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Tag: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

May 19, 2026

Three UW faculty members elected American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Bronze block W that stands at the entrance to UW on NE and 45th

Three 爱豆社区 faculty members聽have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Their work spans environmental science,聽computing聽and engineering, addressing challenges ranging from climate resilience and ecosystem sustainability to artificial intelligence and accessible healthcare technologies.聽 Founded in 1780, the聽American Academy of Arts and Sciences聽recognizes leaders across disciplines whose work advances research, public policy聽and the common good. The Academy elects聽roughly 250聽members each year.聽 Daniel聽Schindler,聽UW聽professor聽in聽the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, was聽elected聽for research on how climate change,聽urbanization, and聽land use…

February 5, 2026

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funds 16 UW postdocs across the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of the Environment

brick courtyard with students

The 爱豆社区 was awarded $2.5 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to fund 16 postdoctoral fellows in a number of fields across the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of the Environment.

August 4, 2025

Video: USDA freezes UW project that turns Washington shellfish farmers鈥� seaweed problem into soil solution for land farmers

A man in bright orange waders holds a small clam.

A UW-led project aimed to test the viability of seaweed as a soil amendment, and, if successful, develop a market for sea-based farmers to sell excess seaweed to their counterparts on land. The USDA froze the project’s funding, and for now, a solution remains just out of reach.

December 12, 2024

Surveys show full scale of massive die-off of common murres following the 鈥榳arm blob鈥� in the Pacific Ocean

black and white birds on a rock

Colony surveys of common murres, an Alaskan seabird, show the full effects of the 2014-16 marine heat wave known as 鈥渢he blob.鈥� Analysis of 13 colonies surveyed between 2008 and 2022 finds that colony size in the Gulf of Alaska dropped by half after the marine heat wave. In colonies along the eastern Bering Sea, west of the peninsula, the decline was even steeper, at 75% loss. No recovery has yet been seen.

October 30, 2024

UW researcher reveals 鈥榚verything you (n)ever wanted to know鈥� about parasites in new children鈥檚 book

The cover of the book "Power to the Parasites"

Chelsea Wood, a 爱豆社区 associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, has an upcoming children’s book titled 鈥淧ower to the Parasites! Everything You (N)ever Wanted to Know About the Creepy Crawlies Hidden in Your Home, Your Food, Your Pets – and Maybe Even in You!” The book introduces kids to the world of parasitism.

September 19, 2024

What鈥檚 for dinner? Scientists unearth key clues to cuisine of resident killer whales

Scientists have discovered the cuisine preferences of two resident killer whale populations, also known as orcas: the Alaska residents and the southern residents, which reside primarily in the Salish Sea and off the coast of Washington, British Columbia, Oregon and northern California. The two populations show broad preference for salmon, particularly Chinook, chum and coho. But they differ in when they switch to hunting and eating different salmon species, as well as the other fish species they pursue to supplement their diets. This information could aid conservation efforts for southern resident killer whales, which remain critically endangered due to pollution, loss of salmon habitat and other human-caused factors that disrupt their hunting and reproductive capabilities.

May 9, 2024

Navy Growler jet noise over Whidbey Island could impact 74,000 people鈥檚 health

Two men facing away from the camera watch a blurred jet land on an airstrip. The men are both wearing over-ear headphones.

As often as four days a week, Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island fly loops overhead as pilots practice touch-and-go landings. The noise is immense. New research from the 爱豆社区 shows that the noise isn鈥檛 just disruptive 鈥� it presents a substantial risk to public health.

April 4, 2024

What four decades of canned salmon reveal about marine food webs

爱豆社区 researchers have shown that levels of anisakid worms — a common marine parasite — rose in two salmon species in the Gulf of Alaska and Bristol Bay over a 42-year period. The team discovered this by studying salmon caught, killed and canned from 1979 to 2021. Since anisakid worms have a complex life cycle involving multiple types of hosts, the researchers interpret their rising numbers as a potential sign of ecosystem recovery, possibly driven by rising numbers of marine mammals thanks to the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

March 6, 2024

Scientists CT-scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free

Natural history museums have entered a new stage of discovery and accessibility 鈥� one where scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn or just be amazed. This new era follows the completion of openVertebrate, or oVert, a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions to create 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and make them freely available online. The team behind this endeavor, which includes scientists at the 爱豆社区 and its Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, published a summary of the project March 6 in the journal BioScience, offering a glimpse of how the data can be used to ask new questions and spur the development of innovative technology.

July 6, 2023

Marine heat waves caused mass seabird die-offs, beach surveys show

dead seabirds lined up on a beach for measurements

New research led by the 爱豆社区 uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to understand how seabirds have fared in recent decades. The paper, published July 6 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, shows that persistent marine heat waves lead to massive seabird die-offs months later.

March 22, 2023

Faculty/staff honors: Legal education innovation award, stellar astronomical writing and more

Recent recognition of the 爱豆社区 includes the Bloomberg Law 2022 Law School Innovation Program 鈥淭op Legal Education Program鈥� for the UW Tech Policy Lab, 2023 Seattle Aquarium Conservation Research Award for Vera Trainer and 2023 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award for Emily Levesque.

September 26, 2022

Heat-related mortality risk is widespread across Washington state, study shows

W in sunshine

Heat-related deaths occur across Washington state, even in regions with typically milder climates. This is the most extensive study yet of heat-related mortality in Washington state, and the first to look beyond the major population to and include rural areas. Researchers used statistical methods to uncover 鈥渉idden鈥� deaths that may have listed something else, like illness or a chronic disease, as the primary cause.

