Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Putting Plans Into Action: Kelp Conservation And Recovery In Washington, Dana Oster

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Vibrant kelp forests are vital to the health of the Salish Sea. The Puget Sound Kelp Conservation and Recovery Plan (Kelp Plan) provides a research and management framework for coordinated action to improve understanding of kelp forest population changes and declines, while also working to implement and strengthen recovery and protective measures. Since the Kelp Plan’s release in 2020, it has guided tangible collaborative action across multiple partners. Highlights and ongoing actions since the release of the Kelp plan include: 1) a successful Washington State legislative request to fund kelp research and Kelp Plan coordination; 2) an assessment to understand …

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 …

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, …

Zooplankton Recovery From A Whole-Lake Disturbance: Examining Roles Of Abiotic Factors, Biotic Interactions, And Traits, Brian N. Mcgann, Angela L. Strecker

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Community assembly following disturbance is a key process in determining the composition and function of the future community. However, replicated studies of community assembly at whole-ecosystem scales are rare. Here, we describe a series of whole-lake experiments, in which the recovery of zooplankton communities was tracked following an ecosystem-scale disturbance, that is, application of the piscicide, rotenone. Using a before-after-control-impact design, 14 lakes in eastern Washington were studied: Seven lakes were treated with rotenone, while seven lakes acted as reference systems. Each lake was monitored up to 6 months before and 1–2 years after the rotenone treatments. Zooplankton samples and …

Nsea's Future Leaders Of Whatcom County (Flow), Emma Burgess

College of the Environment Internship Reports

During the spring of 2022 I was a Future Leaders of Whatcom County (FLOW) intern with the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA), a community-based nonprofit organization that educates, inspires, and engages the community to take action to keep wild salmon here for future generations.

This paper will provide a background detailing my motivations and the events that lead me to this internship, a description of NSEA and the specific projects I completed, a discussion of my personal and professional development over the course of the spring, and a collection of my pictures from the season.

Can Women Science?: A Climate Survey To Address Gender Inequity In Wwu’S Geology And Physics/Astronomy Departments, Raina Shaw

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This research study aims to assess and analyze gendered differences in student perceptions of the environment and climate in WWU’s Geology and Physics & Astronomy Departments. Underlying hypotheses involve the perceptions, comfort, and discrimination of women and gender minorities in male-dominated spaces. We also theorize that these gendered differences will increase with seniority and more so within physics than in geology. In addition to testing these hypotheses, we sought to collect relevant student feedback on factors that influence their perceptions of the climate & environment, to identify areas for future study and formal program assessment. From 56 respondents, this study …

Chemical And Physical Tailoring Of Guanidine-Based Covalent Adaptable Networks, Kate A. Mcconnell, Michael B. Larsen

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

We present the synthesis of two different guanidine-based CAN materials which, unlike traditional thermoset polymer networks, can undergo an exchange reaction called thermal guanidine metathesis (TGM) and be reprocessed. Thermosets, which are polymer networks characterized by permanent covalent crosslinks between chains, have a myriad of commercial applications. However, a major drawback to thermosets is their inability to be reprocessed. To develop a more sustainable thermoset-like material, CANs exhibit breaking and reforming of crosslinks under certain conditions that enable reprocessing. To elucidate the effects of varied guanidine structure on the rheological and mechanical properties of these dissociative CANs, we synthesized two …

Bootstrapping The Likelihood Ratio Test To Determine Change Points, Lili Donovan

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Change point analysis is the process of determining changes to the mean of a sequence of independent observations. The goal is to determine the location of the change and how the change impacts the parameter in question. In this project, we applied the likelihood ratio test (LR) which uses a binary segmentation method to split the data at each change point. The data is iteratively split at each change point until every location of change is identified. The p-value is typically computed using the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic, however, it can be unreliable when the number of observations …

Blood Coagulation Factor Ix: Purification, Isolation, Activation, Alex Macneil

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper attempts to provide an optimized strategy for the purification, activation, and isolation of blood coagulation Factor IX mutants. The goal of this work is to enable future biochemical and structural studies of Factor IX to a gain a better understanding of the structural-functional role this protein plays in the blood coagulation cascade. The orchestration and amplification of the blood coagulation cascade requires the binding of Factor VIII (FVIII) to an activated platelet surface, where it serves as a cofactor to a serine protease, Factor IX (FIX). Factor IX circulates the bloodstream as a catalytically silent multidomain protein1. Like …

Extraction And Interpretation Of Fatty Alcohols In The Chuckanut Formation, Ellis Lower

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Earth’s climate can be tracked through geologic time by studying palaeobotanical conditions, as plants are sensitive to fluctuations in climate. Plant biomarkers (molecules found in the epicuticular wax of leaves) can be preserved for millions of years in sedimentary rocks, act as molecular fossils, and provide insight into the type of vegetation cover at the time of deposition. This project focused on extracting one such class of compounds: fatty alcohols. We used fatty alcohols as biomarkers to improve palaeobotanical reconstructions of the Chuckanut Formation during the Eocene. The fatty alcohols found in samples lacking macrofossils from the Slide member of …

Synthetic Development Of Carbodiimide-Containing Polymers As Precursors To Guanidine-Based Covalent Adaptable Networks, Hayden Houck

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Covalent adaptable networks (CANs) are a newly emerging class of polymers that uniquely bridge the gap between traditional thermosets and thermoplastics. The distinguishing characteristic of these polymer networks is that they contain reversible crosslink bonds that allows these materials to be recycled. Two of the currently best-understood CAN systems include those based on Diels-Alder1 and transesterification2 reactions, both of which involve dissociative exchange mechanisms. Our group aimed to create a novel CAN system based on the thermal guanidine metathesis (TGM) reaction3 by using a guanidine functional group as a crosslinker. In order to create a guanidine-crosslinked network, our research took …

Coach Otto: Creating A Program To Program Weightlifting, Haylee Rawdin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper contains the software documentation for an app called Coach Otto. Coach Otto is an app that assists coaches in creating individualized Olympic Weightlifting programs for their athletes. The documentation for Coach Otto explores the product in the context of user-centered design. Through the use of a PR/FAQ, User Personas, User Journeys, and User Stories, the document explores who the users are, what challenges they face, and how Coach Otto aims to address those challenges.

Physical Properties Of Brackett Emitters In The Apogee Dr17 Catalog, Elliott Khilfeh, Hunter Campbell, Kevin R. Covey, Marina Kounkel, Richard Ballentyne

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In the process of accumulating mass (accretion), young stars channel ionized gas from the protoplanetary disk to the stellar surface along magnetic field lines. Upon impacting the photosphere, the gas cools down, recombining and emitting hydrogen spectral lines. Measuring these emission lines allows us to determine the temperature and density of the gas in those accretion streams. This then enables us to test whether those parameters depend on the accretion rate. We present measurements of equivalent widths and line ratios for Brackett (Br) 11 – 20 lines for 3366 observations of 940 pre-main sequence stars observed with APOGEE as of …

Exploring Methods Of Collecting Accessibility Feedback, Selah Bellscheidt

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Accessibility, the practice of making a website or application easily usable and understandable by people with disabilities, is essential to ensuring that all users are able to participate equally in using the Web. However, currently many websites have accessibility issues. This study interviews 11 software developers and designers to learn about the methods that they use to collect accessibility feedback during the development and maintenance of websites and mobile applications. The research revealed a lack of standardized accessibility education at the post-secondary level, as well as a myriad of methods used to obtain accessibility feedback from automatic accessibility checkers to …