Author Archives: Sebastian Marquez

Native Hawaiian Plants: An Overview

April has been deemed Native Hawaiian Plant Month for some years now. While I’ve done posts in the past on various social media platforms, I don’t think I’ve ever done an overview. Indeed, if you do a google search, it … Continue reading

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Overlooked and Underappreciated: O`ahu `Amakihi

For folks like me who dream of the fantastic extinct creatures of our recent past, I think we tend to overlook the creatures that are still alive today. I know I sometimes do. For all the marveling we do at … Continue reading

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A.I. future and our Megafaunal past

People have viewed the new A.I. generated art with trepidations. While I can see problems moving forward, I immediately started salivating when I heard you can ask a bot a prompt and in seconds it could generate something. Even though … Continue reading

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Snapshot: Philodoria moth

I was working up at the site recently when I came upon one of our neat micromoths. This species (possibly Philodoria splendida) uses `Ohi`a Lehua as a host plant. The larva mine the leaves before emerging as these pretty little … Continue reading

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #39 Lobelia hypoleuca

Lobelia hypoleuca *From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i

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The Monk Seal babies of Waikiki

I had the privilege of seeing the monk seal pups in Waikiki the past few years. Seeing the young seals being raised by their mom adjacent to some of the most highly used shorelines in Hawai`i shows the challenges and … Continue reading

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Of Flies and Phenomena (Drosophila Reintroduction)

Have you ever witnesses some sort of natural phenomenon? It doesn’t have to be super rare; it could be Manhatten-henge, it could be the Queensland Morning Glory, a solar eclipse, an aurora, it could even be a rainbow. It doesn’t … Continue reading

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Getting to know your Hawaiian Lobeliads #38 Lobelia yuccoides

Lobelia yuccoides *From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i

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Let’s talk about: Doodia

Here is another fern we have at the Manoa Cliff restoration site. ‘Okupukupu (Doodia kunthiana) is another endemic component to mesic-wet forest understories here in Hawai’i. It may be common in other areas, but I have not come across this … Continue reading

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Snapshot: Hawaiian wood fern

Considering I’ve been blogging mostly about Hawaiian plants since 2010, I’m surprised at myself for not having talked about ferns as much. In the wet forest habitats that I often frequent, ferns of all types are characteristic components of these … Continue reading

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