University of Hawai'i System Repository

This site houses works from 6 UH campuses (Kapi‘olani CC, UH West O‘ahu, UH Hilo, Leeward CC, Honolulu CC, Maui College) and our Open Education Resources collection.

Photo by @inspiredimages

Communities in the UH System Repository

Kapiʻolani Community College

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

University of Hawaiʻi - West Oʻahu

Leeward Community College

Honolulu Community College

Open Education Resources

Recent Submissions

Life-stage–specific habitat associations and detection patterns of pākuʻikuʻi (Acanthurus achilles) on Hawaiʻi Island reefs
(University of Hawaii at Hilo, 2025-12) Larson, Annie Makaye; Tuttle-Raz, Lillian; Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science
Monitoring coral reef fishes is essential for assessing ecosystem health and managing fisheries, yet it remains challenging due to imperfect detection, complex habitats, shifting environmental conditions, and life-stage-specific behaviors. Detection–occupancy models address these limitations by separating detection probability from true occupancy. This study applied a single-season, multi-method (diver vs. remotely operated vehicle, ROV) single- and two-species (juvenile vs. adult) detection–occupancy framework to pākuʻikuʻi (Achilles Tang, Acanthurus achilles), a culturally, ecologically, and economically important reef fish in both commercial and noncommercial fisheries experiencing population decline along the west coast of Hawaiʻi Island. Fifty-two sites around Hawai‘i Island were surveyed 3–4 times using combinations of SCUBA, snorkel, and ROV methods, and models incorporated environmental covariates representing human, oceanographic, and habitat conditions. Juveniles showed stronger associations with habitat conditions, including coral cover and relative slope, whereas adult occupancy was linked to broader oceanographic and human-based gradients. Adults were more likely to occur at sites where juveniles were present, suggesting habitat connectivity across life stages. Detection probabilities were comparable between survey methods, indicating that integrating ROV surveys may enhance monitoring efficiency and spatial coverage. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that accounting for imperfect detection improves inference about population status and habitat relationships for species with cryptic or ontogenetically shifting behavior. By modeling key habitat drivers and highlighting co-occurrence between life stages, this study provides actionable insight and a scalable framework to support recovery planning and adaptive management for an imperiled species on Hawaiʻi’s nearshore reefs.
Listening to hope: Using bioacoustics to monitor Hawaiian honeycreepers during the application of Incompatible Insect Technique
(University of Hawaii at Hilo, 2025-12) Smith, Lauren Kelsey; Hart, Patrick; Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science
In Hawaiʻi, more than two-thirds of native bird species have gone extinct since the arrival of humans. The invasive mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus, as a vector for introduced avian disease, has contributed to approximately 50% of these extinctions, with four more species poised to disappear in as little as 10 years. To suppress C. quinquefasciatus and disease transmission, conservation partners are employing the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) on a landscape scale on the islands of Maui and Kaua'i. For my Master's thesis, I developed a novel technique to monitor the response of native Hawaiian honeycreepers to IIT in a relatively rapid and repeatable design. I deployed 54 autonomous recording units (ARUs) to record the sounds of honeycreepers during the 2024 and 2025 breeding seasons in The Nature Conservancy’s Waikamoi Preserve and bordering private lands owned by Mahi Pono on Maui. I placed ARUs 150m apart within and above the IIT treatment area (Treatment), as well as in an area to the west that did not receive IIT (Control), in a Control-Impact (CI) design. To process these acoustic data, I used the machine learning classifier Perch and a new analytical method co-developed by the UH Hilo Listening Observatory for Hawaiian Ecosystems (LOHE) lab and Google Research. Perch predicts whether species are vocalizing within acoustic data, which I used to calculate the proportion of detection windows containing the target species vocalizations, or call densities, through manual validation. I compared the maximum likelihood estimates of call densities for six native species within the 2024 and 2025 breeding seasons across our CI design. I also used these data to