Suburban development is causing some songbirds to divorce and leave their nests, causing a lapse in reproduction, according to a new University of Washington study.
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Yesler Swamp, part of the Union Bay Natural Area along Lake Washington that is managed by UW Botanic Gardens, has a newly completed, fully accessible boardwalk trail that loops throughout the wetland, offering opportunities for birdwatching, exercise and a chance to experience nature in the heart of the city. Restoration work on the 6-acre swamp began more than 15 years ago as part of a UW capstone course taught by Kern Ewing, a professor in environmental and forest sciences.
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Avid mushroom hunters will tell you that fire is essential for finding morels. These fungi, distinguishable for their dark, honeycomblike caps, pop out of the ground by the bushel in spring after a large wildfire. This ecological knowledge is mostly anecdotal, shared among morel enthusiasts for recreational hunts and commercial harvesting, in what is now a multimillion-dollar, worldwide industry. Yet few scientific studies have actually quantified morels’ abundance after a fire.
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Every living thing leaves a genetic trail in its wake. As animals, plants and microbes shed cells and produce waste, they drop traces of their DNA everywhere — in the air, soil and water. Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present at a point in time. Think of it as genetic fingerprints that leave a trace of past activity.
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A new University of Washington study finds that in coral reefs where fishing occurs, nearly half of the key nutrients found in fish urine are absent from the ecosystem due to there being fewer large-bodied and predator fish present.
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