The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group has published a series of projections related to the effects of climate change in Puget Sound. Among the group’s findings: Many area streams will be too warm in summers for salmon by 2080, “despite rarely being in excess of these temperatures in the recent past.” “About two-thirds of the glaciated area […]
August 23, 2015
PSI research recognized as UW Tacoma turns 25
The Tacoma News Tribune mentions the Center for Urban Waters and the Puget Sound Institute as significant contributors to UW Tacoma’s growing reputation as a research institution. Read more in the paper’s August 22nd edition.
August 13, 2015
PSI welcomes Chris Dunagan as senior science writer
We are pleased to announce that veteran journalist Chris Dunagan has joined the Puget Sound Institute as a Senior Writer. Anyone who has followed Puget Sound issues over the years will recognize Chris’s byline. As the very first environmental reporter for the Kitsap Sun, he has been a respected voice in the region for more than 25 […]
August 12, 2015
Drought offers a glimpse of the ‘new normal’
This year’s drought has prompted wide concern for Puget Sound’s salmon. Low stream flows and warmer water can prove deadly to fish, as was the case this summer for more than a million hatchery salmon in Washington and hundreds of thousands of sockeye in the Columbia River. While it is seen as an unusual water year, 2015 may actually offer […]
August 12, 2015
New papers look at ‘zombie’ steroids
They are sometimes called ‘zombie’ chemicals. Some compounds thought to be safe and inactive can change into dangerously active forms when they are exposed to the environment. Two recent papers co-authored by PSI collaborator Ed Kolodziej look at some of the ways that regulators may need to account for these transformations. Cole, EA, McBride, SA, Kimbrough, KC, Lee, J, Marchand, […]
August 10, 2015
Assessing microplastics in the world’s oceans
Our Director Joel Baker recently co-authored Microplastics in the Ocean: A Global Assessment, an international report commissioned by GESAMP (The Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection). GESAMP is an inter-Agency Body of the United Nations, comprised of a group of independent scientists providing advice to UN Agencies on a wide variety of […]
August 10, 2015
Impacts of diving ducks on herring populations
Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecologist Tessa Francis attended the 2015 meeting of the International Congress for Conservation Biology earlier this month in Montpellier, France. She presented results from her recent work with colleagues at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center evaluating the impacts on Puget Sound herring populations of herring egg predation by seabirds and other predators. […]
July 31, 2015
PSI scientist argues that African elephants are two distinct species
Will it prompt new conservation strategies? Puget Sound Institute research scientist Nick Georgiadis was quoted recently in The Guardian about increasing evidence that African elephants should be divided into two species. Georgiadis and other scientists argue that this divide creates an urgent need to reassess elephant conservation strategies. Georgiadis is co-author of a paper in the Annual Review […]
July 30, 2015
State approves human wellbeing indicators for Puget Sound
The state today adopted a series of human wellbeing indicators for Puget Sound. The project was led by PSI social scientist Kelly Biedenweg and was featured in a story published by UW News and picked up by several news outlets. July 29, 2015 Healthier Puget Sound depends on healthy people, report finds Michelle Ma from […]
July 29, 2015
Human well-being indicators in the news
KPLU reports on new human wellbeing indicators under consideration by the Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council today. PSI Lead Social Scientist Kelly Biedenweg led the development of the indicators designed to track ways that the natural environment of Puget Sound contributes to human quality of life. Read the KPLU report online.