model the relationships between call density, forest structure, and elevation to understand the use of habitat across the study site. Models were fitted using generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and a generalized additive modeling framework (GAM). I found increased call densities in 2025 across both the Control and Treatment sites (p < 0.05) for ʻapapane (Himatione sanguinea), Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens wilsoni), and ʻiʻiwi (Drepanis coccinea). ʻIʻiwi also showed a significant negative effect in the 2025*Treatment interaction term, showing that the increase in the Control site for ʻiʻiwi was greater than in the Treatment site (β = -0.484, p < 0.001). The elevation-smoothed GAMs revealed two different patterns: 'akohekohe (Palmeria dolei), Hawai'i 'amakihi, and 'i'iwi had curvilinear relationships with elevation, while 'apapane, kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys), and Maui 'alauahio (Paroreomyza montana) had increasing relationships with elevation for all habitat types. I conclude that there has not been sufficient time to detect a change in call densities since IIT implementation, but my study design is sensitive enough to detect changes between years and can reveal important patterns for honeycreeper conservation.
Alakaʻi ke kuleana iā ʻoe (responsibility guides you): The guiding ethic of 808 urban and the intersection of traditional cultural practices, community, and graffiti muralism
(University of Hawaii at Hilo, 2023-12) Vise, Nicole Ann Nāhōkūlaniahiahi; Genz, Joseph; Heritage Management
This thesis focuses on the non-profit organization 808 Urban, a Honolulu-based graffiti and urban art collective rooted in and guided by Native Hawaiian cultural values and traditions. 808 Urban’s medium of choice is aerosol painting via mural, where the large format visuals recount Hawaiian history, place-based moʻolelo (stories), and cultural landscapes. The murals celebrate Hawaiian culture through a rich and thoughtful research and design process they have acquired through trial and error for nearly 20 years. This project examines and discusses 808 Urban’s research, design, and community-engagement approaches that integrate Native Hawaiian traditional cultural practices guiding their work. Community member Kalani Kalima provides an account of his experience working with 808 Urban and his consulting role for the Waimānalo Mau a Mau (Waimānalo Forever) mural. Ethnographic interviews from the founder, John “Prime” Hina, and his two Alakaʻi Nui (Team Leads), Ralph Dela Cruz and Laetitia Kealakukui Mahoney, anchor the project. The research delves into a specific time of contemporary urban graffiti, which started in the late 1960s on the east coast of the United States before traveling west, eventually making its way to Hawaiʻi. I discuss Indigenous murals where both art forms—graffiti and muralism—touch on notions of urbanization, resistance, agency, community, and responsibility. I applied community-based methods and a Native Hawaiian framework to approach, conduct, and process data for this project. Relating to the main points of this thesis, the genesis of 808 Urban was rooted in graffiti culture and continues to honor spray-can art. However, their approach to starting a mural has changed. Kuleana guides their in-house processes, strengthens their bonds as cultural practitioners and the greater community who shares these traditions, and connects them spiritually, culturally, and environmentally to the pae ʻāina (archipelago).
Testimonies from the Cross-Examination of the Rex v. Greenwell Case
(1853-01-08) The Polynesian
Rex v. Greenwell
(1853) Lee, Chief Justice William Little
HE KANAWAI No Ka Hoomalu Ana I Na Haku A Me Na Kauwa
(1850) Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa, Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō (Kamehameha III); Young II, John Kalaipaihala (Keoni Ana)
Translation of the Masters and Servants Act of 1850 in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and English.
Catalog 2025-2026 University of Hawai'i - West Oʻahu
(University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu, 2025)
History of Labor in Hawaiʻi
(1974) Puette, William
A summary of Hawaiʻi labor history from ancient Hawaiʻi to 1974, written by Dr. William Puette. This is an archived page of the old CLEAR web page https://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/home/HawaiiLaborHistory.html. The links on these pages may not be updated so it is up to the reader to fact check.
The Maui News, December 30, 1950
(Wailuku : The Maui News, 1950-12-30)
The Maui News, December 27, 1950
(Wailuku : The Maui News, 1950-12-27)