Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing The Viability Of Mapping Bull Kelp In Puget Sound Using Aerial Imaging Platforms, Tyler Cowdrey

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) is an important primary producer that plays a foundational role in the marine nearshore ecosystems of Puget Sound. Evidence of significant declines in bull kelp forests in this region has motivated efforts to establish region-wide long-term monitoring programs for this critical species. As part of this drive, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been testing a series of aerial imaging platforms to detect and map the distribution of bull kelp to complement existing monitoring protocols. In 2020, DNR began surveying floating bull kelp canopies in Puget Sound using RGB and multispectral Unmanned Aerial …

Contaminant Reveal Spatial Segregation Of Chinook Salmon That Reside In Puget Sound: Implications For Salmon Health And The People And Whales That Eat Them, Sandra O'Neill

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Adult salmon accumulate most of their final body mass, and also most of their burdens of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), while feeding in marine habitats. Most Puget Sound Chinook salmon migrate to the ocean to feed and grow but a large fraction resides and feeds within the Salish Sea. These “residents” accumulate higher levels of POPs from the pelagic food web than do conspecifics feeding along the coast, exposing people and whales consuming resident fish to higher contaminant concentrations. We measured POPs in fish collected throughout Puget Sound marine basins in the fall and winter of 2016 and 2017 and …

Transboundary Indigenous Oil Spill Risk And Eco-Cultural Resources, Councilman Chad Bowechop, Natalie Lowell, Carol Reamer

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Strait of Juan de Fuca experiences high oil spill risk due to dense vessel traffic in the region. An oil spill in the region would cross the Canada-U.S. border, affecting Tribes, First Nations, states, and provinces. Due to the relative remoteness of these areas, Tribes and First Nations may be the first on the scene in the event of an incident. However, regulatory differences associated with the Canada-U.S. border and federal planning and response structures that were not built with indigenous governments in mind can impact effective prevention, preparedness, and response to oil spills, with particular consequences for Indigenous …

From Site To Sea: Protecting Habitat Through An Integrated Response To The Invasive European Green Crab Across The Salish Sea, Dr. P. Sean Mcdonald, Bobbie Buzzell, Dr. Emily Grason, Chief Gordon Planes, Allen Pleus, Allie Simpson, Crysta Stubbs, Renny Talbot

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Biological invasions are known to impact important nearshore habitats. Though European green crab, Carcinus maenas, has been periodically abundant in coastal embayments of Washington State and Vancouver island since the late 1990’s, range expansion into the Salish Sea in recent years has the potential for more destructive impacts and dynamics. In the Salish Sea, green crab pose a threat to essential eelgrass beds, tidal marshes, and mudflats. Management of green crab occurs at a regional scale, but control actions to mitigate impacts and protect habitats take place at the local (site) level. It can be a challenge to integrate place-based …

Salish Sea Vessel Traffic Projections: The Need To Address Increased Vessel Traffic Impacts To Southern Resident Killer Whales, Lovel Pratt

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Recently completed research by Friends of the San Juans, the November 2021 Salish Sea Vessel Traffic Projections, documents 22 new or expanding terminal and refinery projects that have been proposed, permitted or recently completed and that would add at least 2,634 annual vessel transits to and from Salish Sea ports in British Columbia and Washington State. If all of these terminal and refinery projects are permitted and developed, the result would be at least a 25 percent increase in large, ocean-going commercial vessel traffic, as compared with vessel traffic in 2020. Eight of the 22 projects also include increases to …

Kelp Forest Restoration In Puget Sound: Outplant Techniques And Lessons, Gray Mckenna

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Kelp forests are a critical nearshore ecosystem in the Salish Sea. They provide habitat structure for many species, cycle nutrients, including carbon, and play an important cultural role for coastal communities. Bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, is the only floating canopy-forming kelp in Puget Sound. In response to kelp forest canopy decline in recent decades in the South and Central Basins of Puget Sound, Puget Sound Restoration Fund launched our Bull Kelp Restoration Program in 2010. A primary focus of our program is the development of scalable techniques for outplanting bull kelp in areas where it has been lost with the …

