A researcher from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa received funding to conduct a study on agricultural impacts on Hawaiʻi Island soil.
The study, “Soil Pedogenesis, Agroecology and their Interactions,” received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award—a five-year, $825,000 award that will support an interdisciplinary approach to investigation.
Led by Assistant Researcher Noa Lincoln of CTAHR’s Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, the study will examine how Polynesians adapted their agricultural strategies to patterns in biogeochemical processes on Hawaiʻi Island and the long-term impact of different forms of agriculture on soil properties.
“We see an amazing diversity of agriculture in Hawaiʻi, almost every type of agriculture known: flooded irrigated, intermittent irrigated, intensive rained, permanent arboriculture, diverse agroforestry, swidden (an area of land cleared for cultivation by slashing and burning vegetation) and more—it was all here on one island,” said Lincoln. “With Hawaiʻi’s unparalleled gradients in environmental factors, this is perhaps the best place in the world to study the adaptive radiation of cultural practices and how they interfaced with the land.”
