1.Do you think invasive species are as detrimental to economic as any other natural disaster?

Why or why not?

It is kind of hard to compare two things that are totally different. But in general: yes. I mean,
typically for invasive species you have a long-term impact than a natural disaster. For example,
when a flood came, it damages all the things. But foreign species need to be deal with in a daily
basis for a long period of time. Sometimes decades, sometimes centuries. Invasive Species is
comparable to natural disaster.
2.What is the most detrimental impact you could recalled that an invasive species caused in
Hawaii?
It is hard to pick one. There are many. Like little fire ants, there are several different kinds of
impact. Economic impact that can happen. Human health can be impacted. Little Fire ants had
made it costly for many people to deal with it. When the little fire ants do get spread, they are
causing economic impact to whatever business that they are spreading to because they will have
to spend money to deal with the situation. More than economic, they are making greater impact
to human health. They cause rashes. They also take away resources that will otherwise be
diverted to native species. Potentially even cause harm to other species, bird species.
3.In Hawaii, do you think it is important to control invasive species compare to other state? Why
or why not?
Yes, definitely. Hawaii is quite unique because the amount of invasive species we had, the rate
of extinction we had and also because this is an island ecosystem. When you had an island
ecosystem, you had many landmasses needs to take into consideration. Compare to other states,
Hawaii is probably the state in United States that needs the most efforts diverted toward
combating invasive species.
4.Is island state more threatened by invasive species?
It is really the only island state in the United States. In general, island ecosystem is most
threatened by invasive species. I would say Hawaii is most important to control invasive species
hear compare to other states.
5.What are some ways that general people like us can help protect native species?
They can do lots of things. On a basic level, go to outdoor need to really make sure do a good job
of decontaminating the gear they used. This means, you don’t want to go to one place with one
invasive species and bring seeds of if it is an insect and go to a place that they don’t have that
specific invasive species and transfer the invasive species and helping invasive species to spread
and cause more harm than it do otherwise . So when you are out hiking, it is really important to
clean your boots really well and make sure you wash and get off all the dirts off. It is also
recommended using an alcohol solution to spray to kill any fungal spur that getting into hiking
stuff.
6.Is there any other way people can help?
They can also help by calling their representative and government and tell them how important is
combating invasive and divert more money into those organizations as they are currently
underfunded consider the amount of workload.
7.What are some invasive plants or animals that you think need special focus, are target species,
or need public awareness?
Yes, there are a lot of examples. We focus on incipient species, an invasive species that hadn’t
fully established in an area and had a chance of being eradicated. For example, if you go hiking
now, you may see a lot of strawberry guava. They are not incipient species because they have
been here for a long time and insurmountable. But for target species such as little fire ants, there
is a chance that we can prevent them to be a bigger problem. We always need more public
awareness
8.What are some specific objectives that the Oahu Invasive Species Committee hope to reach in
future (within 5 years from now)?
The way it works for us is because that things are always changing, and our goals are shifting
years to year. I cannot tell you specifically about what our goal would be for one specific year.
But in general, our goal is to continue promote public awareness about invasive species, control
incipient species before they had a chance to spread and then to dedicate some of the issues that
arise economic and health impact in the community. We hope to see the decrease in invasive
species number. I would like to see a few species that would be eradicated.
9.What are some programs that the OISC is currently doing to raise public awareness
We had an outreach program that has program about teaching classes about little fire ants and
how to test little fire ants and encourage students take test their home. We also had documentary
in various outreach events. We had an outreach table which we provide information to interest
community members.
10. Is there any native species extinct in Hawaii because of invasive species?
Yes, very much, there are lots of example. Lots of birds have been extinct for a long time
because of cats.
 Research Log #8

During the spring break I finished the two interviews on-phone instead of in-person for

the concern of COVID-19. I really appreciate the effort and guidance of the two professionals in

my field on providing me this opportunity during the difficult time.

I didn’t do much additional research during the spring break. But due to my experience

with the interview, I think I gathered many new statistics, reasoning, as well as professional

opinions about the importance of protecting native species from invasive species.

I will be working on starting the research paper as the outline is clear and I got enough

knowledge to prove my essential question about the impact of invasive species toward Hawaii

islands. I have understand the impacts that the invasive species already caused in other parts of

the world, in Hawaii, and in Future. I also understood that how invasive species affect the local

ecosystem, damage the economy and the ways to control invasive species.