Young children are highly vulnerable to wildfire smoke, especially those in historically marginalized communities where environmental and health disparities persist. This research examines 2023 survey data on childcare facilities in different Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) zones—particularly Grade B (more desirable), Grade C (working-class), and Grade D (historically marginalized)—to prepare for and respond to wildfire smoke. Childcare providers in historically redlined areas (HOLC Grade D) are more affected by wildfire smoke compared to those in more desirable HOLC zones (Grades B and C). I conducted data cleaning and standardization, renaming columns, binary-coding responses, and categorizing each response by HOLC zone. I classified communication methods into media (e.g., phone, TV), person-to-person (e.g., parents, supervisors), and unknown/other. Wildfire response actions were grouped into behavioral changes (e.g., bringing children indoors), temporary physical changes (e.g., closing windows, air cleaners), and permanent modifications (e.g., installing air filtration systems). I structured the dataset in Python to analyze trends and generate visualizations, including pie charts, bar graphs, and tables, to explore response patterns across roles, facility types, and zones. Preliminary findings suggest disparities in preparedness and response strategies. Childcare providers in historically redlined areas reported higher levels of children affected by wildfire smoke exposure, both indoors and outdoors, compared to those in less marginalized zones. While media alerts were the most commonly reported information source, teachers relied more on “unknown” sources, highlighting gaps in communication. This research aims to understand smoke inhalation risks for young children, provide childcare settings with feasible risk management options, and influence policy strategies to make adaptation measures more accessible for vulnerable communities.

Past research has shown that microorganisms can dissolve insoluble metal phosphates found in soil, such as tricalcium phosphate. Because plants struggle to use these forms of phosphate, microbial communities are invaluable to their survival. However, iron phosphate, found primarily in weathered soils, resists common mechanisms of dissolution such as soil acidification. Therefore, identifying other solubilization mechanisms is crucial to understanding plant nutrient uptake in such highly weathered soils. To identify potential phosphate solubilizers, we isolated endophytic microbes from plant hosts such as ferns and mosses collected from plants growing in the Bogacheil Rainforest, and plated them on mineral phosphate plates. One strain isolated from Isothecium moss (cat tail moss) produced red halos on iron phosphate plates, indicating possible iron sequestration and phosphate solubilization. Subsequent ITS sequencing identified it as a yeast of the species Metschnikowia pulcherrima. Members of this genus are known for their production of the red pigment and chelator pulcherrimin. Pulcherrimin has been shown to confer antimicrobial properties through iron precipitation and sequestration and we hypothesized that it could dissolve iron phosphate. To evaluate our strain’s ability to solubilize iron phosphate, we inoculated phosphate-free media supplemented with iron phosphate and allowed cells to grow for 48 hours. We then measured the change in free phosphate concentration using a molybdenum blue colorimetric assay. On average, we found that inoculated cultures achieved an average change in concentration 34 times greater than background dissolution (p < 0.05). This finding suggests that endophytic M. pulcherrima may improve phosphate availability and uptake by plants in highly weathered soils.

Phosphorus is often used in agriculture as a fertilizer because it is a critical nutrient for crop growth that is required for biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, and ATP. However, phosphorus is often a limiting nutrient during primary ecological succession because it only becomes biologically available after it has been weathered from phosphorus rich rocks. Generally, this means that phosphorus is poorly available in rocky soils; however, some plants such as the O’hia Lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) and ‘Ae fern (Polypodium pellucidum) are able to thrive in rocky, nutrient poor conditions such as Hawaiian lava flows. We hypothesize that these plants associate with phosphate-solubilizing endophytes that aid in plant-phosphorus acquisition. Primary colonizing plants growing on the 2018 Pahoa Lava Flow on Hawaii’s Big Island were collected in July of 2024. The plants were ground to create extracts that were plated on media containing only the mineral phosphate, meaning that the bacteria would need to dissolve the phosphate in order to grow. Endophyte strains isolated from the extracts were tested for their ability to dissolve different mineral phosphates. The strains that are successful in dissolving phosphates will be able to have broad applications in agricultural practices by allowing a greater uptake of phosphorus for plants, and potentially decreasing the need for expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizers. These endophytes also have application in space biology, where they may help plants uptake mineral nutrients from Martian and Lunar regolith.