Killer whales are intelligent, adaptive predators, often teaming up to take down larger whales as prey. Continuous reduction in sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is opening areas to increased killer whale dwelling and predation, potentially creating an ecological imbalance. Underwater microphones placed off the western and northern coasts of Alaska show that killer whales have spent more time than previously recorded in the Arctic, following the decrease in summer sea ice.
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If you’ve ever looked towards the evening sky at University of Washington’s Bothell campus, you’ve probably witnessed the dark river of crows swarming above; and if you haven’t seen it, you’ve certainly heard it. Every night, 10 to 15 thousand crows make their nightly migration to the campus for a giant crow sleepover. According to John Marzluff, professor at UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, this nightly migration to a roost is a property of many corvids — the family of birds that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers.
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All too often, we forget about a critical component of successful communication: being a good listener. Communication is, after all, a two-way street; being an effective communicator not only relies on being clear in what you say or do, but also in truly hearing and valuing people’s perspectives, needs, concerns and ideas, too. Listening allows us to empathize and relate to others, giving us a glimpse into their world and their day-to-day life.
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UW Environment is proud to announce that School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences’ Julian Olden has been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate. The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.
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Outdoor workers in the world’s lower-latitude tropical forests may face a greater risk of heat-related deaths and unsafe working conditions because of deforestation and climate warming, according to a study led by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and Indonesia’s Mulawarman University. In the study, researchers found that increased temperatures of 0.95 C (1.7 F) in the deforested areas of Berau Regency, Indonesia, between 2002 and 2018 were linked to roughly 118 additional deaths in 2018, and 20 additional minutes of daily conditions too hot for humans to work in safely.
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