Mar 22, 2017

University Faculty Lecture: Aquatic and Fishery Sciences’ Ray Hilborn

The School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences' Ray Hilborn.

Sustaining Food from the Seas with Professor Ray Hilborn, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Tuesday, April 11, 2017 | 7-8 p.m. Kane Hall, Room 130 FREE and open to the public No rsvp required Reception to follow About Ray Hilborn Ray Hilborn has been a professor in the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences for 30 years.

‘Black swan’ events strike animal populations

A black swan (Cygnus atratus) seen in New Zealand. The black swan metaphor refers to a previous assumption that the birds did not exist, but later were found in the wild — signifying a surprising change of thought.

Black swan events are rare and surprising occurrences that happen without notice and often wreak havoc on society. The metaphor has been used to describe banking collapses, devastating earthquakes and other major surprises in financial, social and natural systems. A new analysis by the University of Washington and Simon Fraser University is the first to document that black swan events also occur in animal populations and usually manifest as massive, unexpected die-offs.

Winners, losers among fishes when landscape undergoes change

Fish communities are composed of species with diverse responses to environmental change.

Authors from the University of Washington and Simon Fraser University are the first to look at the effects land-use changes can have on freshwater ecosystems on a national scale. To do this work, they analyzed data on more than 500 fish species taken from 8,100 locations within streams across the U.S.

Congrats to Aquatic and Fishery Sciences' Chelsea Wood, ESA Early Career Fellow

Chelsea Wood, an assistant professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, has been named an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The ESA chooses members for this distinction who have made or show potential to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by the society. Such contributions can include those who advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, nonprofit organizations and the private sector through outstanding contributions to research, education and/or outreach.

Predator or not? Invasive snails hide even when they don't know

The Sitka periwinkle, a native marine snail, is often exposed on rocks at low tide.

Recognizing the signs of a predator can mean the difference between living to see another day and becoming another critter’s midday snack. All prey animals, whether a swift-footed deer or a slow-moving snail, use cues from their environment to sense the presence of a threat. It’s what keeps them alive — or at least gives them a shot at getting away.