A new study by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa provides a list of actions we can take to protect limu and the groundwater dependent ecosystems that support them. The work has been published in the journal Water Resources Research.

"Collectively, this work provides the first quantitative evidence of links between climate change, land-use change, groundwater management and limu, a critical public trust resource," according to the researchers. "While there is little we can do to directly influence climate change at the global scale, we have the power to influence trajectories of groundwater use and of watershed management."

Importance of limu

Limu have tremendous cultural value as important and nutritious traditional food sources, they play a critical role in coastal ecosystems as they are eaten by fish and turtles, and they represent unparalleled biodiversity with more than 600 native species.

Wai (freshwater) is intricately linked to limu. Because of the connection between freshwater and limu as important cultural and ecological resources, limu and the groundwater dependent ecosystems that support them are considered a public trust use of water.