The mission of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory is to support the investigation of fundamental questions in biology using the rich diversity of animals, plants and microorganisms present in the Hawaiian near-shore marine environment. It fulfills this mission by providing resident and visiting biological scientists with optimal conditions for maintaining marine organisms in a healthy state while they are utilized as models for investigation of a broad spectrum of questions in molecular, cellular, developmental and evolutionary biology. Central to fulfilling this mission are the Laboratory’s excellent seawater system, core facilities, including standard and laser-scanning confocal microscopes, autoclaves and dishwasher, liquid-scintillation counter, lyophilizer, computers and standard analytical equipment, as well as ready access to many different littoral and near-shore marine habitats.

The marine life of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands reflects a rich phylogenetic and biological diversity, and, due to the relative isolation of the archipelago, also provides unique opportunities for the study of speciation, biogeographic distribution and population genetics of coastal marine organisms. In recent years, highly productive research has been carried out at the laboratory on topics such as induction and activation of metamorphosis in marine invertebrate larvae, the role of symbiosis in shaping animal development, the role of development in the evolution of animal body plans, reproductive biology of mass-spawning corals, genetic determinants underlying bacterial colonization of animal tissues, the developmental basis of morphological change, evolution of segmentation, functional and comparative genomics, ecotoxicology and conservation biology of tropical marine ecosystems, and the nature and role of external chemical signals in the induction and activation of metamorphosis in marine invertebrate larvae.

Covers of scientific journals featuring work by Kewalo Marine Laboratory scientists:

(click to see larger image)