In a growing region, protecting Puget Sound is about more than recovering certain species of threatened and endangered animals with marine protected areas. It’s also about protecting the livelihoods and diverse cultures of the people who live there and balancing their needs with the needs of the natural world. A team of University of Washington researchers and their collaborators tackled this quandary in a study spanning years and miles, across Puget Sound’s rural towns and urban centers.
Read more at UW Today »California plain shows surprising winners and losers from prolonged drought
By studying this natural laboratory for many years, researchers found that drought actually helped ecological underdogs by stressing the dominant species.
Read more at UW Today »UW professor Cecilia Bitz elected American Geophysical Union fellow
Cecilia M. Bitz, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist, has been elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. The UW honoree is among 62 new 2018 fellows from 21 countries.The scientific group recognizes only one in 1,000 members each year for major scientific work and sustained impact. Bitz is a UW professor in the atmospheric sciences department and director of the Program on Climate Change.
Read more at UW Today »Kupe and the Corals: bringing science to life for kids
As a burgeoning marine biologist, Jackie Padilla-Gamiño found herself on the shores of Moorea, one of the best places in the world to study corals. The South Pacific island’s healthy reefs, shimmering clear waters, and pristine ecosystems set the stage for the newly minted Dr. Padilla-Gamiño to immerse herself in coral reef ecology. She quickly realized others were interested in her research, too.
Read more »Harmful dyes in lakes, rivers can become colorless with new, sponge-like material
Dyes are widely used in industries such as textiles, cosmetics, food processing, papermaking and plastics. Globally, we produce about 700,000 metric tons of dye each year to color our clothing, eyeshadow, toys and vending machine candy. During manufacturing, a tenth of all dye products are discharged into the waste stream — most escape conventional wastewater-treatment processes and remain in the environment, often reaching lakes, rivers and holding ponds, and contaminating the water for the aquatic plants and animals that live there.
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