Ronald Englund, an aquatic insect expert with the Bishop Museum, looks for native species.
There are few things as gratifying for Ronald Englund as when a Hawaiian damselfly whizzes by. That's when he knows everything's right with the world.
Englund, an aquatic insect expert with the Bishop Museum, said the damselfly, by its mere presence, indicates that a freshwater ecosystem is healthy and pristine, both free-flowing and free of alien species.
"It's really something to be happy for," Englund said. "If you see the damselfly, you know this is the way it ought to be. This is the way it was even before humans arrived in Hawai'i."
Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, there are fewer and fewer places in the Islands where the damselfly takes flight. On O'ahu, it requires a dangerous hike into the uplands before you can see them.
