| Botany
College of Natural Sciences
St. John 101
3190 Maile Way
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-8369
Fax: (808) 956-3923
Web: www.botany.hawaii.edu
Faculty
*S. C. Keeley, PhD (Chair)-molecular systematics, evolution in island systems
*K. W. Bridges, PhD-systems ecology
*G. D. Carr, PhD-biosystematics, cytotaxonomy, chromosome evolution
*C. C. Daehler, PhD-population biology, invasive plants, plant-herbivore interactions
D. C. Duffy, PhD-conservation, restoration ecology
*G. H. Goldstein, PhD-physiological ecology of vascular plants, tropical plant ecology
*C. Hunter, PhD-reef ecology
*C. H. Lamoureux, PhD-comparative and developmental morphology, conservation, pteridophytes
*W. C. McClatchey, PhD-Pacific ethnobotony, ethnopharmacology
*C. W. Morden, PhD-molecular systematics and evolution of plants and algae
*C. M. Smith, PhD-physiological ecology of marine macrophytes, marine ecology, cell biology
*A. H. Teramura, PhD-global climate change, ozone depletion, physiological ecology
*D. T. Webb, PhD-plant anatomy, electron microscopy, morphogenesis, symbiosis
*G. J. Wong, PhD-mating systems and biosystematics of basidiomycetes
Cooperating Graduate Faculty
D. Borthakur, PhD-plant molecular genetics
D. A. Christopher, PhD-gene regulation of photosynthesis, uv effects
D. E. Hemmes, PhD-plant ultrastructure (University of Hawai'i at Hilo)
Y. Sagawa, PhD-cytogenetics, tissue culture
W. S. Sakai, PhD-ultrastructure, physiological anatomy (University of Hawai'i at Hilo)
C. S. Tang, PhD-allelopathy, phytochemistry, plant biochemistry
Affiliate Graduate Faculty
J. J. Ewel, PhD-tropical forest succession
K. C. Ewel, PhD-ecology, management practices, wetland and terrestrial ecosystems
D. E. Gardner, PhD-biocontrol, taxonomy of rust fungi
D. R. Herbst, PhD-endangered and threatened Pacific flora, plant morphology
G. T. Kraft, PhD-systematics and evolution of Pacific Basin macroalgae
L. L. Loope, PhD-ecology, conservation of rare and endangered species (Maui)
F. C. Meinzer, PhD-environmental plant physiology, stress physiology
W. A. Whistler, PhD-systematics, Pacific ethnobotany
Adjunct Faculty
A. K. Chock, MS-Hawaiian ethnobotany
R. Gay, MS-plant ecology
W. J. Hoe, PhD-bryophyte taxonomy and biogeography
D. H. Lorence, PhD-systematics of flowering plants (Kaua'i)
*Graduate Faculty
Degrees Offered: BA in botany, BS in botany, MS in botanical sciences (botany), PhD in botanical sciences (botany)
The Academic Program
The University of Hawai'i at Mƒnoa has the only botany department (BOT) located in a tropical environment in the United States. Both tropical marine and terrestrial ecosystems provide the subjects of research and teaching. The department is committed to broad-based botanical training that focuses on developing an understanding of Hawai'i's unique island environment. While it maintains traditional areas of botanical study, the department also uses new approaches and current technologies. It has faculty in anatomy, ecology and systematics, ethnobotany, physiology and physiological ecology, molecular evolution and systematics, and population and evolutionary biology. The faculty includes world experts in ecology and evolution of Hawai'i's ecosystems and unique land plants such as silverswords, '“'hia and naupaka; the ecology and physiology of marine corals, seaweed blooms and biofouling; and the uses of plants by the human cultures of the Pacific Basin. Participation in the interdepartmental undergraduate Biology Program and the graduate program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology provides interactions with other departments and expands opportunities for breadth in research and instruction. All botany faculty members, regardless of rank, teach courses in the undergraduate curriculum as well as at advanced levels.
The department offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and minor degrees in botany at the undergraduate level and the MS and PhD degrees at the graduate level. Undergraduate majors follow a number of career paths leading to employments as naturalists, environmental planners, policy makers, conservation biologists, teachers, researchers, and museum or organizational directors. A number of graduates have assumed important positions in public and private institutions at the national and international levels. Support at the undergraduate and graduate levels is available via competitive tuition waivers and scholarships. Teaching and research assistantships are additionally available at the graduate level.
The botany programs strongly emphasize field experience, as well as hands-on laboratory training, in locally important plants, their environments, historical and present uses, and unique evolutionary aspects of Hawai'i and the Pacific. The department's World Wide Web site provides glimpses into the many environments and special plants that provide a rich base for students and faculty alike (www.botany.hawaii.edu). The faculty includes specialists in marine algae, terrestrial fungi, flowering and non-flowering plants, evolutionary studies using chromosomes and DNA sequence evolution, and plant uses by Pacific peoples. Recent faculty additions have included specialists in population biology and control of non-native plants that are affecting vulnerable flora.
Hawai'i has over half of all the endangered plant species in the United States. Botanical knowledge and understanding are essential to the continued preservation and understanding of these unique plants. The National Biological Survey has an office in Honolulu, as do other nationally prominent organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The botany department provides identifications and fundamental knowledge about Hawai'i's unique plants to local citizens, schools, and state and federal agencies.
Hawai'i's location provides botany students the best opportunity for exploration of tropical marine or terrestrial ecosystems available anywhere in the United States. The varied environments and climates present in the islands allow work from the reefs to the tops of snow-covered volcanoes. The isolation and geology of the islands have produced a unique flora, unmatched in its potential for asking and answering systematic, evolutionary, human, and ecological questions.
Affiliations
Botanical studies are enhanced by cooperative working relationships between the department and Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, Kewalo Marine Laboratory of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center, Cooperative Park Studies Unit of the National Park Service, Nature Conservancy, State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Honolulu Botanical Garden, Herbarium Pacificum and the Department of Botany of the B. P. Bishop Museum, Hawai'i Agriculture Research Center (formerly Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association), and
Waikiki Aquarium.
Advising
Student advising is coordinated by the undergraduate advisers who are available to talk with prospective majors about their interests. An information sheet is available in the department office. Graduate students entering the department are assigned an interim committee of three faculty members who provide general advice until a permanent committee is established to provide specific assistance in the area of the student's research. A graduate adviser oversees requirements and provides a link between the Graduate Division and the student. Graduate students are encouraged to talk with each faculty member to become acquainted with various research approaches and areas of expertise. |
