Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Controlled Designation Of Origin Should Be Created For The Salish Sea, Riley Starks

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

SalishCenter.org seeks to create a geographical destination called Salish Sea Certified. This controlled designation signifies that seafood harvested within the geographical boundaries of the Salish Sea, qualifies to be designated as such. We are currently working with government and stakeholders to accomplish this important goal. We believe that informed consumers will soon recognize the benefits of seafood harvested from local waters, and in turn, will be motivated to protect and improve the ecosystem of the Salish Sea. Our strong messaging and education strategy will give consumers an opportunity to develop a deep and meaningful relationship with local marine waters.

Assessing The Statistical Similarity Of Port Susan Bay Restoration And Reference Sites, Madison Hoiland

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Climate change and human interactions pose significant threats for the health of estuaries. In 2012 The Nature Conservancy (TNC) removed a dike at the mouth of the Stillaguamish river to restore ecosystem functioning and resilience to climate change. Monitoring reference zones is critical for contextualizing growth patterns in complicated systems like estuaries. The purpose of this study was to determine which reference zones were most similar to the restoration zone in Port Susan Bay. Using bulrush measurements collected during my internship with TNC, I used an excel T test to assess statistical similarity between zones based on the means of …

Climate Change Threatens Net Energy Uptake, Maturation, And Reproduction Of Pacific Sand Lance (Ammodytes Personatus) In The Central Salish Sea, Russel Barsh

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Juvenile Pacific Herring and Pacific Sand Lance (PSL) are the main prey of juvenile Chinook salmon migrating seaward through the San Juan Islands. Herring and Sand Lance also dominate the diet of resident Chinook (“Blackmouth”) that undoubtedly played an important historical role in the evolution of resident Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) lineages. Many Salish Sea marine birds target Pacific Herring or Pacific Sand Lance as well. Pacific Sand Lance abundance fluctuates considerably in the central Salish Sea, with an overall downward trend since 2009. The role of this forage fish in the Chinook-Killer Whale food web, and survival of many …

Connecting Nodes Throughout The Salish Sea: A Bottom-Up Approach To Strengthening Informed Decision-Making, Policy Making, And Marine Spatial Planning, Bridget John

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Salish Sea is an intricate coastal region that faces myriad anthropogenic challenges. With ocean acidification and warming, an expanding human population, and marine shipping traffic, it is clear that this biologically rich ecosystem requires tools and strategies that link science to policy and conservation actions. One of the core problems in the vast Salish Sea is a lack of connectivity and continuity across communities that conduct research, restoration, and marine spatial planning (MSP): often communities develop plans and policies in silos without sharing information or methods outside of their tight jurisdictions. The Howe Sound/Atl’ka7tsem Marine Reference Guide offers an …

Effects Of Local Topography On Streamflow And Stream Temperatures In Fish-Bearing Mountainous Streams Under A Warming Climate, Ryan David Murphy

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Western Washington is home to many indigenous tribal communities that have relied on the bountiful natural resources of the region for many hundreds of years. Mountainous watersheds provide valuable fish habitat for culturally and economically important fish species, such as salmonids. Given the historically temperate weather of the Pacific Northwest that is characterized by large amounts of both rainfall and snowfall, concern has grown over the effects that a warming climate might have on freshwater fish habitat. We use the high resolution Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) and coupled stream temperature River Basin Model (RBM) to examine the potential …

Elliott Bay Seawall Habitat Features -- Initial Monitoring Results For Nearshore Ecosystem, Merri Martz

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The City of Seattle is completing the replacement of the Elliott Bay Seawall along its downtown urban waterfront that included the installation of numerous unique features to enhance the nearshore marine shoreline for salmon migration and to improve nearshore productivity and the food web. The urbanized waterfront is constrained by numerous large piers that shade the nearshore and adjacent deep water from a historical legacy of filling in the nearshore. Key issues addressed by the project included improving natural lighting behind and under several large piers and providing an intertidal habitat corridor along the shoreline. This presentation will describe the …

Fungi Distribution In The Elwha Restoration Ecosystem, Colter Lemons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Fungi distribution in the Elwha restoration ecosystem Colter Lemons, Mary Childress Huxley College of the Environment Western Washington University Bellingham, Washington USA Abstract Fungi play important roles in forest restoration, however, factors affecting fungal species composition and distribution are unknown for restoration associated with dam removal. The need for this information is pressing as the number of dams approaching the end of their useful lives grows rapidly. This study aimed to answer what environmental factors influence fungal distribution in the Elwha restoration ecosystem, the largest dam removal in history. Fungal distributions were sampled in two Elwha study areas: the largest …

Habitat Recovery In The Salish Sea, One Community At A Time: Community Engagement For Socio-Ecological Resilience Of Coastal Restoration Projects, Anuradha Rao

