Kira L Krend
Department of Zoology,
University of Hawai`i
2538 McCarthy Mall,
Edmondson 152
Honolulu, HI 96822
krend@hawaii.edu

Research Interests:
Kira received her undergraduate degree from University of Colorado at Boulder. While in Colorado, she worked on a variety of projects, including a study on the impacts of invasive species on native pollinators and plants on the prairie. She also tested a Habitat Suitability Index Model from USFWS on the introduced fox squirrel along riparian habitat in Boulder County. She received her BA in EPO (Environmental, Population, Organismic) Biology, and double majored with Anthropology.

As a PhD student at University of Hawaii, she is studying the Oahu Amakihi, one of the few species of native forest bird left on Oahu. She is interested in looking at malarial infection rates of Oahu Amakihi between different parts of the Koolau and Waianae ranges. There has been some past indication that Oahu Amakihi are recolonizing lower elevation sites in the Southeast Koolau range, which may indicate an increasing resistance to malaria. She also plans to investigate malarial infection rates of the many exotic introduced birds that now share the forests with the Oahu Amakihi. In addition, she wants to look at genetic variation within and between the two ranges, as well as the role of mosquitoes as vectors for the disease. While the Oahu Amakihi is not currently endangered, understanding its potential resistance to avian malaria may prove vital for its future, as well as the future of other endemic honeycreepers that are presently threatened or endangered.