In February, Gov. Josh Green proclaimed 2023 to be the Year of the Kāhuli.
Thousands of years ago, Kaʻena Point was home to a variety of snails. Since then, half a dozen species of native snails have gone extinct.
Brenden Holland, a biology professor at Hawaiʻi Pacific University, called it a graveyard, where "there are literally thousands and thousands of shells eroding."
Isotope testing and carbon dating indicated that the snails went extinct up to 46,000 years ago.
The cause of the extinction may offer clues about the history of Hawaiʻi's environment.
One theory is that, roughly 10,000 years ago, the area used to have mesic conditions, making it more suitable for snails.
Then the climate quickly warmed and dried.
"The vegetation was completely changing rapidly to become more of a scrubby, open, arid type," Holland said.
Although these snails may be extinct now, they are still connected to the snails we see in Hawaiʻi today.
"Extant means it's still present and still alive," Holland said. "All of these have extant relatives in Hawaiʻi that live in very, very different conditions."
As someone who has always been interested in conservation biology and diversity, Holland wants people to understand that this community extinction is distinct.
"We're in this new era, this new mass extinction event that's happening because of pollution, habitat loss, overharvesting, invasive species, the usual list of suspects," Holland explained.
"I don't want this to be ammunition for people to say, 'Look, extinction has always been part of nature.' Yes, it has. But this is a rare example. … That does not take away from the idea that the vast majority of the biodiversity crisis that we're experiencing is caused by human activity."
Moving forward, Holland hopes to expand his research to other islands to see if the snail extinctions on Oʻahu were part of a large climate change event.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 3, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This article was adapted for the web by Emily Tom.