Pollutants Affecting Endangered Whales And Their Prey, Monica Hilborn

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Pollutants Affecting Endangered Whales and their Prey: The science behind a new web application for environmental monitoring data Canada’s Recovery Strategy (RS) and Action Plan under the Species at Risk Act for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus Orca) lists environmental contaminants as a key threat to viability and recovery, and recommends identifying and prioritizing key contaminants, and their sources. The RS also identifies the need to close certain data gaps, such as all potential anthropogenic environmental contaminants to which killer whales and their prey are exposed over time and in space. Not all sources of pollution within …

Effects Of Heat Stress And Nitrogen Limitation On The Physiology Of Gametophytes And Sporophytes Of The Bull Kelp, Nereocystis Luetkeana, Dr. Brooke Weigel, Robin Fales, Dr. Emily Carrington, Dr. Megan Dethier

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) are declining at some locations within the Salish Sea, particularly in areas that experience elevated temperatures, low nitrogen (N) concentrations, and low current velocities. High temperatures and low N concentrations can be stressful for marine primary producers, yet these stressors often occur simultaneously in temperate marine ecosystems, making it difficult to unravel their effects. First, we determined the reproductive thermal tolerance limits of bull kelp by growing gametophytes at 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22°C. Gametophytes were able to germinate at temperatures up to 20°C, with gametophyte growth peaking around 16°C, but sporophyte production …

Current Use Pesticides That Drain Into Canadian Tributaries: A Potential Threat To Whale Habitats, Dr. Agnes Richards

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Elevated contaminant concentrations in odontocete cetaceans within Canadian waters has been well documented. The Endangered transboundary Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW, Orcinus orca) and St Lawrence Estuary Beluga Whales (SLE beluga, Delphinapterus leucas) face significant threats from high levels of contaminants. The Recovery Strategy for the SLE beluga, SRKWs, as well as the Threatened Northern Resident Killer Whales (NRKW) lists contaminants as a key threat to these whale populations and identifies urban and agricultural runoff and stormwater as pollutant sources. This runoff exposes the whales and their priority prey to a mixture of environmental contaminants, including current use pesticides. Our …

Rethinking Sewage In The Southern Salish Sea, Dr. Mindy Roberts, Jeff Dickison

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The waters of Puget Sound are highly connected, and pollution released in one location impacts water quality miles and miles away. Deep waters of Puget Sound, where sewage treatment plants discharge, circulate toward the south and inland. Nitrogen discharged from wastewater treatment plants violates the Washington State water quality standards for dissolved oxygen in South Puget Sound and other shallow bays around the Salish Sea as a result. The Department of Ecology is requiring all publicly owned treatment plants to upgrade technology to nutrient removal under the Clean Water Act, with a 5-year goal of holding the line at existing …

Zooplankton Community Composition And Biomass Across A Latitudinal Gradient In The Southern Salish Sea, 2014-2021, Amanda Winans, Bethellee Herrmann, Julie Keister

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Understanding zooplankton community structure and biomass in the Salish Sea is vital for determining ecosystem health and the factors affecting upper trophic levels, such as forage fish, salmon, and seabirds. Zooplankton are important prey for these groups, including for culturally important juvenile salmon during their critical feeding period, which has implications for top predators, such as orcas. In this ongoing time series that began in 2014, zooplankton were collected from sites in Puget Sound and Northern Washington waters. Here we examine patterns along a north-south latitudinal gradient, from the San Juan Islands to South Sound, in order to examine spatial …

Kelp Forest Responses To The 2014 Marine Heat Wave: Clues About Environmental Patterns And Gradients Within The Southern Salish Sea., Helen Berry, Danielle Claar, Bart Christiaen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Information on kelp forest dynamics within the Salish Sea is needed to understand and address stressors. Around 2014, large declines in kelp canopies were observed in the northeast Pacific, which were generally attributed to elevated seawater temperatures and Sea Star Wasting Disease. This event provided a natural, large scale experiment, allowing us to observe diverse responses across the Salish Sea landscape, and compare to other regions. We analyzed annual floating kelp canopy surveys from 2011 to 2020 along a gradient from the exposed coast to the Strait of Georgia, using long-term data from Washington’s outer coast, the southern Strait of …

