UW Atmospheric Sciences achieves No. 1 global ranking; nearly three dozen UW subjects in top 50
Dennis Wise/University of Washington
UW undergrads practice delivering weather forecasts in front of a green screen.
Eight University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10 and Atmospheric Sciences moved to its position as No. 1 in the world on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2022. The ranking, released Tuesday, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicating to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.
Other UW subjects in the top 10 include oceanography at No. 2; public health at No. 4; biological sciences, dentistry and oral sciences, education, and library and information sciences at No. 7; and clinical medicine at No. 10.
“The research produced by University of Washington faculty, staff and students is critical to understanding and addressing global challenges, from climate change to human health,” said President Ana Mari Cauce. “We are gratified and honored to have the incredible impact that UW researchers are making across so many disciplines once again recognized by this prestigious organization.”
How computer models and statistics are shaping modern ecology
Scott Pearson, WDFW
Researchers collect data on a Pigeon Guillemot on Protection Island before tagging and releasing the bird.
When we think of wildlife ecologists, we might envision researchers traipsing through meadows, fording rivers, and tracking elusive predators on daring field expeditions. While some of these images may be accurate, those who work in quantitative ecology and conservation know that some of the most groundbreaking and essential ecological research takes place behind the computer screen, using statistics, mapping, and mathematical models.
For the most part, wild animals are fickle, making them inherently tricky to study. So when a researcher returns home after weeks of pursuing a pack of wolves in grueling conditions with only one collared animal, the real work of drawing conclusions and generating knowledge based on limited data begins.
“Ecological data tend to be messy and noisy,” she said, which is one of the main reasons quantitative methods come in handy. “It’d be amazing if we had perfect data on our study species, but we almost never have that. All ecology requires some kind of quantitative methods of various sophistication.”
The models Converse produces enable her to make predictions about a given population based on those incomplete, messy data, which she can then share with wildlife managers and decision makers so they can move forward with the best available information.
Kevin Cole
Pigeon Guillemots often nest in burrows on steep cliff faces.
How do you count nests you can’t see?
Converse and her lab members frequently develop new versions of mark-recapture models. Mark-recapture models account for the fact that ecologists can almost never get regular observations of individual animals over time. Sometimes when ecologists visit an area, the animals aren’t there, or they’re around but hiding. In fact, most animals actively avoid humans, making them challenging to study.
Development of novel modeling methods is exemplified by their research on Pigeon Guillemots, petite seabirds with dark plumage and bright scarlet feet, which are found throughout the Salish Sea. Despite the fact that Pigeon Guillemots are an indicator species in the region, there has been little demographic research done on the Salish Sea population. Part of the problem is that they nest primarily in steep cliff faces, hidden from predators and prying human eyes.
To get around this challenge, Converse’s lab collaborates with community science volunteers from the Salish Sea Guillemot Research Network who have been visiting the beaches below colonies since 2008. Observers record when a bird flies into a nesting burrow and whether it carries a fish. Using that information, Converse and her former PhD student, Amanda Warlick, along with collaborators, were able to develop a new type of mark-recapture model to estimate the number of chicks produced in a given colony.
Now, Converse and her student Liam Pendleton are starting a new project with Pigeon Guillemots on Protection Island in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, where they are marking and recapturing adults in addition to following nests. By combining all the existing information on Pigeon Guillemot populations, Converse hopes to get a better idea of what is happening with this ecologically important species.
Milo Weiler
The first breeding wolf pack in Washington since the 1930s was identified in 2008. Since then, wolf populations have continued to increase.
When humans meet wolves
Other quantitative ecologists approach ecological problems with a social science lens, while still employing rigorous quantitative methods. In his study of human-wildlife interactions, Alex McInturff — Assistant Leader of the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences — combines qualitative methods with statistics and mathematics to investigate patterns of thinking and behaving in human populations. Rather than building models that predict what a population of animals might do, McInturff builds models to explain psychological phenomena, such as the ways people balance the benefits and risks of a given hazard.
This fall, McInturff’s team will begin researching community perceptions and tolerance of wolves in eastern Washington — in other words, how well humans and wolves will get along. As wolf populations have started returning to the state, researchers have been modeling habitat suitability and population dynamics to provide insight on recovery efforts.
McInturff predicts that including human tolerance levels of wolves will enhance our understanding of how humans and wolves interact. “We are bringing our understanding of wolf ecology into conversation with people’s willingness to tolerate them,” he said. “We often study those things a little bit independently, so putting them into dialogue is really exciting.”
Quantitative ecologists use models and statistics in many different ways, giving us important insights into questions of behavior and conservation. As the field and the technology that powers it evolves, it will continue to push the frontiers of our understanding, and open up new possibilities for protecting critical ecosystems.
‘Safety in numbers’ tactic keeps Pacific salmon safe from predators
‘The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout’ / University of Washington Press
Coho salmon are seen swimming together. A new study has found that Pacific salmon, including coho, school together in the open ocean to lower their risk of being eaten by predators. Note: This photo was taken at the Seattle Aquarium and serves to illustrate this grouping concept in the wild. The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout’ / University of Washington Press
Animals that live in groups tend to be more protected from predators. That idea might be common sense, but it’s difficult to test for some species, especially for wild populations of fish that live in the ocean.
A new University of Washington study that leverages historical data has found unique support for the “safety in numbers” hypothesis by showing that Pacific salmon in larger groups have lower risk of being eaten by predators. But for some salmon species, schooling comes at the cost of competition for food, and those fish may trade safety for a meal. The study was published June 29 in the journal Science Advances.
“With salmon, most people think of them spawning in freshwater streams, but there’s also this huge amount of time they spend in the ocean feeding and growing,” said lead author Anne Polyakov, a doctoral student in the UW’s interdisciplinary Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management Program and the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “One of the reasons why this study is so unique is that we essentially can’t observe these fish at all in their natural ocean environment, and yet we’re able to pull out these really strong results on how grouping affects predation risk and foraging success for individual fish using this incredibly valuable dataset.”
New study: 2021 heat wave created ‘perfect storm’ for shellfish die-off
Blair Paul
Dead oysters seen along a shoreline in Washington state, following a record heat wave in summer 2021.
It’s hard to forget the excruciating heat that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021. Temperatures in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia soared to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Seattle setting an all-time heat record of 108 degrees on June 28.
During the heat wave, also called a heat dome, scientists and community members alike noticed a disturbing uptick of dying and dead shellfish on some beaches in Washington and British Columbia, both in the Salish Sea and along the outer coast. The observers quickly realized they were living through an unprecedented event and they organized to document the shellfish die-offs as they happened in real time.
Now, a team led by the University of Washington has compiled and analyzed hundreds of these field observations to produce the first comprehensive report of the impacts of the 2021 heat wave on shellfish. The researchers found that many shellfish were victims of a “perfect storm” of factors that contributed to widespread death: The lowest low tides of the year occurred during the year’s hottest days — and at the warmest times of day. The results were published online June 20 in the journal Ecology.
“You really couldn’t have come up with a worse scenario for intertidal organisms,” said lead author Wendel Raymond, a research scientist at UW Friday Harbor Laboratories. “This analysis has given us a really good general picture of how shellfish were impacted by the heat wave, but we know this isn’t even the full story.”
