Assessing the Effects of Management Interventions and Climate Variability on Reintroduced Hawaiian Rare Plants

Hawaiʻi is known as the “endangered species capital of the world,” an unwelcomed label brought on by more than a century of habitat destruction, invasive species spread, and pollinator and seed disperser declines. Hawaiʿi is home to 400 endangered plant species, most of which are found nowhere else in the world. Conservation managers have spent decades putting enormous effort into carefully reintroducing thousands of rare plants into protected forests, but the ability of reintroduced populations to persist over the long-term is unknown, especially as climate change shifts patterns of temperature, rainfall and species interactions. Managers need more information to identify locations that will be the most suitable for future rare plant [...]