New research from the University of Washington and collaborators is the first to document the complex vocal repertoire of the Cook Inlet beluga whale population. It is also the first to quantify how ship noise may be masking specific beluga calls in this region.
Read more at UW News »Year in review: College of the Environment story highlights from 2023
From new discoveries in our solar system to insights about how predators and prey interact with humans, 2023 was another impressive year of research in the College of the Environment. Our students tackled new challenges, and we celebrated anniversaries, new honors, new leadership positions and more.
Read more »DNA shows where Washington culvert replacements helped spawning salmon
To help struggling salmon populations, the state of Washington is legally required to replace hundreds of culverts that divert streams under roadways. The state transportation department is replacing old, rusting metal pipes with broad, concrete promenades that provide more gradual gradients and gentler flows for salmon swimming upstream to access more spawning grounds. The full scope of the effort will last 17 years and cost $3.8 billion.
Read more at UW News »Video: New hives at UW Farm welcome us to ‘bee curious’
The UW Farm welcomed an addition this spring: two bee hives in an apiary on the south side of the Center for Urban Horticulture. The new hives are tended by Kurt Sahl, a program manager at the University of Washington’s Continuum College who, together with UW Farm manager Perry Acworth, re-launched the farm’s beekeeping program in early 2023.
Read more at UW News »REBURN: A new tool to model wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and beyond
In 2006, the Tripod Complex Fire burned more than 175,000 acres in north-central Washington. The fire, which was within the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, was more than three times the size of Seattle. Yet while considered severe at the time, even larger wildfires in 2014, 2015 and 2021 have since dwarfed Tripod. Past research shows that large and severe wildfires like these were much rarer in the western U.S.
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