Two days of intense discussion by federal, state and university scientists have broadened the base of shared knowledge on chinook salmon, arming state biologists with more tools to tackle the conundrum of diminishing returns, and restore strength to the fishery. SAFS‘ Daniel Schindler was one of the attendees; read more here! 

The challenges of managing and maintaining diverse wildlife populations across rural America and in the expanding footprints of our cities and suburbs, was the topic when Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, returned to his alma mater earlier this month, giving the UW College of the Environment’s Annual Dean’s Lecture. Check out CoEnv Communications’ story on Dan’s visit here! 

In research presented last month at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World, FHL‘s Emily Carrington‘s lab found that in water with a pH more acidic than 7.6, the silky threads that anchor mussels to their homes, called byssus fibers, was significantly weakened. They also found that higher temperatures weakened the byssus fibers, with threads about 60 percent weaker in 77 degree Fahrenheit water than in cooler 65 degree water. 

You may not feel it, but the way we do and share science is transforming. The Internet, increased computing power, and the profusion of “big data” are making it more efficient for scientists to do research in a collaborative way. From open-access publication to citizen science, from crowdfunding to documentation of negative results and unfunded grant proposals, the universe of “open science” is continuing to grow.