Shells Shipped Out!

Aug 02, 2022

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Shells Shipped Out!Aloha everyone! 
Sorry for the silence! We have some exciting news. Our shells have been sent out for isotope analysis! 
Half of our shells were shipped to UC Santa Cruz's Stable Isotope Laboratory for stable isotope analysis (13C and 18O), and half of our shells were shipped to Australia National University's Radiocarbon Laboratory for radiocarbon (14C) dating! 
Our shells have already been received at UC Santa Cruz, and Australia National University should receive our shells by August 8th. We hope to receive our results soon! 
Mahalo for all your support! 
 
The beauty of the hike towards Ka'ena Point, where our shells were collected. 

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About This Project

Why did a prehistoric community of snails in Hawaii go extinct?

Hawaii Pacific University

After the last ice age, temperatures in the Northern hemisphere rose and precipitation levels were dramatically altered. We are beginning to understand how these changes impacted many areas, but what about Hawaii? We have dated shells from extinct, endemic Hawaiian snails to this period of global change, and we will use isotopes from these shells to examine how Hawaii's environment changed. We hypothesize that rising temperature and lowered precipitation led to the extinction of these snails.