Kaʻū News Briefs Monday, September 10, 2018

OLIVIA CHURNS CLOSER, a strong Tropical Storm threatening high winds and flooding, the first impacts expected to arrive at the north tip of Hawaiʻi Island Tuesday afternoon. At 5 p.m., Olivia reached 439 miles east northeast of South Point, with 70 mph winds and higher gusts. She traveled at 10 mph, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A Tropical Storm Warning remains for Hawaiʻi County, along with a Flash Flood Watch for this island and High Surf Warning for eastern shores.
     All after-school activities on Hawaiʻi Island are cancelled for Tuesday. The state Department of Land & Natural Resources closed public lands on this island to hikers, hunters, gatherers, and all others. State parks close Tuesday morning.

Image from prh.noaa.gov/cphc

     The 5 p.m. forecast predicted that Olivia's eye will track north of Hawaiʻi Island and could make landfall on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lanaʻi. The National Weather Service issued a Tropical Storm Warning for all three and Oʻahu, a Tropical Storm Watch for Kauaʻi, and keeps its Tropical Storm Warning for this island.
     In Gov. David Ige's briefing today, he said Olivia "continues to be a powerful storm and can impact any county across the state." He urged residents to "stay connected to their county emergency management and Civil Defense. They will have the most current and accurate information."

     The state Administrator of the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, Tom Travis, urged everyone to prepare with "14 days of food, water, and a tank of gas." He emphasized, "Don't fix on the forecast track. This storm could directly impact every area of the state from South Point all the way to the North Shore of Kauaʻi." He said he appreciates "the community's patience in preparing for the many disasters we've experienced."
     A FEMA representative said that food and water, as well as emergency rescue and recovery crews, are staged around the state ahead of the storm. He warned, "Don't become complacent with this. This is a very serious storm. Take it very seriously. Listen to your local officials and have a plan. Know where to go and what to do." See the entire presentation at facebook.com/Governor
DavidIge/videos/2221304594821361.

Showing that storms can change direction, one spaghetti model predicted that Olivia would head north and circle back through the islands to Kaʻū. The path was deleted today. See the latest at cyclocane.com/olivia-storm-tracker.

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BAY CLINIC ANNOUNCED A $25,000 GRANT today, coming from the Safeway Foundation, to help underserved women access regularly scheduled breast cancer screenings and mammograms. Bay Clinic offers its Breast Cancer Prevention Program at Kaʻū Family Health & Dental Center and other locations. It provides clinical breast health care, including education on the importance of early detection and treatment, mammogram referrals, and other support services.
     "This gift will have a tremendous impact on our program," said Harold Wallace, Bay Clinic CEO. "We thank the Safeway Foundation for their commitment over the years to making our East Hawaiʻi community a better place to live and work."
     Wendy Gutshall, of Safeway Foundation, said, "It's an honor to support the work of Bay Clinic. Every day we learn about organizations that go above and beyond to help people in need. Such selfless dedication makes our communities better places to live and work."
     A statement from Bay Clinic says, "About one in eight women born today in the U.S. will get breast cancer at some point. The good news is that many women can survive breast cancer if it's found and treated early. A mammogram — the screening test for breast cancer — can help find breast cancer early when it's easier to treat. Talk to your doctor about your risk for breast cancer, especially if a close family member of yours has had breast or ovarian cancer. Your doctor can help you decide when and how often to get mammograms."
     Call 333-3600 to make a women's health screening appointment at any one of Bay Clinic's primary care health centers: Hilo Women's Health Center, Hilo Family Health Center, Keaʻau Family Health & Dental Center, Pāhoa Family Health Center, or Kaʻū Family Health and Dental Center.

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TINY WILDLIFE IN A KAʻŪ LAVA TUBE is one focus of a new production by a UK film company True to Nature. In early September, the filmmakers fitted a super-macro lens to their video camera to capture cave-adapted underground life here. For some of the species, this was the first time they had ever been filmed.
     Scientists experienced in Kaʻū lava tubes assisted the filmmakers. Dr. Megan Porter, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has studied cave life for over 25 years. Dr. Annette Summers Engel, a Professor of aqueous geochemistry at the University of Tennessee, has made numerous field trips to the Big Island, and is an expert at finding tiny insects in big lava tubes. Assisting them were Scott Engel, a geologist from Tennessee, and Alan Hudson, an evolutionary biologist from the UK, now living in Honolulu.

