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Too Few Salmon is Far Worse Than Too Many Boats for Killer Whales

By Guest PostJune 7, 2012Environment, Natureblack labrador, boats, canada, candice emmons, chinook salmon, columbia river, elwha river, factor, food source, fraser river, fraser river chinook, glucocorticoids, haro, hormone level, juan de fuca, katherine ayres, killer whales, klamath river, marine mammals, pacific northwest, puget sound, rebecca booth, resident killer whales, salish sea, salmon, samuel wasser, sandra hines, scat detection dogs, southern resident, straits of georgia, toxins, transient orcas, tucker, university of washington, US, west coast

Not having enough Chinook salmon to eat stresses out southern resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest more than having boatloads of whale watchers nearby, according to hormone levels of whales summering in the Salish Sea.

In lean times, however, the stress level normally associated with boats becomes more pronounced, further underscoring the importance of having enough prey, according to Katherine Ayres, an environmental and pet-behavior consultant who led the research while a University of Washington doctoral student in biology. Ayres is lead author of a paper appearing online June 6, in the journal PLoS ONE.

In a surprise finding, hormone levels show that southern resident killer whales are best fed when they come into the Salish Sea in the late spring, Ayres said. The Salish Sea includes Puget Sound and the straits of Georgia, Haro and Juan de Fuca. Once there they get a necessary boost later in the summer while eating Chinook salmon at the height of the Fraser River run. (more…)

One Year Later: Japan Quake, Tsunami a Cautionary Tale for Pacific Northwest

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2012Environment, Generalalki, british columbia, cascadia subduction zone, earthquakes, hokkaido university, Japan, jody bourgeois, john vidale, long beach peninsula, magnitude 9, northern california, ocean shores, one year anniversary, oregon, pacific northwest, prediction, puget sound, sapporo, seattle fault, seismometer readings, sunday, tohoku earthquake, tsunami, tsunami evacuation, united states, university of washington, Washington

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, killing more than 16,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

University of Washington scientists say the event has some important lessons for the Pacific Northwest – most notably, not that a similar event can happen here but that it WILL happen here, and that this region is still much less prepared than Japan was a year ago. (more…)

University of Washington’s institute to get as much as $100 million to study atmosphere, ocean

By Guest PostJune 15, 20101 commentEnvironmentaerosols, atmosphere, atmospheric particles, climate and its impacts, college of the environment, dennis hartmann, environmental challenges, joint institute for the study of the atmosphere and oce, low oxygen, marine ecosystems, national oceanic and atmospheric administration, noaa, ocean, ocean acidification, pacific northwest, polar regions, puget sound, thomas ackerman, tsunami, university of washington

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected the University of Washington as a key partner for expanded, in-depth study of some of the most pressing environmental challenges involving the oceans and the atmosphere.

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Too Few Salmon is Far Worse Than Too Many Boats for Killer Whales

One Year Later: Japan Quake, Tsunami a Cautionary Tale for Pacific Northwest

University of Washington’s institute to get as much as $100 million to study atmosphere, ocean