Effects Of Low Oxygen Levels On Copepod Size Distribution With Depth In Hood Canal, Deana Crouser, Julie Keister, Dr. Daniel Grünbaum

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Deoxygenation and hypoxia are affecting marine trophic webs throughout the world’s oceans. Hood Canal, Puget Sound is a basin that experiences seasonal hypoxia due to its restricted circulation and high primary production. The region supports a large secondary trophic level dominated by mesozooplankton, and particularly copepods. Studies suggest that zooplankton exhibit changes in their vertical distribution when faced with low oxygen concentrations and even face mortality when concentrations fall below ~1 mg/l. Because zooplankton are an important food resource for many aquatic animals, a shift in their distribution could have major implications for the food chain. This study examines how …

Simultaneous Determination Of Steroid Hormones And Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products With Lc–Ms/Ms In Feces Of Killer Whales (Orcinus Orca), Xiangjun Liao

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A method enabling simultaneous measurement of steroid hormones and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in fecal samples of killer whales (Orcinus orca) has been developed and validated with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). The compounds include a suite of hormones such as glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoid, androgens, estrogens, progestogens and PPCPs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and antibacterial and antifungal agents. This method can be used to assess killer whale reproduction, stress and other physiological responses as well as contaminant related exposure. Further, it provides a reference method for the validation of new immunoassays such as radio immunoassay and enzyme …

How Data On Small Salmon Have Big Impacts, Supporting Recovery Monitoring And Informing Policy Decisions, Dawn Spilsbury Pucci, Joe Anderson, Peter Lisi, Mike Mchenry, Devin Flawd, Anya Voloshin, Jonah Keith, Andrew Berger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have been partnering for decades to monitor Puget Sound juvenile salmonid outmigration as part of the co-management commitment to rebuilding salmon populations that will support sustainable harvest for future generations, which is critical to addressing Treaty Rights. Juvenile salmon smolt trapping projects provide useful information on population abundance, productivity, and life-history diversity relevant to salmon conservation and management. Juvenile salmon outmigration studies continue in most major Puget Sound rivers, but projects are often funded, evaluated, and described individually by a variety of organizations. The goal of this panel discussion is …

Climate Assemblies: Lessons Learned And Results From Around The World And Washington State, Laura Berry, John Cambalik, Ed Chadd, Michael Chang, Derek Hoshiko, Brandon Letsinger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Citizens’ assemblies are an increasingly widespread form of democratic engagement and solution-finding. Assemblies convened specifically to address the climate crisis have taken place around the world, including in Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Poland, and France. France’s recent “Convention Citoyenne Pour Le Climat,” focused on reducing carbon emissions, led President Macron to pledge to adopt and fund 146 out of 149 policy recommendations. The Washington Climate Assembly (WA Climate Assembly) was initiated and funded by a group of volunteers, organized as People’s Voice on Climate. The nation’s first citizens’ assembly on this critical issue, the WA Climate Assembly brought together 77 …

Central Puget Sound Phytoplankton And Nutrient Dynamics, Kimberle Stark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound is a large, geographically complex, and highly productive estuarine system. The Central Basin is the largest of the four deep basins comprising Puget Sound. Primary producers (phytoplankton) serve key ecosystem functions as their abundances and taxonomic composition can impact higher trophic levels. Several factors can influence phytoplankton dynamics, including nutrient availability, water column mixing, climate, and grazing by zooplankton. In this system, coastal upwelling contributes the largest amount of nutrients. Localized watershed and anthropogenic sources also contribute nutrients to the system. King County (Seattle, WA) implements a long-term monitoring program with physical, chemical, and biological components designed to …

A Real-Time Data Assimilative Forecasting System For Southern Resident Killer Whales In The Salish Sea, Dr. Ruth Joy

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Marine ship traffic is a growing source of anthropogenic stress for at-risk cetaceans through physical and acoustic disturbances. Real-time whale locations and short-term forecasts of a few hours can mitigate these risks by providing lead time for commercial vessels to adjust their path and speed. Towards this end, we develop a real-time forecasting system that assimilates observations into a stochastic movement model to provide forecasts of future whale locations and trajectories. A state space model is used to combine the movement model with location observations. Real-time data ingestion and forecasting is implemented using a sequential data assimilation cycle based on …

