To gauge potential carbon sequestration in Northwest estuaries, researchers measure stored carbon in a Stillaguamish River saltmarsh restoration, and how fast it accumulates.
Principal Investigator
John Rybczyk
This project seeks to determine the population structure and the genetic basis of phenotypic diversity in native eelgrass (Zostera marina) populations in Washington State.
Principal Investigator
Kerry Naish
Researchers are investigating the relationship between Puget Sound eelgrass and porewater sulfide, aiding in restoration efforts and informing eelgrass restoration strategies in Puget Sound.
Principal Investigator
David Shull
Using trained birdwatchers, remote sensors, and seine sampling, researchers determine how fish and seabirds use eelgrass meadows from Willapa to Fidalgo Bay.
Principal Investigator
Jennifer Ruesink
This research provided long-needed data and protocols for evaluating beach armoring impacts and shoreline restoration benefits, leveraging state funds to expand this research.
Principal Investigator
Megan Dethier
Researchers provide precise data on the benefits of Seattle seawall enhancements, enabling managers to choose the best elements for improving juvenile salmon survival and adult returns.
Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell
Investigators aim to advance understanding of how different plankton communities respond to physical and biological factors throughout the Salish Sea by using new, powerful and inexpensive technology from the field of metagenomics
Principal Investigator
Julie Keister
How Elwha dam removals affect sediment deposition, light obstruction, water conditions, and algae and other marine life at the river's mouth.
Principal Investigator
Andrea Ogston
This project uses a new, state-of-the-art technique called compound-specific isotope analysis to examine the ratios of two nitrogen isotopes in archived seal bone collagen. With these data, researchers will be able to address hypotheses about the role of increasing marine predator biomass on coastal ecosystems.
Principal Investigator
Gordon Holtgrieve
Joining a collaborative team of scientists, researchers are investigating a wide range of ecosystems and salmonid populations in the newly reopened Elwha river system, documenting the “before” needed to understand the “after” that will follow two historic dam removals.
Principal Investigator
Thomas Quinn
Engineered log jams are being tested for their ability to promote shallow groundwater upwelling, which can help create cool-water refuges critical for Pacific salmon.
Principal Investigator
James Helfield
Researchers study the link between shoreline type (armored, restored, natural) and fish assemblages by conducting surveys and integrating their new data into an existing database to gain insight into this link at multiple spatial scales.
Principal Investigator
Tessa Francis
Local officials, state resource managers and conscientious property owners have shown growing enthusiasm for removing bulkheads to restore natural shorelines and shore habitats.
Principal Investigator
Jeffrey Cordell
In collaboration with the City of Seattle, investigators utilize a habitat-friendly design for documenting activity around the downtown seawall, showing the way to better seawall design around the world.
Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell
Researchers will assess whether native eelgrass and Pacific oysters can synergistically enhance their environments.
Principal Investigator
Carolyn Friedman
This project will deploy a new imager network to collect and disseminate continuous, broad-scale data on harmful algal blooms to improve detection, monitoring, and mitigation processes.
Principal Investigator
Daniel Grünbaum
Investigators aim to advance understanding of how different plankton communities respond to physical and biological factors throughout the Salish Sea by using new, powerful and inexpensive technology from the field of metagenomics
Principal Investigator
Julie Keister
Researchers created new imaging technology for monitoring harmful Alexandrium and Heterosigma algae, and developed a new model for predicting when and where Heterosigma will form HABs.
Principal Investigator
Daniel Grünbaum
Researchers will survey for algal toxins in fish species caught in tribal commercial fisheries, to increase research and monitoring capacity within the Makah Tribe through expanding the Tribe’s capability to perform algal toxin analyses in-house.
Principal Investigator
Adrianne Akmajian
Using a broad, integrated toolbox of techniques, researchers uncovered important information about Heterosigma’s behavior, life-history parameters, and metabolism. These findings can be used to build a testable model for predicting harmful algal blooms.
Principal Investigator
Rose Ann Cattolico
Studies revealed that surface-sediment cyst mapping alone may not reveal the full risk of Alexandrium catenella blooms. Determining the share of cysts capable of germinating helps shellfish growers anticipate toxic blooms.
Principal Investigator
Cheryl Greengrove
Researchers will develop an environmental DNA assay tool to identify the invasive European green crab, which will be used by a citizen science program to support monitoring efforts.
Principal Investigator
P. Sean McDonald
Researchers will analyze the ecosystem impacts of jellyfish in Puget Sound using mesocosm experiments, monitoring, and ecosystem modeling.
Principal Investigator
Julie Keister
Researchers employ Atlantis ecosystem modeling to evaluate the ecosystem-level effects of the Southern Resident orca recovery actions and external threats in the marine ecosystem of Puget Sound.
Principal Investigator
Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna
Continuing an ongoing project, researchers are developing a tool for monitoring Puget Sound’s health using benthic foraminifera.
Principal Investigator
Elizabeth Nesbitt
Research cruises resulted in discovery of glass sponge reefs, methane bubble streams, and dense swarms of krill in Grays Canyon, spurring large-scale geological research investment in the area.
Principal Investigator
Paul Johnson
Using trained birdwatchers, remote sensors, and seine sampling, researchers determine how fish and seabirds use eelgrass meadows from Willapa to Fidalgo Bay.
Principal Investigator
Jennifer Ruesink
Researchers provide precise data on the benefits of Seattle seawall enhancements, enabling managers to choose the best elements for improving juvenile salmon survival and adult returns.
