Nov 29, 2017

Preventing a crustacean invasion

Washington Sea Grant’s Emily Grason and its Crab Team volunteers are on a mission to protect the Salish Sea from one of the world’s worst invasive species — the European green crab.

Dan Brown named director of UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

Man with blonde hair and dark-rimmed glasses, wearing a blue sport coat, khaki pants and a tie sits on a bench. He is smiling at the camera, and has one arm propped up on the back of the bench. Stairs are in the background.

UW Environment is pleased to announce that Dan Brown will be joining the University of Washington as the new director of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, effective January 1, 2018. As director, Dan will play a vital role in guiding the School’s academic growth and developing new initiatives, providing leadership and management of its programs, centers, and research grants, allocating its revenues in a manner that supports its mission, and enhancing its sizable and growing endowment.

Old fish few and far between under fishing pressure

A bright orange fish fish swimming in dark water near the rocky ocean floor.

Like old-growth trees in a forest, old fish in the ocean play important roles in the diversity and stability of marine ecosystems. Critically, the longer a fish is allowed to live, the more likely it is to successfully reproduce over the course of its lifetime, which is particularly important in variable environmental conditions. A new study by University of Washington scientists has found that, for dozens of fish populations around the globe, old fish are greatly depleted — mainly because of fishing pressure.

Q&A: How Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and Yellowstone National Park are confronting climate change

Snowcapped mountains in the distance with a wooden barn in foreground.

The Northern Rocky Mountain ecosystem includes huge swaths of federal lands, two national parks and some of the most spectacular wild spaces in the country. University of Washington researchers are helping managers of those lands prepare for a shifting climate. “Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems,” a book published in August, was edited by Jessica Halofsky, a UW research ecologist in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and David Peterson, a senior research biologist with the U.S.

Read the UW Today Q&A »

Jul 3, 2017

UW oceanography senior finds plastic microfibers are common on Puget Sound beaches

Frances Eshom-Arzadon found that local beaches are riddled with synthetic microfibers that enter into the environment when they are shed in washing machines.