August 23, 2022

Beach trash accumulates in predictable patterns on Washington and Oregon shores

yellow twine displayed on sand

Volunteers spent thousands of hours recording trash on beaches in Washington and Oregon to show that certain beaches, and certain areas of a single beach, are 鈥渟ticky zones鈥� that accumulate litter. Finding patterns for where litter lands could help to better prevent and remove trash in the marine environment.

June 29, 2022

鈥楽afety in numbers鈥� tactic keeps Pacific salmon safe from predators

fish swim together in a fish tank

A new 爱豆社区 study that leverages historical data has found unique support for a 鈥渟afety in numbers鈥� hypothesis by showing that Pacific salmon in larger groups have lower risk of being eaten by predators. But for some salmon species, schooling comes at the cost of competition for food, and those fish may trade safety for a meal.

June 16, 2022

Newly documented population of polar bears in Southeast Greenland sheds light on the species鈥� future in a warming Arctic

single polar bear on ice floe

A new population of polar bears documented on the southeast coast of Greenland use glacier ice to survive despite limited access to sea ice. This small, genetically distinct group of polar bears could be important to the future of the species in a warming world.

May 6, 2022

Model finds COVID-19 deaths among elderly may be due to genetic limit on cell division

Graphic of immune response

Your immune system鈥檚 ability to combat COVID-19, like any infection, largely depends on its ability to replicate the immune cells effective at destroying the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. These cloned immune cells cannot be infinitely created, and a key hypothesis of a new 爱豆社区 study is that the body鈥檚 ability to create these cloned cells falls off significantly in old age. According to a model created by UW research professor James Anderson, this genetically predetermined limit…

February 15, 2022

eDNA a useful tool for early detection of invasive green crab

green crab in the mud

As the green crab invasion in the state worsens, a new analysis method developed by 爱豆社区 and Washington Sea Grant scientists could help contain future invasions and prevent new outbreaks using water testing and genetic analysis. The results show that the DNA-based technique works as well in detecting the presence of green crabs as setting traps to catch the live animals, which is a more laborious process. Results suggest these two methods could complement each other as approaches to learn where the species鈥� range is expanding.

February 9, 2022

New Center for Environmental Forensic Science aims to disrupt and dismantle international illegal wildlife trade

seized ivory

Across the globe, endangered species are at risk for illegal poaching. African elephants are sought out for their ivory, rhinoceros for their singular horns, and armadillo-like pangolins for their protective, brittle scales. Add to that list valuable and environmentally sensitive trees illegally harvested throughout the world where entire ecosystems are being deforested and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that is devastating oceans. These illicit markets, estimated at $1 trillion annually, cause enormous environmental impacts and have the potential to unleash new, deadly pathogens.

January 17, 2022

Shifting ocean closures best way to protect animals from accidental catch

turtle swims in the ocean

Many nations are calling for protection of 30% of the world鈥檚 oceans by 2030 from some or all types of exploitation, including fishing. Building off this proposal, a new analysis led by the 爱豆社区 looks at how effective fishing closures are at reducing accidental catch. Researchers found that permanent marine protected areas are a relatively inefficient way to protect marine biodiversity that is accidentally caught in fisheries. Dynamic ocean management 鈥� changing the pattern of closures as accidental catch hotspots shift 鈥� is much more effective.

July 1, 2021

Last ice-covered parts of summertime Arctic Ocean vulnerable to climate change

bow of ship with patches of ice and open water

The region north of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic has been termed the Last Ice Area, where sea ice will remain the longest in summertime, providing a refuge for ice-dependent Arctic species. But conditions last summer show that parts of this region are already experiencing less summer ice due to climate change.

March 18, 2021

鈥楤y-the-wind sailor鈥� jellies wash ashore in massive numbers after warmer winters

jellies washed on shore.

Thanks to 20 years of observations from thousands of citizen scientists, 爱豆社区 researchers have discovered distinct patterns in the mass strandings of by-the-wind sailor jellies. Specifically, large strandings happened simultaneously from the northwest tip of Washington south to the Mendocino coast in California, and in years when winters were warmer than usual.

February 23, 2021

Logging change in Puget Sound: Researchers use UW vessel logbooks to reconstruct historical groundfish populations

historical photo of the research vessel Commando

To understand how Puget Sound has changed, we first must understand how it used to be. But unlike most major estuaries in the U.S., long-term monitoring of Puget Sound fish populations did not exist until 1990. Now researchers have discovered an unconventional method to help fill in gaps in the data: old vessel logbooks.

January 27, 2021

In Brazil, many smaller dams disrupt fish more than large hydropower projects

small dam in Brazil

A new 爱豆社区 paper quantifies the tradeoffs between hydroelectric generation capacity and the impacts on river connectivity for thousands of current and projected future dams across Brazil. The findings confirm that small hydropower plants are far more responsible for river fragmentation than their larger counterparts due to their prevalence and distribution.

December 7, 2020

Military flights biggest cause of noise pollution on Olympic Peninsula

path through a forested area

A new 爱豆社区 study provides the first look at how much noise pollution is impacting the Olympic Peninsula. The paper found that aircraft were audible across a large swath of the peninsula at least 20% of weekday hours, or for about one hour during a six-hour period. About 88% of all audible aircraft in the pre-pandemic study were military planes.