kumu Mikiala Pescaia and the crew at the edge of Kalaupapa.

Then, says Buchanan, “She went to the edge of the gulch and said to the trees, ‘You guys have to go. Thank you for what you’ve provided—oxygen, shade, etcetera, but you have to go. Lori and MoMISC are going to come and take you out.’”

Actually, it was Lori, MoMISC, and a small army. Kamalani Pali, the other half of MoMISC, helped organize crews from The Nature Conservancy, Maui Invasive Species Committee, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. John Neizman from the Department of Land and Natural Resources assisted with clearing the access road. Two retired foresters volunteered to cut and treat trees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Materials Center donated ninety pounds of native kāwelu, ‘a‘ali‘i, and ‘āweoweo seed mix. Before controlling the trees, Pescaia and the crew spread the seeds throughout the site, to repopulate the forest with native plants and suppress albizia regrowth.

Scientists and cultural advisors agreed that the best time to start work was the first week of March, after makahiki had passed. The crew girdled massive trunks, scraping the bark off with chainsaws to get to the heartwood and swabbing the cuts with small amounts of herbicide. Despite the heavy labor—three days of wielding chainsaws and rappelling to reach cliff-side trees—no one was injured.

Local businesses pitched in, too. Moloka‘i Community Federal Credit Union and Ron Kimball of Kamehameha Schools helped feed the workers. Mac Poepoe and Kanohowailuku Helm, local fishermen who have published a Hawaiian moon calendar, gave a pau hana workshop on how to be a pono fisherman. Realtors Diane and Larry Swenson accommodated visiting crews in their roomy warehouse.

A year later, only four of 850 albizia trees required re-treatment. The project brought together community members, field staff, and cultural practitioners. Work crews valued the opportunity to practice traditional protocols while working to free the island’s native forests from invasive pests. There’s no arguing that involving the community and asking for permission resulted in resounding success. The lessons learned during the albizia project will be applied to future control efforts on Moloka‘i and Maui.

“So many components had to come together. Everybody had to be on board,” says Buchanan. “But that’s our job: to make it easy for people to help us.” •

hard hats lined up

By Shannon Wianecki
MISC Editor and Curriculum Writer

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2010 edition of Kia‘i i Nā Moku o Maui Nui, the newsletter of the Maui Invasive Species. Find the full newsletter at www.hear.org/misc/newsletter/.

Filed Under: In the field, Invasive Plants Tagged With: albizia, invasive species and hawaiian culture, Molokai, molokai/maui invasive species committee

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Acting Manager / Public Relations: Lissa Strohecker
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