Sep 15, 2015

Young chum salmon may get biggest nutrition boost from Elliott Bay restored beaches

In the midst of ferry boats, container ships and tourists crowding Seattle’s Elliott Bay, young salmon are just trying to get a decent meal. The fish hatch in the rivers and streams that feed into Puget Sound and almost immediately rely on eating small organisms near the shore, including in the heart of Seattle’s commerce-filled waterfront. Though salmon share the busy Elliott Bay waters with boats and barges, scientists suspect built-up, “armored” shorelines and large piers may be the main culprits disrupting fish habitat.

Climate change could leave Pacific Northwest amphibians high and dry

A typical mountain wetland in the Pacific Northwest.

Far above the wildfires raging in Washington’s forests, a less noticeable consequence of this dry year is taking place in mountain ponds. The minimal snowpack and long summer drought that have left the Pacific Northwest lowlands parched have also affected the region’s amphibians through loss of mountain pond habitat. According to a new paper published Sept. 2 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, this summer’s severe conditions may be the new normal within just a few decades.

Exploring wilderness in one of the lower forty-eight’s most untamed landscapes

What is wilderness? As we sit at our computers or scroll through on tablets or smart phones, perhaps we picture the opposite of our current locales—mountainous terrain, soaring evergreens, and a variety of critters that depend on each other to maintain balanced ecosystems. Maybe thoughts of flora and fauna, untamed and unexposed to an otherwise modern, industrialized, human-centric world swirl around.

Group at UW shows how to account for nature’s benefits in decision-making

A mangrove buffer protects the Belize coast.

How can we assess the value of food, energy, clean water, and other resources we depend on? A group with field offices around the U.S., including at the University of Washington, is working to figure that out. The Natural Capital Project wants to integrate the socioeconomic, cultural, and spiritual values of nature into all major decisions affecting the environment and human well-being.

Meet Meryl Mims, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences graduate student

With two degrees under her belt and dissertation research to complete, Meryl Mims found herself in southeastern Arizona’s Sky Islands in the summer of 2013. In a landscape known for the juxtaposition of its sprawling features—where towering, forested mountains seep upward through the desert’s dry, cracked surface—a two-inch long frog captured Mims’ attention. “We were already out there and we were hearing the Arizona treefrogs.