{"id":99809,"date":"2019-07-11T14:46:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T00:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=99809"},"modified":"2020-03-13T12:42:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T22:42:06","slug":"perroy-ohia-challenge-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/07\/11\/perroy-ohia-challenge-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Aerial recon to save \u02bb\u014dhi\u02bba wins UH<\/abbr> Hilo geographer $70K<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Ryan Perroy, center, received the The ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Challenge award at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Conservation Conference in Honolulu, July 10, 2019. (Photo credit: Danny Duda)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> Associate Professor of Geography Ryan Perroy<\/strong> won The ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Challenge<\/a> and a $70,000 prize for his innovative use of drones and remote sensing devices to improve detection of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Death (ROD<\/abbr>), a fungus decimating Hawaiian forests. ROD<\/abbr> has killed hundreds of thousands of mature ʻōhiʻa<\/span> trees on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island since it was first discovered in 2014, and was recently detected on Kauaʻi<\/span> and Maui.<\/p>\n

The competition was sponsored by Conservation X Labs, the U.S.<\/abbr> Department of the Interior\u2019s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, the National Invasive Species Council Secretariat and the National Park Service. The challenge was offered to create innovative and low-cost solutions to detect the invasion pathways and the spread of ROD<\/abbr>-causing fungi in the environment.<\/p>\n

Early detection for better response<\/h2>\n
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ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> blossom unfurling. (Photo credit: NPS<\/abbr> Photo\/Janice Wei.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perroy, principal investigator at the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Labs<\/a>, uses high-resolution cameras and other sensors to improve early detection of the disease across forests, including areas where signs of ROD<\/abbr> may not yet be visible to the naked eye. This gives managers precious time to respond to outbreaks, and gives scientists better information on how the disease spreads.<\/p>\n

He also uses drones to collect samples from the canopy of suspect trees for laboratory analysis, which increases the chances of detecting the fungus and saving time and effort of crews sampling on the ground in often challenging environments.<\/p>\n