A tiny Thread-legged Bug can be barely discerned in the  tangle of fine ʻōhiʻa roots in front of the movie camera. Photo by Scott Engel

     Drawing on their extensive studies of cave insects on the Big Island, the biologists selected a lava tube in Ocean View that was easily accessible and has a rich selection of lava tube life. The crew and scientists were hosted by resident cavers Peter and Ann Bosted, of the Ocean View Ranchos community.
     Interviewed by The Kaʻū Calendar, Porter and Summers Engel explained how they were able to find the proverbial needle in a haystack and how the film crew was able to record the elusive insects. Most of these insects are smaller than a pea, and some smaller than a single grain of rice.
     Summers Engel said, "They were able to get the camera incredibly close without alarming the animals. They filmed the bugs just walking naturally around the rocks or on the tree roots, which was very satisfying for us to see. So often, film makers capture an insect and then try to photograph it in a studio where the photographers can control the environment. This is not natural for the animal, so it will not behave naturally. It will act afraid and behave defensively. But since this shoot was in a cave, the animals moved beautifully.
     "The filmmakers got a fantastic close-up of a Thread-legged Bug walking up and down a tree root. It was amazing. I don't think it has been done before; the detail was outstanding. They also obtained wonderful footage of a juvenile Plant Hopper moving around a root, and a Water Strider crossing over a rock and cleaning its antennae. This is a real breakthrough," she added.

The film crew from True to Nature that flew half way around  the world to document cave-adapted bugs in Ocean View. On  the left is Amy Thompson, the film's researcher. Mark Sharman,  the cameraman, is in the middle. Alex Ranken, the producer,  is on the right. Photo by Ann Bosted

     Asked about other cave adaptions, Porter reeled off a list of more easily observable characteristics, such as longer legs, a lack of pigment, no eyes or reduced vision. "Since these animals live in complete darkness all their lives, they don't need visual senses, but do require better non-visual senses - so their hairs are more sensitive and their antennae are longer. They can easily create and detect vibrations.
     "Plant Hoppers living in lava tubes in different parts of the island have different 'songs', to communicate with each other, and they likely attract mates that way."
     Porter and Summers Engel also talked about their subterranean research findings and explained why the True to Nature film crew flew half way around the world to document the cave bugs of Kaʻū.
     Said Porter, "This documentary will be about life around volcanoes. Volcanoes create lava tubes and these habitats are a sanctuary for animals that are able to colonize and adapt to living their lives in darkness. Lava tubes have fairly constant temperatures, and are always moist, unlike the outside where insects must endure rain, drought, heat, and cold. Lava tubes are also free of insect predators, such as birds or bats."
     "But," explained Summers Engel, "food is still an issue for the cave animals. Without sunlight, plants do not grow in lava tubes. Even though there are microbial mats that grow on the rocks, the cave animals rely on plant roots, and especially ʻōhiʻa roots, that grow down through cracks and into the open passages.

A view into a lava tube entrance, surrounded by natural ʻōhiʻa  forest, was a shot the UK film crew needed to document cave  life in the lava tubes of Kaʻū. Photo by Ann Bosted

     "The problem is," said Summers Engel, "that while these roots are rich in carbon, they are poor in nitrogen. The volcanic rock and soil are also poor in nitrogen. Some Hawaiian plants can pull nitrogen out of the air and make organic nitrogen. But the animals that never leave the cave, with only access to ʻōhiʻa roots, don't have access to other nitrogen-rich food sources.
     "Sap-sucking insects, such as Aphids that live outdoors and Plant Hoppers, can't make nitrogen compounds like amino acids on their own. So they rely on specialized symbiotic bacteria living in pouches in their bodies to generate these compounds for them. Unfortunately, what we know about the cave-adapted sap-suckers and how they live is based on what has been studied from bugs on the surface, not from the underground. The cave Plant Hoppers may have even more specialized bacteria living inside them, which is one reason why we are very keen to study them.
     "Lava tube biology is like an untapped well. A lot remains to be learned about life. We have only scratched the surface. The deeper we go and the more we learn about cave-adapted insects, the more we find we still have to discover about life," said Summers Engel. "It's fascinating."
     The Kaʻū content will be the fourth segment for the TV movie by True to Nature. The program will focus on four aspects of life around volcanoes in different parts of the world. Kīlauea's recent eruption is widely considered to be a disaster in human terms, but an expected occurrence in nature. After all, volcanoes build the ʻāina. But how does that work for the animal world? Which critters survive eruptions, and which ones do not? How do frogs, or goats or insects fare? How can humans benefit? Those questions, and others, will be posed in the upcoming documentary.

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