Aurora K. Kagawa-Viviani
~plants, water, and people~
As a self-identified ecohydrologist, I research phenomena at the intersection of plant ecology and hydrology. I use environmental sensors to understand how biotic invasion, ecological restoration, and local manifestations of climate change shape plant community dynamics and fluxes of water at the land’s surface. I am interested in the question of where, when, why, and how plant assemblages (species composition) matter to hydrologic processes and vice versa. In spring 2021, I began a postdoc that involved a shift from sensors-based research into qualitative research as part of my longer-term interest in what I call “invasion and restoration ecohydrology.” The objective of the Hawaiʻi Cooperative Studies Unit project (funded by USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center and UH-Mānoa Water Resources Research Center) is to synthesize decades of information on Hawaiʻi forest and watershed restoration using both quantitative and qualitative social science research approaches.
I am also fascinated by water scarcity and how this shapes human systems through our reliance on agricultural production. This interest was initiated while I was a field technician at a Hawaiian dryland agricultural research and restoration project (see Ulu Mau Puanui), and I carry this forward through teaching Water and Society in the UH Mānoa Department of Geography and Environment and serving on the Hawaiʻi Commission on Water Resource Management.
For more information on my professional work, please check out my Research and Publications and Presentations pages. Over the years, I have also been involved in several side projects at the intersections of Indigeneity/Hawaiian community and academic science. You can read more about this on my Community page.
As I build a new lab, I seek to merge my service efforts and professional work through community-engaged water research. You can support community-researcher collaboration through the donation link below. Ola i ka wai!
akkagawa.wordpress.com 