Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology awarded $766,278 to the University of Florida on August 1, 2026, through the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to conduct collaborative research on long-term fire regime changes in the Hawaiian Islands. The project, which runs through July 31, 2029, will generate a 2,000-year fire history using sediment cores extracted from lakes and wetlands across five Hawaiian islands (Hawai'i, Maui, Moloka'i, O'ahu, and Kaua'i). The research produces standardized, high-resolution charcoal accumulation records, supplemented by analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon isotopic composition, pollen, and plant leaf wax biomarkers to identify vegetation types and assess ecosystem resilience patterns.

The project delivers comprehensive wildfire records that will be compared against paleoclimate data, archaeological timelines, volcanic eruption histories, and environmental gradients to understand how tropical island ecosystems respond to fire and how wildfire risk develops over centuries. All resulting datasets will be made publicly available to researchers, educators, and resource managers. The award supports postdoctoral researcher and undergraduate student training, and includes outreach partnerships with the Hawai'i Wildfire Management Organization and the Pacific Fire Exchange to ensure science-based wildfire management and hazard mitigation knowledge transfer for Hawai'i and other Pacific Island communities.