Parasites have a public relations problem. Unlike the many charismatic mammals, fishes and birds that receive our attention (and our conservation dollars), parasites are thought of as something to eradicate — and certainly not something to protect. But only 4% of known parasites can infect humans, and the majority actually serve critical ecological roles, like regulating wildlife that might otherwise balloon in population size and become pests.
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With ever-shrinking pristine habitats across the region and globe, wildlife is often hard-pressed to find a place to call home. Even if they find a suitable home today, the question remains if it will still be suitable tomorrow. With climate change already underway and increasing human presence in wild landscapes, land managers and conservation organizations continually wrestle with this issue here in the Pacific Northwest and across the world.
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You might not know it, but danger for saltwater plants and animals lurks on every single beach — from the white sand beaches of the Caribbean to the rockier beaches found along the Washington coastline, and every beach in between. Plastic debris and other trash left behind by beachgoers ends up in the sand and water, eventually making their way into the stomachs or around the necks of our favorite marine animals.
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A group of students, accompanied by School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) Professor Brian Harvey, look at the centuries-old trees towering around them in an old growth experimental forest plot. This plot was established many years ago and handed down through generations of forest ecologists, through the shift from when forests were studied only as potential sources of lumber to modern forest research that examines forests as complete ecosystems.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced May 20 that it has selected the University of Washington to host NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies. The new regional consortium will include faculty and staff at the UW, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Oregon State University. Members will contribute expertise, research capacity, technological development, help train the next generation of NOAA scientists, and conduct public education and outreach.
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