This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) provides $542,137 to Purdue University to conduct collaborative research on the physiological response of Hawaii's 'ōhi'a trees to a destructive fungal pathogen known as Rapid 'Ōhi'a Death. The 3-year project aims to uncover how the trees' storage of carbohydrates and production of defensive chemicals influence their ability to resist the novel pathogen, which is threatening the keystone 'ōhi'a species and the broader Hawaiian forest ecosystem. The research team will perform field and greenhouse experiments to quantify seasonal variations in the trees' non-structural carbohydrate reserves and constitutive chemical defenses, as well as directly test how manipulating carbohydrate levels impacts the induced defense response. This knowledge is expected to improve the ability to predict 'ōhi'a tree resistance to the fungal pathogen, aiding conservation and management efforts for these critical native Hawaiian forests.
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