Rapid Response to a Tree Seed Conservation Challenge in Hawai‘i Through Crowdsourcing, Citizen Science, and Community Engagement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Forest ecosystems are vulnerable to disturbances, especially novel, invasive fungal pathogens, which can cause rapid destruction. In such a crisis, it is imperative to respond quickly, and seed banking is a critical strategy to preserve genetic diversity. In Hawaiʻi, forests have been recently threatened by Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), a novel fungal disease caused by Ceratocystis lukuohia and C. huliohia, which has killed over a million trees of endemic Metrosideros species. Through the #OhiaLove crowdfunding campaign, over US$50,000 was raised to immediately begin a seed collection and storage program in 2016. In the following years, the project was scaled up to the ROD Seed Banking Initiative, which added a component of training community members to participate in citizen science and contribute seed collections to the project. Collections from over 1100 trees have been stored, representing 6 islands, 13 taxa, and 46 seed zones, and the effort is ongoing. Several critical factors contributed to the success of this initiative, including innovation, timeliness, collaboration, science-based practices, transparency, and community engagement. The ROD Seed Banking Initiative provides a model for rapid response to other tree seed conservation challenges.