BotanySamuel Bosio
2026 The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Tropical Botany
Local Impacts of Rats on Native Plant Regeneration in Hawaiʻi
Hawaiʻi has disproportionately more endemic, but also endangered, plant species, and even common tree species are in decline. On Kauaʻi, invasive rats consume fruit of native fleshy-fruited plants, often destroying the seeds, damage seedlings, and prey on the only remaining native seed disperser, the critically endangered puaiohi (thrush). Rat control efforts have reduced rats, but not eliminated rat activity. By monitoring fruits on native plants and outplanted seedlings with game cameras, this study will quantify fruit removal and seedling damage by rats in areas with different rat control.
School: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Tropical Botany
To promote the preservation of tropical forests by enlarging the body of botanists with field experience.
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