Submitted by Nya Wynn on the 2022 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences…
This week, we traveled from Honolulu, Oahu to Hilo, Hawaii! The flight was only 45 minutes long and as we got off the plane everyone was excited to explore a new place. The best thing we did this week was exploring Volcano National Park! We got to visit a crater on the island that’s still slowly expanding, and see steam coming out of all the vents across the volcano. There were miles of lava rock across the park, and our professor told us that when the lava destroys the ecosystem somewhere, the land goes through succession. This means that lichens and ferns will slowly repopulate on the land and create a new ecosystem! It was so cool to be able to see some of the land going through succession and identify the plants driving it. We were also able to explore a lava tube, which is a tunnel-like cave formed many years ago by flowing lava! It was hard for me at first because I was feeling a little woozy from the altitude and gas coming from the vents, but it was still an amazing experience, I wouldn’t trade for anything.
