American Samoa Research Projects
American Samoa became a U.S. Territory in 1900, and is the only U.S. Territory south of the equator. It is geographically and culturally part of the Samoan Islands, most of which are part of the independent country of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa. The natural history of Samoa is fascinating, and provides many opportunities for original research. For example, corals are far more diverse in the Samoan Islands than in the Hawaiian Islands, yet much less research is done there than in Hawai'i. Thus American Samoa provides a logical location for coral scientists and students, especially those based in Hawai'i, to conduct research projects. Furthermore, the American Samoa Coral Reef Advisory Group encourages and facilitates coral-related research.
The
Birkeland Lab's activities in
American Samoa are based in the Ofu Unit of the National Park of American Samoa
(NPSA). In conjunction with the park, we have
established a small field station near Vaoto
Lodge on Ofu
Island to support our field work. In addition, Chuck has been involved with
coral monitoring in the Fagatele
Bay National Marine Sanctuary and elsewhere in the territory for the past 25
years. Following are more details about our work on Ofu.
In 2002, the Birkeland Lab initiated a research project on Ofu, conducted by grad student Lance Smith (see Lance's report to NPSA), and supported both financially and logistically by the National Park Service. That led to our current Global Climate Change project, focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the resistance of corals to the high seawater temperatures expected from global warming (click here for project proposal). The project collaborators include PI Chuck Birkeland, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) faculty Rob Toonen and Ruth Gates, USGS scientists Greg Piniak, Ginger Garrison, and Chris Kellogg, Columbia University faculty Andrew Baker, NPSA marine biologist Peter Craig, and Birkeland grad students Dan Barshis and Lance Smith. Funding is provided by USGS's Global Climate Change research program. In August and September 2004, we completed the first of several field research trips on Ofu. The Birkeland Lab is coordinating this research effort, plus Dan and Lance are doing their dissertation research as part of this large project. More info is provided below on Dan's and Lance's projects:
Dan's
project: Dan
completed his first field season on Ofu in August 2004, where he collected
tissue samples of Porites lobata with underwater pneumatic tools (right)
from a forereef site (moderate temperatures) and a lagoon site (high
temperatures). He is comparing antioxident
and heat stress proteins from the samples to determine if and how these proteins
are produced under a range of thermal conditions. Since the August 2004 samples
were collected during the southern winter when the water is coolest, he will
return in February during the southern summer to collect additional samples, so
that he can do a seasonal comparison of protein production. He is analyzing the
samples in Jonathan
Stillman's lab in the UH Zoology Department, in conjunction with Rob
Toonen and Ruth
Gates at HIMB. Transporting
protein samples from a remote South Pacific Island like Ofu 2,500 miles back to
the lab in Hawai'i is no minor undertaking because the samples must be
immediately frozen to -80 °C,
and then maintained at -50 °C
or colder. We solved this problem by getting an ultracold freezer for the Ofu
Field Station in August 2004, then Dan transported the samples back to Honolulu
by packing them in a cooler full of blue ice that had been frozen to -80 °C
in our ultracold freezer. For
questions or comments, contact him at (808) 387-5132 or barshis@hawaii.edu.
Lance's
project: Lance spent three field seasons on Ofu from July 2002 to August 2003
collecting data for his MS project, which consisted of determining growth rates
of coral transplants between pools of varying temperatures within Ofu Lagoon
with alizarin stain (right; see Lance's
August 2003 report to
NPSA). Results of that experiment
suggested water motion is a major factor affecting the resistance of corals in
Ofu Lagoon to summertime temperatures of >35 °C.
Click here for a presentation on Lance's
research he made in October 2004, and here for an August 2004 manuscript.
He is conducting three experiments on Ofu for his dissertation research to
address this topic; (1) two reciprocal coral transplant experiments - one using Porites
lobata and Pocillopora eydouxi (left) between a forereef site (high
water motion - low temperatures) and the largest lagoon pool (moderate water
motion - moderate temperatures), 
and
one using these two species, plus Porites cylindrica and Acropora
gemmifera between the largest lagoon pool (moderate water motion - moderate
temperatures) and the smallest lagoon pool (high water motion - high
temperatures); (2) a water table experiment on Ofu to test the effect of
realistic water motion (by using a surge tank instead of a flume or powerheads)
on the resistance of these four species to high water temperatures; and (3) a
hydrodynamic study of the three study sites to determine total water motion
(using clod-cards), average flow speed, and maximum flow speed (using multiple
mechanical flow meters to simultaneously record flow speeds under different wind
and tidal conditions). For
questions or comments, contact
Lance at (808) 221-8297 or lancesmi@hawaii.edu.
USGS
scientist Greg
Piniak is working with us on Ofu, using PAM
fluorometry (right) to do a seasonal comparison of the photosynthetic
efficiency of 25 coral species. USGS scientists Ginger
Garrison and Chris
Kellogg are studying the microbial communities in coral mucus to determine
if there may be some beneficial associations of coral and bacteria that reduce
thermal stress. Click here
for article "Persistence of Coral Reefs Under Extreme Environmental Stress
in American Samoa" in October 2004 USGS newsletter. In addition to the work
of our USGS colleagues, Columbia University faculty Andrew
Baker is doing a seasonal comparison of the types of zooxanthellae in the
same 25 species that Greg is investigating to determine if these corals change
the type of zooxanthellae in their tissues in response to high seawater
temperatures.