National Science Foundation Interns Join Herbarium Pacificum Staff

Keith Tomlinson, Bishop Museum, Herbarium Pacificum News, December 1993

 In March, six Farrington High School students began internships at the museum on a National Science Foundation Minority Education Grant. Three students each joined the Botany and Entomology Departments. Keoki Nunies, Luan Pham, and Rosselle Canosa joined the Herbarium Pacificum staff. During the first part of the program all six interns were introduced to the museum as an institution. This process involved detailed tours of each department with entomology and botany familiarizing them with the overall function and operations of the museum. In addition, these tours helped the interns define their role within the museum’s research community as they began working directly with Botany and Entomology collections and research staff. Initial work focused on familiarization with curatorial activities in large-scale systematic collections.

 At the start of summer vacation, Keoki, Luan and Rosselle began working 35 hours each week in the Botany Department. At this time they became involved in a number of projects. These projects provided an ideal setting for collections staff to work directly with them in a “hands on” environment. Daily work in collections included specimen handling, filing, mounting, label generation, data-basing, preparation of exchange materials and reference searches. As a supplement to curatorial work in the collection areas, students were given several lesson plans during the summer. These lessons were taught by herbarium staff. The botany interns participate in 11 different lessons on everything from binomial nomenclature and plant taxonomy to historical geology and island biogeography. In addition, each Wednesday all six students attended a weekly natural history lecture sponsored jointly by the museum’s Education and Natural Sciences Departments. The combination of curriculum-based lesson plans and lectures with curatorial work provided the students with a comprehensive learning experience. Lectures covered a wide range of natural history topics from astronomy and plant identification to biological pest control.


In August, interns continued working on various curatorial projects and took part in two collecting trips. Building keen observation skills in an outdoor setting is a central goal of these outings. The insect collecting trip to Koko Crater on Oahu was conducted by David Preston of the Entomology department. This outing allowed students to collect several insect genera. Koko Crater’s xeric climate and volcanic landscape provided opportunities to observe several dryland insects in the habitat. Two introduced arthropods, the Large Centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes, and the Lesser Brown Scorpion, Isometrus maculates, were collected. Several introduced and native dryland plants are cultivated by the Honolulu Botanical Gardens in the crater. A large stand of wiliwi, Erythrina sandwicensis, provides a good example of the area’s prominent native dryland component. Planted among the wiliwili is the fragrant-flowered and endangered Gardenia brighamii. Also cultivated in the crater are various specimens of loulu, Pritchardia spp., the only genus of palm native to Hawai’i.

The second collecting trip focused on plants in the Manoa Cliffs region. This mountainous area contains both mesic and hydric forest communities. The interns immediately noted the pronounced difference in habitat and biota of Manoa Cliffs as compared to Koko Crater. This was further noted as we were subject to several prolonged downpours! Within an hour, the clouds opened up and a brilliant afternoon sun rapidly dried us out. To our north, Konahuanui, the highest peak in the Ko’olau Mountains, displayed its pyramidal summit in the clearing sky. Among the arboreal native flora, Metrosideros polymorpha, Hibiscus arnottianus, Acacia koa, Psychotria mariniana, and Myrsine lessertiana formed several large stands. Located in one stand we were able to closely observe a beautiful specimen of the endemic lobeliad, Clermontia kakeana, in full fruit.

On the bark of older upper canopy trees, epiphytic pteridophytes were abundant. The small linear fronds of Grammitis tenella were conspicuous, as is the pan-tropical fern ally Psilotum nudum. In the darkest shade, the tiny palmate fronds of Mecodium recurvum formed their own miniature forest. Close observation with a hand lens revealed this fern’s minute bivalve indusia loaded with microscopic spores. While making collections, the interns gained valuable experience recording label information and describing surrounding habitats. Through this process the interns began to recognize growth and competition between alien and native species. In addition to plant collecting, students had the opportunity to observe regional geographic features they had studied previously on topographic maps.

  The combination of curatorial training, lectures, lesson plans, and field trips has provided all the interns with a varied and, at times, demanding learning experience. Moreover, the biologic and natural history content of their museum training has fostered increased interest in natural science course work at school. The museum has benefited greatly from having six highly motivated interns who are eager to learn and take on new tasks. Perhaps most importantly, these six students are actively learning in a working environment where methods of scientific investigation are applied to a continuum of knowledge based on systematic natural history collections.