PAC-ISLEs: Present-day and Ancient Connections between Island Societies and Local Ecosystems

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The islands of Oceania are home to diverse fish communities and a vibrant myriad of human cultures, all of which have histories are inseparably tied to characteristics of the ocean and the islands themselves (e.g. resource availability and habitat space), and extent of connectivity among distant islands (e.g. currents, migration, etc.). These unifying concepts between culture and marine ecology make the holistic study of Pacific Island life ideal for a cross-disciplinary research experience. The PAC-ISLEs program is a year-long research experience punctuated by a six-week trip to Oceania, where students will conduct independent research projects in marine biology and anthropology, and connect the shared themes uniting the two disciplines. Each year new cohorts will visit a different island in Oceania (American Samoa, Tonga, Pohnpei), where they will immerse themselves in local communities and collaborate with key foreign mentors that possess expertise in community-based conservation, marine ecology, and public education. Upon returning to the US, students will take advantage of the extensive natural history and ethnology collections at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to support their research projects, and help them share their findings with the public, including a highly-engaged community of Pacific Islanders in the Seattle metropolitan area and beyond. The islands of Oceania support fish communities and human cultures whose histories are inseparably tied to their physical and geographic characteristics (e.g. resource availability and habitat space), and the extent of connectivity among distant islands (e.g. dispersal potential, gene flow, history of human migrations and trade). Students in the PAC-ISLEs program will travel to a unique island each of three years to explore these ties between culture and marine ecology, and characterize historic changes by measuring similarities in cultural objects or traditional activities among islands, and (for fishes) population genetics, taxonomic composition, and phylogeography. Students working with fish communities will focus mainly on the evolution and community structure of cryptobenthic reef fishes, a poorly studied group that can serve as an ideal indicator for evolutionary and contemporary change across Pacific Islands. Students working on Pacific Island anthropology will focus on aspects of culture that are directly linked to the ocean either through their material origins, or role in passing on knowledge about the ocean to future generations. Much like the biological communities of Pacific Islands, cultural items may be compared across different islands to show the history of change, local adaptation, and technological progression. When these data are analyzed and contextualized with existing and extensive biological and anthropological collections from Oceania at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, findings from PAC-ISLEs have the potential to greatly advance our understanding of biological and cultural diversity on and around Pacific Islands, while promoting an equitable exchange of knowledge between scientists and Pacific Islander communities. Student activities extend far beyond the duration of this project, as PAC-ISLEs will help establish a permanent conduit for students to connect with overseas sites that would otherwise be less accessible for students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.