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i'm a phd candidate in the marine
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biology graduate program
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at the university of hawaii at manoa so
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really
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overall i'm looking at the ecophysiology
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of native macroalgae on our shallow
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reefs so
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it's looking at how they respond in
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terms of their growth and photosynthesis
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to different environmental factors that
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could be different
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irradiance levels nutrient levels um
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ocean acidity ocean temperature and also
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competition between other organisms
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i see and so what have you found what
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what is there something shocking or
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surprising that you have discovered that
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you didn't realize before you started
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so that's a good question everybody
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you know it's for science we can't
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really generally say
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oh the ocean climate change is bad for
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macroalgae it really depends on what
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kind of algae you're looking at because
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it's it's
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different algae have different
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adaptations where they're able to
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to respond to high levels of co2 or
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temperature different to other organisms
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that cannot
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and so that was something um that i was
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really
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surprised about because some of our
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algae they're able to take
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in or store carbon dioxide and use it
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for later
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so they're not really being negatively
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affected by it
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but it's just more more storage for them
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for
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for the future or later times where when
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co2 will be
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low so species specific
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yes very species specific this is maybe
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are they adapting or has it been this
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way
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um so adaptation
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happens over a very long period of time
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so they've always been adapting but with
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climate change things have been
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changing so fast so that's the
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difference that they're not
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able to have this time to adapt and so
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with these changes happening so fast you
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know
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they get into shock or they they just
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can't adapt fast enough
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so that's why they're they're not able
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to
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you know to continue to grow or just be
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successful in the environment
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why are oceans important oceans are
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very important because you know they
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they connect all of us the whole world
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um they connect us on an
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individual local and global scale what
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happens on one side of the world can
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affect the other side of the world and
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the ocean also
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regulates our weather our climate it
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produces
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oxygen for the world it's also a co or
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carbon dioxide
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sink it's a it provides food and job
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securities for us
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and it's it's just filled with beautiful
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life that ranges from
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microscopic phytoplankton all the way to
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the
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big blue whale you said carbon
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carbon dioxide sink what does that mean
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yes
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so the ocean because it's filled with um
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it
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it absorbs the carbon dioxide from the
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from the atmosphere
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with all of the anthropogenic or human
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activities that's happening with
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releasing
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excessive um greenhouse gas emissions
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the ocean is acting as a sink where it's
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absorbing all of that
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and with that whole absorption it's
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it's affecting our marine life
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ms nicole yamase is the first pacific
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islander to travel
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all the way down to the challenger deep
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before we close two more questions can
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you give us an ex a specific example
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of what you enjoy about the ocean i love
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that the ocean is like our mothers we
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can go to the ocean for
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many reasons we can go to the ocean to
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find
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peace of mind go for clarity when we
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feel
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lost comfort when we feel distressed or
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go for
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happy memories it also teaches us
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so many valuable life lessons and you
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know with all that said
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the ocean is our mother and we need to
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take care of it as if we take care of
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our mothers
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um nicole last month in honor of asian
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american native hawaiian and pacific
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islander month you gifted
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the department of the interior museum
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with a with a
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a could you describe that gift yes
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um i gifted the museum with a
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pressurized
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styrofoam cup um the main reason why i
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um i brought that down was to use it as
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an educational tool
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for kids i brought it to to
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the last school that i went to and the
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kids were so amused and like wondering
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how did this happen and so for them to
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visualize what pressure does to objects
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down at the challenger deep was
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was a was a learning moment for them but
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on that cup uh
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i wrote micronesia on it united we stand
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i also wrote all the nations within the
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micronesia region
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we will invite and encourage people to
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to visit the department of the interior
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museum in washington dc
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and look for your gift which will be
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part of the collection
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thank you nicole for your time for
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interviewing with us in oia
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conversations and thank you for the gift
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to the department of the interior museum
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good luck to you
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thank you