Use Of An Open Knowledge Network For The Salish Sea, Paul Williams, Charlene Andrade, Philip Murphy, Steve Hinton, Sono Hashisaki

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

We face more and greater challenges with a new sense of urgency. Science organizations have long recognized the need for data management and curation to support decision making. However, the information needed today to make resource decisions goes beyond data and models. It also includes people, their knowledge and values, needs of programs and projects, funding, geographic information, and more. This panel discusses the use of an Open Knowledge Network (OKN) for the Salish Sea, an open technology platform for finding, sharing, and accessing information and tools for decision making. Panelists will describe one such OKN, the Social Ecological Open …

Effects Of Ocean Acidification And Warming On Salish Sea Kelps: A Meta-Analysis, Miranda Roethler

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Kelp (order Laminariales) is highly abundant and diverse in the Salish Sea, and serves a variety of functions, from ecosystem engineering, to providing food for herbivores and detritivores, to mariculture. To date, little research has been conducted in the Salish Sea on the effects of climate change (specifically ocean acidification and warming) on local kelp species. Decline in bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) in some areas of Puget Sound (Washington, USA) has generated concern amongst local stakeholders about the long-term health of Salish Sea kelp forests. Additionally, for local mariculture ventures it is important to understand how specific species of kelp …

Marine Monitor (M2): A New Approach For Measuring Human Activity In Haro Strait, Samantha Cope, Brendan Tougher, Virgil Zetterlind, Val Veirs, Scott Veirs

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Overlap of vessel activity and cetacean habitat is of concern in coastal areas due to potential impacts on individuals and populations, such as underwater noise masking the signals of soniferous species. These impacts are relevant in the Salish Sea as it is habitat for endangered Southern Resident killer whales and other marine mammals and is utilized by a wide variety of vessel types. Shipping traffic and the underwater soundscape are well-studied, but assessments have primarily used data provided by the Automatic Identification System (AIS). Smaller vessels, such as pleasure craft and fishing boats, that are not legally required to broadcast …

Opening Plenary, Scott Redman, Ginny Broadhurst, Cecilia Gobin, Patti Gobin, Christianne Wilhelmson, Dr. Kathryn L. Sobocinski, Dr. Isobel Pearsall

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Welcome from Conference Organizers Scott Redman, Executive Chair Cecilia Gobin, Program Co-Chair Julie Watson, Program Co-Chair Fran Wilshusen, Program Co-Chair Christianne Wilhelmson, Program Co-Chair Ginny Broadhurst, Salish Sea Institute Coast Salish Welcome Cecilia Gobin, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Coast Salish Perspectives on the Last 150 years Patti Gobin, Tulalip Tribes Patti Gobin has over 25 years of Community Development experience with the Tulalip Tribes. Presently, she is with the Natural Resource Treaty Rights office working with state, local and federal agencies regarding those issues that impact the life ways of the Tulalip Tribes. In addition to her years of experience, …

Comparing Polarimetric Signatures Of Proximate Tornadic And Non-Tornadic Supercells In Similar Environments, Devon Healey

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While much research has shown that characteristics of the environment surrounding supercells can potentially indicate their likelihood to become tornadic, it is not uncommon for tornadic and non-tornadic supercells to coexist in seemingly similar environments. In these situations, it is difficult operationally to separate tornadic from non-tornadic supercells using environmental observations alone. Given that tornadic and non-tornadic supercells have been found to coexist in similar environments, something must be occurring beneath the observational and/or model gridscale that is supporting tornadogenesis in some supercells while inhibiting it in others. This study examines dual-polarimetric radar signatures of proximate tornadic and non-tornadic supercells …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution And Habitat Selection Of Native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout And Nonnative Utah Chub, Darcy K. Mccarrick, Jeffrey C. Dillon, Brett High, Michael C. Quist

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Henrys Lake, Idaho, is a renowned trophy trout fishery that faces an uncertain future following the establishment of Utah Chub (UTC) Gila atraria. Utah Chub were first documented in the lake in 1993 and have become abundant over the past two decades. Little is known about the ecology of UTC, but they typically have negative effects on salmonids in systems where they have been introduced. We sought to fill knowledge gaps in UTC ecology and provide insight on potential interactions with Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (YCT) Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri. Ninety-four YCT and 95 UTC were radio-tagged in spring 2019 …

