Tane Sinclair-Taylor

Coral reefs typically evoke clear, turquoise waters and a staggering number of colorful fishes. But what supports such an abundance of life?

In a paper published May 23 in Science, a team of international researchers from Simon Fraser University, University of Washington and other institutions reveals that the iconic abundance of fishes on reefs is fueled by an unlikely source: tiny, bottom-dwelling reef fishes.

The researchers show that these small vertebrates — no more than 2 to 3 centimeters in length — perform a critical function on coral reefs that permit large reef fishes to flourish.

“These fish are like candy,” said lead author Simon Brandl, a Banting postdoctoral research fellow at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. “They are tiny, colorful bundles of energy that get eaten almost immediately by any coral reef organism that can bite, grab or slurp them up.”

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Sean Brennan / University of Washington

The new study led by the University of Washington shows that analyzing the ear stone — called an otolith — of wild Sockeye Salmon in Alaska reveals how key salmon habitat shifts year-to-year.

Published in Science on May 23, the study suggests that different parts of the watershed are hot spots for salmon production and growth. These favorable locations change year-to-year depending on climate conditions and their impacts on local landscapes, which affects the value of the habitats.

“We found that the areas where fish are born and grow flicker on and off each year in terms of productivity,” said lead author Sean Brennan, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

The research team reconstructed the likely geographic locations of nearly 1,400 adult salmon, from their birth in a Nushagak stream until they migrated to the ocean. By looking at each fish’s otolith — which accumulates layers as the animal grows — researchers could tell where the fish lived by matching the chemical signatures imprinted on each “growth ring” of the otolith with the chemical signatures of the water in which they swam.

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The College is pleased to announce the following undergraduate and graduate scholarships awarded for 2019-20.

Del Rio Endowed Environmental Studies Scholarship

The Del Rio Family Foundation established the Del Rio Endowed Scholarship Fund for Environmental Studies to encourage and support students with an interest in the environment who are participating in the Educational Opportunity Program, which promotes academic success and graduation for underrepresented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first generation college students at the University of Washington. The Foundation hopes that through their studies and participation in real-world environmental research and problem-solving, students will broaden their personal horizons to include issues of global concern and will develop a passion and the skill set for making a difference in the world.

Recipients

• Xin Deng*, senior, Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management
• Emily Seaman, incoming freshman, Marine Biology

* Continued funding from 2018-19

Nancy Wilcox Endowed Scholarship

This scholarship is made possible by the generosity of former UW Provost Phyllis Wise, who established it to support students pursuing degrees in the College of the Environment. Dr. Wise named the endowment in honor and memory of her late sister, Nancy E. Wang Wilcox, a middle school teacher who tried to develop the minds of young adolescents using creative and innovative ways of learning. It is this legacy that inspired Provost Wise to establish this endowment to carry on her sister’s commitment to helping others achieve their educational goals.

Recipients

• Raphael Bakin, incoming freshman, Atmospheric Sciences
• Eric Anderson*, junior, Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management

* Continued funding from 2018-19

Clarence H. Campbell Endowed Lauren Donaldson Scholarship

Clarence H. Campbell established this scholarship in memory of Lauren “Doc” Donaldson to support students in the Schools of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Marine and Environmental Affairs, and Oceanography. Professor Donaldson earned his MS and PhD degrees from the UW in 1931. He served on the faculty of the School of Fisheries from 1932 until his retirement in 1973. Doc was a world-renowned expert in development of fish stocks, and trained countless students in freshwater fisheries research and management. Clarence Campbell, ’30, established this fund to recognize Doc’s lasting influence.

Recipients

• Kyla Bivens*, senior, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• Andrew Chin*, senior, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• Miya Freeman, sophomore, Marine Biology
• Jules Yearous, incoming freshman, Marine Biology
• Eilish Jasper, incoming freshman, Marine Biology
• Emily Seaman, incoming freshman, Marine Biology

* Continued funding from 2018-19

Dani Elenga Environment Scholarship – new this year!

Sigrid Elenga and Steve Smyth established the Dani Elenga Environment Scholarship in memory of their daughter, Dani Elenga, to encourage and support students with an interest in the environment who are participating in the Educational Opportunity Program, which promotes academic success and graduation for underrepresented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first-generation college students at the UW.

Recipients

• Kylie Sahota, senior, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• Angel Sar, senior, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Marine Biology
• Perla Moran, senior, Environmental Studies
• Olivia Cavalluzzi, incoming freshman, Environmental Studies

College of the Environment Scholarship

This scholarship is made possible by the generosity of donors. The scholarship was created to support both undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in the College of the Environment.

