Abstracts of Papers: Twenty-seventh Annual Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium, 21-22 March 2002

Abstract

The Albert L. Tester Memorial Symposium is held in honor of Professor Albert L. Tester, who, at the time of his death in 1974, was senior professor of zoology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. The faculty and students of the Department of Zoology proposed an annual symposium of student research papers as a means of honoring, in a continuing and active way, Dr. Tester's lively encouragement of student research in a broad range of fields within marine biology. Papers reporting original research on any aspect of science are solicited from students at the university and these papers are presented at the symposium, which takes place during the spring semester. Income from contributions to the Albert L. Tester Memorial Fund of the University of Hawai'i Foundation is used to provide prizes for the two best papers, judged on quality, originality, and importance of research reported, as well as the quality of the public presentation. The Waikīkī Aquarium presents the Mike Weekley Award, based on the same criteria. Judges include Department of Zoology faculty members and the previous year's student award winners. In addition, a distinguished scholar from another university or research institution is invited to participate in the symposium as a judge and to present the major symposium address. This year the guest participant was Dr. Marc Mangel, Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Hot Water Drench Treatments for Control of Burrowing Nematode in Rhapis and Fishtail Palms

Exporters of potted nursery stock face strict quarantine regulations against the burrowing nematode (BN). Currently, there are no approved quarantine treatments to disinfest plants of BN. Interceptions lead to substantial economic loss and curtailment of trade. Therefore, hot water drench treatments were investigated for quarantine utility. Drenches with 50°C water were applied for 10-16 min to two economically important palm species, rhapis and fishtail. Each plant was inoculated with 5000 mixed life stages of BN and allowed to establish for 14 weeks before treatment. In rhapis palms, a moderately good host, a 16-min hot water drench had the highest efficacy, achieving 99.6% mortality of BN. In fishtail palms, a poor host, all treatments longer than 10 min at 50°C achieved 100% mortality. Probit regression estimates were used to estimate LT₉₉, resulting in 16.9 and 10.3 min, respectively; however a χ² goodness-of-fit test for deviation from observed data was significant for rhapis palms. The high efficacy of hot water drenches for the control of BN is approaching the Probit 9 standard of 99.9968% mortality that is required for U.S. Department of Agriculture approval as a quarantine treatment.

Evolving Morphology of an Open-Channel Lava Flow on Mt. Etna

From mid-May to mid-July 2001 a small eruption from the southeast cone on Mt. Etna into the Valle del Leone persistently fed a classic example of a compound flow field, with multiple bifurcated channels that extended 1 km across and 2 km down the mountain. This flow field provided the opportunity to study changes in thermal structure and morphology of an open lava channel, over a period of days. This was done using temperature-calibrated digital images from a FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera and continuous recordings from a radiometer, which provided an integrated radiance value over the area of the channel in the field of view. The images and patterns of change in these data showed many features, such as different types of tube formation, channel blockages, overspills, diverted flows, crust formation/breakup, and "surges" in the volume of lava flowing in the channel. There were small surges...