Population Genomic Dynamics Of Mesopelagic Lanternfishes Diaphus Dumerilii, Lepidophanes Guentheri, And Ceratoscopelus Warmingii (Family: Myctophidae) In The Gulf Of Mexico, Andrea Bernard, Kimberly A. Finnegan, Tracey Sutton, Ron Eytan, Max Weber, Mahmood Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Assessing the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWHOS) on deep-sea fish assemblages of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been hindered by an absence of baseline (pre-spill) data concerning the population genetic dynamics of these fishes. The lanternfishes (Myctophidae) are a speciose, yet understudied, taxonomic group, that comprise a significant portion of the global deep-sea biomass, making them integral members of meso- and bathy-pelagic food webs. Herein, we used a genomic approach (double digest restriction site associated DNA sequencing) to investigate the temporal genetic dynamics of three species of lanternfishes within the northern GOM in the region of …

Odu Researchers Will Put Buoys In The Mediterranean Sea To Help Schools Teach Climate Change, Mindy Ayala-Diaz

News Items

No abstract provided.

Baseline Health And Nutritional Parameters Of Wild Sand Tigers Carcharias Taurus Sampled In Delaware Bay, Lisa A. Hoopes, Tonya M. Clauss, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Dewayne A. Fox

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Species-specific hematological reference values are essential for diagnosis and treatment of disease and maintaining overall health of animals. This information is lacking for many species of elasmobranchs maintained in zoos and aquaria, thus reducing the effectiveness of care for these animals. Descriptive statistics and reference intervals were calculated for hematocrit and complete blood cell counts, biochemistry and protein electrophoresis parameters, trace minerals, vitamins, heavy metals, reproductive hormones, and fatty acids in the blood of 153 wild Sand Tigers Carcharias taurus of both sexes and a range of sizes caught in Delaware Bay (Delaware, USA). Mean hematocrit, total white blood cell …

Modeling Air Pressure Propagation Through Wind Cave And Jewel Cave: How Can Air Pressure Signals Inside Barometric Caves Be Predicted From Surface Pressure Measurements?, Annika K. Gomell, Andreas Pflitsch

International Journal of Speleology

Recent speleoclimatological research has shed new light on air pressure dynamics inside barometric caves by identifying pressure-modifying processes and resulting systematic differences between cave and surface air pressure. Based on these new findings, a multi- step quantitative model is developed and explored to predict air pressure inside Wind Cave and Jewel Cave – two major barometric cave systems in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA – from external surface measurements. Therefore, each identified speleoclimatological pressure process is translated into a mathematical operation. Model evaluation based on Pearson correlation and mean (absolute) deviation between model outputs and control measurements yields …

Controls On Buffering And Coastal Acidification In A Temperate Estuary, Christopher W. Hunt, Joseph Salisbury, Douglas Vandemark

Faculty Publications

Estuaries may be uniquely susceptible to the combined acidification pressures of atmospherically driven ocean acidification (OA), biologically driven CO2 inputs from the estuary itself, and terrestrially derived freshwater inputs. This study utilized continuous measurements of total alkalinity (TA) and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) from the mouth of Great Bay, a temperate northeastern U.S. estuary, to examine the potential influences of endmember mixing and biogeochemical transformation upon estuary buffering capacity (β–H). Observations were collected hourly over 28 months representing all seasons between May 2016 and December 2019. Results indicated that endmember mixing explained most of the observed variability …

S6e9: What Does Maine Need To Expand Electric Vehicle Use?, Ron Lisnet, Jonathan Rubin

The Maine Question

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Maine will require a broader adoption of electric vehicles, according to University of Maine economist Jonathan Rubin. Officials from the Maine Department of Transportation and other state agencies have a role to play in fueling the transition away from gas-powered cars and trucks. To guide them, Rubin, professor of economics and director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, and his colleagues from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) released a report that outlines strategies for reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

On this week’s episode of “The Maine Question,” Rubin discusses the report …