The hawaii department of land and natural resources (dlnr), division of forestry and wildlife (dofaw), nativeecosystem protection and management, hawaii invertebrate program requests funds (tier 2:…

This U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grant (CFDA 15.634) award of $406,686 to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) aims to support conservation of rare picture-wing Drosophila fly species across Hawaii. The project will combine traditional survey, threat assessment, and habitat restoration strategies with an innovative approach to improving fly gut microbiomes and overall health through probiotic supplements. This is intended to increase survival and reproduction rates when reintroducing captive-reared flies to their native ranges, which has shown mixed success in recent efforts. DLNR will partner with the University of Hawaii and University of Nevada, Las Vegas to execute the 3-year project, which is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2025.

The hawaii department of land and natural resources (dlnr), division of forestry and wildlife (dofaw), nativeecosystem protection and management, hawaii invertebrate program requests funds (tier 2: $XXX, XXX federal, $XXX, XXX state) to work in partnership with the university of hawaii (UH) and the university of nevada, LAS vegas, towards conservation of rare picture-wing drosophila flies. Given the rapid declines and disappearances being observed broadly across listed, rare, and even relatively common picture-wing drosophila species statewide, there is an urgent need to direct resources to advance our understanding, enact novel management, and improveconservation outcomes for this unique species group. This proposal seeks to combine traditional conservationstrategies (surveys, threat assessment and hostplant outplanting) with a recent understanding of how fly gutmicrobiomes can be improved to increase rates of survival and reproduction in captive-reared and released flies.similar to humans, probiotic supplements given to insectary-reared insects can have a variety of positive effectson their health. In picture-wing drosophila, probiotic supplements can improve reproduction, increase toleranceto high temperatures and heatwaves, and support overall health. All of these considerations are important whenraising drosophila in a laboratory environment and then reintroducing them to a natural environment. Recent workto reintroduce picture-wing drosophila species to parts of their native ranges has shown mixed success, and theproposed project will allow US to evaluate what factors may be most important to their successful establishment.