A new study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is reshaping a decades-old belief about the disappearance of Hawaiʻi's native waterbirds. Researchers report that there is no scientific evidence showing Indigenous People hunted these species to extinction. Published in the journal Ecosphere , the study disputes this widely accepted narrative and introduces a broader explanation for why the birds declined.

The research team found no signs of widespread overhunting. Instead, they point to a combination of factors, including climate change, invasive species, and shifts in land use. Many of these changes occurred either before Polynesians arrived in Hawaiʻi or after traditional Indigenous land management practices were disrupted.…