Recipients

• Raphael Bakin, incoming freshman, Atmospheric Sciences
• Rachael Johnson, sophomore, Bioresource Science and Engineering
• Luke Schefke, senior, Earth and Space Sciences
• Iona Rohan*, senior, Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management
• Chloe Rabinowitz, incoming freshman, Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management
• Anna Gavrylko*, sophomore, Environmental Studies
• Caitlin Kelly, junior, Environmental Studies
• Ian Murphy, incoming freshman, Environmental Studies

* Continued funding from 2018-19

Graduate Opportunity Program Research Assistantship (GOP-RA) Award

This award is made possible by the Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP), a unit in the UW Graduate School. The award combines funding matched by the Graduate School and the recipient’s department for a total of two years of graduate support.

Recipient

• Haila Schultz, incoming graduate student, Oceanography

College of the Environment Top-Off Award

This award is offered to top ranked incoming graduate student applicants across the College and provides a one-time payment to be used as the student sees fit to enhance their scholarly work at the University of Washington.

Recipients

• Logan Arnold, incoming graduate student, Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management
• Rachel Fricke, incoming graduate student, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• Ursula Jongebloed, incoming graduate student, Atmospheric Sciences
• Zoe Krauss, incoming graduate student, Oceanography
• Donald Radcliffe, incoming graduate student, Environmental and Forest Sciences
• Marie Zahn, incoming graduate student, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Integral Environmental Big Data Research Fund Award

This funding award supports graduate students who are incorporating a big data approach to their scholarly work. In this context, a big data project is defined as one where the student is focused on extracting information from large datasets through the use of interesting, innovative computational and analytic approaches, and where the object of the work is an exploration of emergent patterns and/or relationships of scientific interest.

Recipients

• Apryle Craig, current graduate student, Environmental and Forest Sciences
• Ariane Ducellier, current graduate student, Earth and Space Sciences

Hall Conservation Genetics Research Fund

This award is made possible by the generosity of Drs. Benjamin and Margaret Hall. During his 38 years in genetics, UW Professor Emeritus of Genome Sciences and Biology Benjamin “Ben” Hall made many key discoveries, including the patented invention “Expression of Polypeptides in Yeast” which the UW-licensed for the production of vaccines against Hepatitis B Virus and Human papillomavirus, as well as Human Insulin, and other recombinant proteins. This funding award supports graduate students working in the field of conservation genetics.

Recipient

• Victoria Fox, current graduate student, Environmental and Forest Sciences

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Chris Bretherton, a University of Washington professor jointly appointed in the departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of 100 new members elected for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research” who were announced April 30 by the academy.

Chris studies how clouds form and change over time and how to better represent these processes in global climate and weather-forecasting models. His research also looks at the role that clouds may play in climate change.

He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society and a recipient of the Jule G. Charney Award, a career research award from the American Meteorological Society. He was a lead author of the chapter on clouds and aerosols for the 2013 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and he is a former director of the UW’s Program on Climate Change.

Congratulations, Chris!

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Noelle Held/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Arsenic is a deadly poison for most living things, but new research shows that microorganisms are breathing arsenic in a large area of the Pacific Ocean. A University of Washington team has discovered that an ancient survival strategy is still being used in low-oxygen parts of the marine environment.

“Thinking of arsenic as not just a bad guy, but also as beneficial, has reshaped the way that I view the element,” said first author Jaclyn Saunders, who did the research for her doctoral thesis at the UW School of Oceanography and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The study was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Dave Withrow

Hundreds of harbor seals live in Iliamna Lake, the largest body of freshwater in Alaska and one of the most productive systems for sockeye salmon in the Bristol Bay region.

These lake seals are a robust yet highly unusual and cryptic posse. Although how the seals first colonized the lake remains a mystery, it is thought that sometime in the distant past, a handful of harbor seals likely migrated from the ocean more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) upriver to the lake, where they eventually grew to a consistent group of about 400. These animals are important for Alaska Native subsistence hunting, and hold a top spot in the lake’s diverse food web.

Lifelong chemical records stored in their sequentially growing canine teeth show that the Iliamna Lake seals remain in freshwater their entire lives, relying on food sources produced in the lake to survive. In contrast, their relatives in the ocean are opportunistic feeders, moving around to the mouths of different rivers to find the most abundant food sources, which includes a diverse array of marine food items in addition to the adult salmon returning to Bristol Bay’s nine major watersheds. These findings are described in a paper published online in March in Conservation Biology.

“We clearly show these seals are in the lake year-round, throughout their entire lives,” said lead author Sean Brennan, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “This gives us critical baseline information that can weigh in on how we understand their ecology, and we can use that information to do a better job developing a conservation strategy.”

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