Principal Investigator
Jeffery Cordell
Researchers will use genetic markers to establish the distribution of genetically distinct Puget Sound herring populations to identify causes for specific population declines, anticipate future threats and adjust management strategies to protect population diversity.
Principal Investigator
Lorenz Hauser
Investigators aim to advance understanding of how different plankton communities respond to physical and biological factors throughout the Salish Sea by using new, powerful and inexpensive technology from the field of metagenomics
Principal Investigator
Julie Keister
Using scat-detection dogs and long-term physiological, reproductive, and toxicant monitoring, researchers worked to unravel the mystery of the Salish Sea orcas’ persistent decline.
Principal Investigator
Samuel Wasser
A map-based otter sighting website will help improve data collection, engage the public, and encourage stewardship of a living landscape that meets the needs of people and wildlife.
Principal Investigator
Michelle Wainstein
Researchers are surveying intertidal and nearshore areas of the coastline to monitor sea star populations.
Principal Investigator
Benjamin Miner
Researchers will survey for algal toxins in fish species caught in tribal commercial fisheries, to increase research and monitoring capacity within the Makah Tribe through expanding the Tribe’s capability to perform algal toxin analyses in-house.
Principal Investigator
Adrianne Akmajian
By cataloguing declining foraminifera, researchers are developing a tool for monitoring Puget Sound’s health.
Principal Investigator
Elizabeth Nesbitt
Researchers will use molecular scatology and quantitative models to advance understanding of how winter and spring pinniped predation on Chinook salmon in Northwest Washington affects salmon recovery and Southern Resident Killer Whales.
Principal Investigator
Adrianne Akmajian
Researchers will use genetic approaches to develop broodstocks for the shellfish industry that are better adapted to increasingly corrosive seawater impacting our coasts and estuaries.
Principal Investigator
Jonathan Davis
Washington Sea Grant research documents the effects on performance of later-life and transgenerational Pacific oysters due to early exposure to acidified waters, and assesses genetic factors for breeding acidification-tolerant lines.
Principal Investigator
Carolyn S. Friedman
Examining five ecologically and economically important bivalves, researchers found these species exhibit different susceptibility to increasing CO2 levels. Under the conditions tested, clams were relative winners and oysters losers.
Principal Investigator
Carolyn S. Friedman
Research tests impacts of high ocean carbon dioxide levels on the sense of smell of coho salmon and sablefish including its effects on feeding and ability to avoid predators.
Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher
This study clarifies the mechanisms that underlie loss of smell in coho salmon and determines the effects of increased waterborne CO2 on olfactory and navigational functions, both of which are crucial to salmons’ ability to find their way back to their home streams to spawn.
Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher
Researchers quantified the differential growth and survival rates in acidified waters of zooplankton species that are fundamental to the marine food web. Throughout the project, the team engaged hundreds of citizens, journalists, teachers, legislators, and schoolchildren in the issue of ocean acidification.
Principal Investigator
Julie Keister
This project will expand on ocean acidification and temperature research relating to local mussel species to test for causes of seasonal weakening of mussel attachment.
Principal Investigator
Emily Carrington
Researchers develop trainings and identify research and stakeholder needs to advance the practice of sustainable seaweed farming in the Pacific Northwest.
Project Lead
Meg Chadseyl
Researchers will assess whether native eelgrass and Pacific oysters can synergistically enhance their environments.
Principal Investigator
Carolyn Friedman
Researchers are refining and testing an underwater sound propagation model, which can be used to protect marine mammals from construction noise.
Principal Investigator
Peter Dahl
High school students gather water, plankton and hydrographic data in the Columbia River estuary, to learn about and assess relative effects of cumulative watershed drainage and local factors such as sewage outflows.
Principal Investigator
Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens
Exploring the interaction between harmful PBDEs and helpful omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, researchers assessed the health risks and benefits of eating seafood. Results show that antioxidants in salmon and other foods have beneficial effects in cells and may have protective properties against toxic PDBEs in vivo.
Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher
Researchers are designing and constructing an innovative, multifunctional stormwater treatment system that may significantly reduce pollution and serve as a model for Puget Sound communities.
Principal Investigator
Nancy Rottle
Seeking to better understand the ecological consequences of hypoxia, researchers explored Dungeness crab and English sole distribution in Hood Canal during late summer periods of low dissolved oxygen.
Principal Investigator
Tim Essington
This project takes a closer look at how oil spills affect different species of Pacific Northwest seabirds so that we can predict the taxon-specific vulnerability to oiling.
Principal Investigator
Julia Parrish
SoundCitizen directly engaged more than 2,000 people each year in documenting common yet undetected Puget Sound contaminants and raised the awareness of students from middle school through college about the link between everyday chemicals and human and environmental health.
Principal Investigator
Richard Keil
This research addresses solutions to reducing the toxic impact of stormwater, aiming to provide better tools for managing stormwater runoff in Puget Sound.
Principal Investigator
John Stark
This project will create a low-cost model nearshore and a shore-based monitoring network that will engage tribal fishers and youth in gathering coastal water-quality information related to ocean acidification.
Principal Investigator
Ervin Joe Schumacker
Building off work from the previous project, “Effect of salmon Omega-3 Fatty Acids on PBDE toxicity,” researchers used zebrafish as a low-cost model for studying the environmental and health hazards of toxic PDBEs.
Principal Investigator
Evan Gallagher