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Community engagement builds both social and ecological resilience of restoration projects. This is particularly true in coastal areas, which are complex both ecologically and socially. The Salish Sea Nearshore Habitat Recovery Program builds on 20 years of community building towards coastal ecosystem restoration on the south coast of British Columbia, Canada. Funding was obtained by a small non-profit organization for seagrass and marine riparian restoration, and marine debris removal to support forage fish and juvenile salmon habitat recovery. The engagement and involvement of a broad community including Indigenous groups, coastal residents, all levels of government, academics and industry has resulted …

Juniorseadoctors.Org, Club And Hub For Salish Sea-Based Education, Mira Castle Lutz Castle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

SeaDoc Society youth education is raising Salish Sea literacy in youth and helping teachers meet science standards in a 3-part program: • Explore the Salish Sea A Nature Guide for Kids book and accompanying standards-aligned curriculum. Curriculum is being used in grades 3-8 classrooms, and also by marine education programs, who find that students who experience Explore the Salish Sea books and curriculum before a field experience have higher levels of enthusiasm and engagement during their program. • Junior SeaDoctors Club and Hub • Club For Kids: an online Salish Sea science club for kids in grades 3-8 with featured …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Seattle’S Seawall Enhancements On Juvenile Salmon-An Acoustic Perspective, Kerry Accola

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Seattle’s waterfront is a key migration route for juvenile Pacific salmon including: Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), and chum (Oncorhynchus keta). The hardwired tendency of these salmon to inhabit nearshore waters results in close association with coastline urbanization, including piers and seawalls. Part of Seattle’s seawall was replaced in 2018 with enhancements intended to aid the movement and distribution of juvenile salmon. These enhancements include: light-penetrating glass blocks in the overhanging sidewalk to decrease shade in the water below, a bench along the seawall to restore shallow water depths, and textured seawall and shelves for invertebrate colonization. The objective …

Never Underestimate A Well-Placed Poop Joke: Getting To The Bottom Of Water Quality Problems With A Fresh Take On Outreach, Karen Dubose

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Skagit County has been working hard to get to the bottom of local water quality problems. After 8 years, we faced a problem: our messaging had gotten stale and our progress was...a little backed up. Using the theory of social marketing, the county worked with a consultant to develop a campaign with a sense of humor that leaves out the lectures and respects our residents’ limited time and money. The PoopSmart campaign channels everyone’s inner five year old, using poop jokes to encourage everyone to do their dooty to manage livestock, pet, and human waste better. The results? A measurable …

Ocean Watch Reports And The Ocean Watch Task Force: A Powerful Science Translation Combination, Aroha Miller

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Howe Sound/Atl’ḵa7tsem is a fjord located within the Salish Sea. Over the last 100 plus years, this marine environment became degraded from industrial pollution, a growing human population and the consequent environmental pressures. In 2017, an Ocean Watch report on the state of Howe Sound/Atl’ḵa7tsem’s coastal ocean environment was released. The report provided evidence-based knowledge on key topics or issues, including several recommended actions. The report was written in accessible language to convey why and how actions needed to be taken and many important actions were listed for governments. In order to advocate for recommended actions, the Ocean Watch Task …

Progress On Eccc’S Contribution To A New Initiative Component That Focuses On Marine Vessel Emissions And Mitigations In The Salish Sea., Katelyn Wells

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As a result of the National Energy Board’s (NEB) Reconsideration Report on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) project there are accommodation measures that are intended to mitigate, avoid or lessen potential effects associated with the project and related marine shipping. Environment Climate Change Canada (ECCC), along with other federal agencies, is working to implement the Salish Sea Initiative. One aspect in particular is analysis related to cumulative effects and mitigation measures for regional marine vessel air pollutant emissions. Marine vessel traffic is a significant source of air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions in the Salish Sea, affecting air quality in …

Puget Sound Vital Sign Revision: Objectives For Puget Sound Recovery And Protection, Ron Thom

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Since the mid-1980’s, there have been focused federal, state and local efforts to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem. Beginning in 2008 the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) has produced Action Agendas that describe comprehensive recovery programs and, since 2011, have identified a set of Vital Signs and indicators. As of 2018, PSP identified 25 Vital Signs (VS) with 52 affiliated indicators. The PSP is now undertaking a collaborative effort to revise the VS and indicators to address known concerns and to situate them in a framework of other types of progress measures. Revised VS and indicators will characterize biophysical condition and …

Reefs For Rockfish: A Collaborative Approach To Monitor Populations And Increase Awareness In Howe Sound., Amanda Weltman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Artificial reefs are a conservation tool that can increase biodiversity and habitat complexity in degraded habitats around the world. In some areas, they can be effective at helping to counter stressors such as overfishing by increasing the abundance of coral and fish. In addition to providing habitat, they also provide an opportunity to engage non-scientists in monitoring projects as the public can be involved in both the design and monitoring of these artificial structures. While numerous artificial reef projects exist, many are located in warm tropical waters with limited focus on the role that artificial structures can play for fish …

