{"id":224399,"date":"2025-10-27T15:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=224399"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:11:36","slug":"battle-to-beat-coconut-rhinoceros-beetle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/27\/battle-to-beat-coconut-rhinoceros-beetle\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle to beat coconut rhinoceros beetle: 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo researchers conduct aerial survey in Kona"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"aerial
Flight path of the CRB<\/abbr> survey in Kona is shown in green. (Photo credit: Andrew Meyer\/SDAV<\/abbr>\/东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A team from the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Hilo is taking a bird\u2019s-eye view in the fight against one of Hawaiʻi\u2019s<\/span> most damaging invasive insects, the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
Live adult male coconut rhinoceros beetle. (Photo credit: oscaryin\/Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers from 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo\u2019s Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization<\/a> (SDAV<\/abbr>) Lab joined the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC<\/abbr>) on an aerial survey over Kona in October. Flying aboard a helicopter equipped with high-powered cameras and GPS<\/abbr>, the group scanned about 4,000 acres for mulch piles and signs of beetle activity.<\/p>\n

“The goal of this survey was to fly over residential areas to search for mulch and green waste piles so BIISC<\/abbr> can better target their ground surveys for CRB<\/abbr> grubs and beetles,” said Olivia Jarvis, a geospatial research associate who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in environmental science<\/a> and a master\u2019s degree in tropical conservation biology and environmental science<\/a> at 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo.<\/p>\n

\"Underside
Andrew Meyer mounts a camera to the imaging rig under the helicopter. (Credit: Franny Brewer\/BIISC<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flight team included pilot David Okita from Volcano Helicopters, BIISC<\/abbr>\u2019s Dustin Swan, and SDAV<\/abbr> researchers Jarvis and Andrew Meyer and Ryan Perroy, a 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo geography and environmental science<\/a> professor who leads the SDAV<\/abbr> lab.<\/p>\n

“My main contribution on the day was to help set up SDAV<\/abbr>\u2019s helicopter imaging rig, which allows us to securely mount visual cameras for helicopter based mapping operations,” said Meyer who also earned an environmental science degree at 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo. “I was also providing our skillful pilot, David Okita, a flight guide to ensure we effectively map the area of interest.”<\/p>\n

Back to the lab<\/h2>\n

Back in Hilo, the SDAV<\/abbr> team analyzed more than 6,000 high-resolution images, digitally stitched into a single mosaic map. Researchers searched for mulch piles, damaged coconut trees, or other clues of beetle presence.<\/p>\n

Researchers hope the view from above can make tracking the invasive beetle faster and far more effective.<\/p>\n

For more go to 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

—By Susan Enright, 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Group
The Kona survey crew pre-flight, from left, Dustin Swan, Ryan Perroy, Andrew Meyer and Olivia Jarvis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of 东精影业<\/abbr> Hilo\u2019s Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Lab scanned about 4,000 acres for mulch piles and signs of coconut rhinoceros beetle activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[758,1659,232,14,907],"class_list":["post-224399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-environmental-science","tag-geography-and-environmental-science","tag-tropical-conservation-biology-and-environmental-science","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224399"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224420,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224399\/revisions\/224420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}