The Bishop Museum has received a $290,000 grant to study the effects of global warming in Melanesia.

The institution is one of eight worldwide to receive the funds from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Allen Allison, vice president of science at the museum, said a report will help determine the vulnerability of ecosystems in the region — along with nearby Polynesia — to climate change.

Work on the grant will be conducted in association with the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme in Apia, Samoa, along with the Pacific Science Association and the Indo-Pacific Conservation Alliance.