A wise investor plays the financial market by maintaining a variety of stocks. In the long run, the whole portfolio will be more stable because of the diversity of the investments it contains. It’s this mindset that resource managers should adopt when considering Pacific herring, one of the most ecologically significant fish in Puget Sound and along the entire West Coast, argue the authors of a recent paper appearing in the journal Oecologia.
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Every year, the Seattle Aquarium recognizes outstanding individuals who work and make a difference in the marine environment. This year, UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences research scientist Jeffrey Cordell was honored for his innovative work on restoring marine habitat along Seattle’s Elliott Bay seawall. Jeff led the long-term research, funded by the City of Seattle and Washington Sea Grant, to design, install, and monitor large-scale test panels at three locations along the Seattle waterfront as part of the Elliott Bay Seawall Project.
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Researchers have found clear evidence that communities rich in species are substantially healthier and more productive than those depleted of species, once complicating factors are removed. An international group of scientists, including University of Washington ecologist Jonathan Bakker in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has solved this long-standing ecological riddle using new scientific techniques for analyzing complex data to answer the question: How do we know that conserving biodiversity is actually important in the real world?
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Ray Hilborn watched with satisfaction last summer as the near-record sockeye salmon run he and his UW colleagues had forecasted finally flooded from Bristol Bay up through the lakes and creeks of southwest Alaska. Their prediction? Forty-nine million sockeye—up more than 50 percent from the average of 32 million. When the season started slowly Hilborn got antsy, recalling the 1995 run, in which “there was nothing, nothing, nothing and people started to despair,” says the aquatic and fishery sciences professor.
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When you look at a map of Ballard, something surprising might jump out — there are very few public natural areas for residents to enjoy. The Seattle neighborhood has its fair share of single-family backyards and gardens, but for the increasing number of residents who live in apartments or condos in Ballard’s downtown core, there aren’t many public green areas. A University of Washington graduate student saw green-starved Ballard as an opportunity to call attention to areas in the neighborhood that have restoration potential.
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