Seasonal Trends In Cu, Ag And Cd Content In Strait Of Georgia Zooplankton, Bertha Iselle Flores Ruiz

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The temporal variations of copper (Cu), silver (Ag) and cadmium (Cd) content in the Strait of Georgia (SoG) zooplankton were measured between 2017 and 2018. We present the first values measured for these trace metals in zooplankton from this region and how they compare with values in other regions in the world. Our results suggest that there are significant seasonal trends in carbon-normalized Ag and Cu contents in zooplankton, and that these two metals tend to increase with increasing zooplankton size. Additionally, the trends on metal content in Ag –a toxic, nonessential metal– are similar to those for Cu-an essential …

Sound Impacts 2.0, Aaron Clark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In 2015, Stewardship Partners began creating a pilot impact metrics portal for Puget Sound called Sound Impacts (www.SoundImpacts.org). Now in its 4th year of operation, the portal tracks and provides data-based storytelling resources for 6,332 individual projects that have an estimated annual impact of managing 815,258,094 gallons of stormwater. Dozens of organizations and agencies are using Sound Impacts to track and catalog their efforts and others are using it as they consider how and where to make new investments in ecological restoration and green infrastructure. In 2020, Sound Impacts will undergo a redevelopment to add ecological impacts and co-benefits beyond …

Species Checklists For Salish Sea Seaweeds, Isaak Haberman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

There are nearly 700 seaweed species, subspecies and varieties reported in the Northeast Pacific, many with a distribution that includes British Columbia. Yet, it can be difficult to access reported distribution information at a regional scale; for example: does a seaweed species reported from Southern B.C. include the Salish Sea or just the West coast of Vancouver Island? Occurrence data for many seaweeds exist in the form of herbarium specimens, DNA records, and observations made by governmental agencies and citizen science initiatives. However, there are challenges to building species lists from these data, including: difficulty collating the disparate data types …

The Hood Canal Bridge Impedes Migration Of Juvenile Salmonids, Emily Bishop

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Between 2006 and 2010, Moore et al. (2013) conducted an acoustic tagging study to evaluate early marine survival of outmigrating steelhead. Results of that study showed high mortality near the Hood Canal Bridge, ranging between 0 and 36%, which led to the formation of the Hood Canal Bridge Assessment Team. The Assessment Team set out to examine water quality, predator presence, and physical aspects of the bridge structure as they related to steelhead outmigration in 2017 and 2018. As part of the Team, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe used a variety of sampling techniques to characterize biota assemblage, abundance, and …

Using The Collaborative Model Of Storm For Impact And Environmental Engagement, Mary Rabourn

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The environment needs communications and engagement programs that are as professional as other environmental projects. STORM (Stormwater Outreach for Regional Municipalities) offers a model for environmental professionals on: 1. Crowd sourcing engagement and action, 2. Sharing a learning environment on best practices, 3. How collaboration adds up to resources, partners, training and impact. Projects of any size can use these approaches to improve outreach. STORM collaborates to design, create and evaluate programs that engage diverse audiences in environmental actions. Over 83 jurisdictions and nonprofit partners use the collective action model to deliver award winning programs. Examples of these techniques will …

Vigor Industrial Southwest Yard Habitat Project: Demolition Of Shipways And Piers On The Duwamish River And Construction Of Transition Zone Habitat, Johnathan Cook

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Vigor Industrial owns a 27-acre facility at the mouth of the Western Waterway of the Duwamish River. This facility primarily constructs and repairs midsized to large maritime vessels. In 2014, Vigor began negotiating with NOAA a settlement for Natural Resource Damages associated with the Todd Shipyard Sediment Operable Unit of the Harbor Island Superfund Site. Since that time, Vigor has reached an agreement for a Consent Decree and the scope of a habitat restoration project to be constructed at the Shipyard. Using the 2013 PEIS prepared by NOAA, in conjunction with the Elliot Bay Trustees Council, Vigor has designed a …

Integrating Synthetic Biology Derived Variables Into Ecological Risk Assessment Using The Bayesian Network – Relative Risk Model: Gene Drives To Control Nonindigenous M. Musculus On Southeast Farallon Island, Ethan A. Brown

Institute of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Publications

Ecological risk assessment has not been conducted for the proposed environmental applications of synthetic biology. To develop a quantitative framework for risk assessment of synthetic biology, I selected Southeast Farallon Island as a case study for modeling the deployment of gene drive modified house mice to reduce impacts to threatened species. Southeast Farallon Island is part of the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The island is populated by invasive house mice that impact indigenous species. Gene drive technology has been proposed as a method to suppress invasive rodent populations through CRISPR-mediated genome editing. I applied the Bayesian Network – Relative …

Original Environmental Education Lessons And Curriculum, Waverly Shreffler

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This project is a culmination of my learning through Huxley and the Honors Program designed with the intent of exercising creativity, reflection, and resourcefulness to better myself as a future educator. I have designed a curriculum with five unique units and several coinciding lesson plans with ninth and tenth grade learners in mind. This work reflects my educational philosophy of bringing traditional curricular disciplines into relation through interdisciplinary teaching and multimodal learning. As an Environmental Education student, it has become my duty to acknowledge Place, Indigenous Knowledge, and social justice as integral to the future of education. I try to …

Spectral Variability Of Weathered Basalts And Sandstones, Isabella Seppi

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Spectroscopy can be used to uncover the composition, and therefore the geological history, of rock surfaces and is a major tool for understanding the geologic history of rocks on Mars. The spectra taken from the rovers and orbital spacecraft and at Mars are taken at many different angles and these angles can affect the spectral readings taken from weathered rock surfaces. I will be researching how Mars analog rocks reflect light at different angles. Profs. Melissa Rice, Mike Kraft and Sean Mulcahy have received a grant from NASA to build a hemispheric goniometer which will measure spectra taken form weathered …

Call Of The Chorus Frog: An Undergraduate Experience In Field Research In The Elwha River Basin, Nicole Vandeputte

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In scientific disciplines, students are not often taught to write in a way that is easily understood by people outside of their field. It is my goal to learn to communicate scientific research to a broad audience in a way that is both understandable and interesting. In spring of 2019, I participated in Huxley’s environmental science field camp. We traveled to the Elwha River basin in Olympic National Park and conducted wildlife research projects of our own design. My group’s research assessed amphibian habitat in two areas of the park, one of which was recently exposed after the removal of …

Knitting Math: Geometric Shapes, Cynthia Wright

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

When knitting 3-D objects such as hats or socks, the knitter is using geometry and mathematics to make the 2-dimensional string into 3-dimensional shapes. In this project, I will be creating mathematically accurate, geometric shapes, to directly show the relationship between the mathematical formulas, knitting patterns, and the knitted objects. There is more than one way to understand and perceive math, one of which is knitting. Past mathematical knitters have shown the relationship between algebra and complex shapes (such as a Klein bottle or Möbius strip) and knitting. In an effort to explore how more accessible mathematical shapes and concepts …

Assessing Impacts Of Rising Pco2 On Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Swimming Mechanics, Darby Finnegan

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Concern over the impacts of water acidification on fishes is growing due to their value commercially and ecologically. Although research has found that acidification negatively affects fish development, growth, and their ability to take up oxygen, little is known about how these effects translate to biomechanical changes in swimming behavior. We sought to determine whether freshwater acidification altered the performance and biomechanics of Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) swimming using a circulating swim tunnel. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to complete our experiment, but we will provide our preliminary results, as well as a description of the experimental …

Sorting Out Sortases: Designing A Better Enzyme And Synthesizing Trapping Peptides Towards Capturing A Bound-State Structure, Katherine Johnston

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Sortase A is a powerful protein engineering tool that cleaves proteins and attaches them to an acyl acceptor of choice. However, the most active wild type variants of sortase A only show high activity at a limited number of cleavage motifs, and so work is underway to create a variant of sortase A that shows high activity at a greater variety of cleavage sites. Additionally, current studies attempting to optimize the enzyme require a way to stabilize an unstructured loop for the crystallization, in order to collect X-ray diffraction structural data. Here, preliminary results from the design of an “loop-swapped” …

Current And Historical Estuary Extent In Major River Deltas Of The Puget Sound: A Comparison Of Estimates, Ashley Arthur

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Puget Sound estuaries and their associated tidal wetlands have experienced extensive loss and degradation since land use conversion and the construction of tidal barriers began in the 1850s with the arrival of Euro-American settlers. Efforts to restore tidal wetlands in the Puget Sound require knowledge of the historical and current extent of tidal wetlands, but tidal wetland loss estimates vary from 53% to slightly over 80%. Thus, this study compared estimates of the current and historical extent of tidal wetlands in the 16 major river deltas of the Puget Sound produced by Brophy et al. (2019), Ramirez (2019b), and Simenstad …

Nimbleknow User Documentation, Camille Estee Ottaway

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

NimbleKnow User Documentation is an Honors Project by Camille Ottaway

NimbleKnow is a simple web application that teachers can use to pose questions which students can then answer using their basic smartphones or tablets. In order to accommodate ESL learners our application includes translation features. Having a user-friendly classroom technology can promote more engagement and collaboration between students and faculty alike in a classroom environment.