What are aquatic invasive species? How did they get here, are they spreading, and should we be worried?
At the Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Lab booth during the SEAS Open House on 21 May, you will learn about invasive species in our Washington waterways and what you can do to limit their introduction and further spread. If you are brave enough, you can even touch a live invasive red swamp crayfish (pictured above)!
A team of scientists from around the world have joined together to call for a strong precautionary approach in extractive activities in the deep sea, as the science needed to evaluate risks lags far behind.
Joining scientists from Oregon State University, University of California Santa Cruz, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand and University of Bergen in Norway, Helena McMonagle from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (and a guest student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) worked on the study published in Communications Earth & Environment.
Recognizing the drivers behind deep sea exploitation including food and energy insecurity as a result of climate change and conflict, the team’s research highlights five reasons to proceed with caution when looking for new sources of metals for energy infrastructure, food and other critical materials.
Deep sea extraction involves the ocean’s mesopelagic zone, which lies at a depth of ~200 and 1,000m. This ocean zone is teeming with life and is a vital part of the global ecosystem, contrary to original assumptions that it was a lifeless zone. Scientific understanding of the mesopelagic zone and the impact of extractive activities trails behind the industry exploration and is the basis of the joint call by scientists to take a precautionary approach.
Why is the mesopelagic zone so important? Home to roughly 2-16 billion metric tons of fish biomass, the mesopelagic is one of the largest habitats on Earth. This rich biodiversity spans fish, crustaceans, squid, jellyfish and many other organisms.
The location of the mesopelagic zone also means it’s crucial for climate regulation. The oceans absorb about a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions, and for it to be stored for long time periods it must pass through the mesopelagic zone to the deep sea. In addition to chemical processes that allow the oceans to absorb our emissions, the biological processes play an important role too. One of these biological processes that can move carbon deep is the daily vertical migrations of mesopelagic animals. The biodiversity in the mesopelagic zone also supports important fisheries species.
Switching gears to focus on the mesopelagic zone as a source for human food may not be economically feasible or a particularly sustainable option. The densities of these fish in the ocean are relatively low and would require extraction on a large scale with low, fuel-inefficient catch rates. These fish are generally not suitable for direct human consumption, so they would need to be highly processed to make fishmeal or nutritional supplements. This can increase the waste and decreases the efficiency of this potential food source..
Deep seabed mining presents issues around large sediment plumes being left behind in an environment that hosts species that are not adapted to interact with seafloor sediments, with a single mining site able to discharge 1 Empire State Building worth of mineral dust every three weeks. Cost-benefitting analyses are also in their infancy, with less than 2% of scientific categories for environmental impact assessments having sufficient knowledge for evidence-based decision making.
As we progress through the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the team of scientists remind us that it remains vital to ensure future food and energy security solutions align with environmental sustainability.
Did you know that seabirds link the ocean and the land? They forage for food in the ocean and nest on the land, making them an important part of two very different ecosystems.
At the booth organized by the Converse and Gardner labs at the SEAS Open House, you will learn about seabirds and the methods we use to study them. You will transform into a seabird ecologist, allowing you to listen to seabird calls and identify species, practice seabird banding and measuring seabird eggs, and taking a peek into a nest box that ecologists provide to seabirds for laying their eggs and rearing their chicks.
Seabirds are ecosystem indicators because they are predators that travel over large spaces. Ecosystem indicators are species that can tell us about their environments. For example, declines of seabirds have predicted fish stock collapses. Seabirds also tell us about chemical pollutants and climate change.
What fieldwork did the Applied Ecology Lab get up to last summer? Mark Scheuerell, Associate Professor at SAFS, shared insights into Washington’s aquaculture and some of the research underway at his lab.
Washington is the nation’s leading producer of farmed clams, oysters, and mussels, contributing nearly $200 million to our economy and supporting over 1900 jobs. Accordingly, there is demand for growth within the shellfish aquaculture industry, but a key impediment to doing so sustainably is that we don’t have a firm grasp on the ecological implications of converting nearshore habitat to shellfish production.
Therefore, we want to know how shellfish aquaculture functions as nearshore habitat, relative to uncultivated areas, with the aim of helping resource managers overcome this barrier and assess potential tradeoffs when planning the sustainable expansion of shellfish aquaculture.
One of our goals is to quantify the potential impacts of shellfish aquaculture on foraging by fish and crabs. Karl Veggerby, a grad student in my lab, and I have been collaborating with scientists from NOAA to examine food sources for fish and crab species commonly found in areas within and immediately adjacent to shellfish farms, and then contrasting those results to our findings from an area without shellfish aquaculture, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The photo below shows us in August 2022 of our lab group working with our community partners at the Drayton Harbor Oyster Farm to sample fish and crabs inside and adjacent to their commercial shellfish aquaculture site near the Canadian border.
Tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean might seem innocuous on their own, but their growing presence is a frustrating issue facing marine ecosystems. The particles’ small size makes them difficult to clean up, and it also allows them to easily burrow into marine environments or even get ingested by ocean organisms.
Now in its 12th year of being held at SAFS, a workshop led by graduate students to support applicants for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is celebrating the successful award to five students this year.
The NSF GRFP aims to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the US and broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups. Highly sought after, only about 2,000 out of 12,000 applicants are successful in obtaining awards each year.
This year from within the UW College of the Environment, the five awardees are:
Founded as a course by former SAFS graduate students Meryl Mims and Lauren Kuehne, and professor Jim Seeb, the course developed into a workshop in 2012 led by Meryl Mims, Lauren Kuehne, Emma Hodgson and Margaret Siple. The framework for the workshop which focuses on grant and fellowship proposal writing was published as a peer-reviewed article by these four grad student founders in 2016.
The workshop has been held every year since 2012, with each year building upon elements to make it a useful tool for applicants, including info sessions, polls on research ideas, and mentors relevant to each research topic. In more recent years, the workshop has been continued by Kristin Privitera-Johnson and Erica Escajeda (SAFS), Sam May (SAFS) and Mary Fisher (SAFS/SEFS), and the current coordinators, Helena McMonagle and Markus Min (SAFS). The workshop has expanded to SEFS and SMEA participants and mentors, and last year was extra special with an outside mentor joining from NOAA.
Kicking off with spring info sessions, students are polled over the summer about what research ideas they have for the GRFP proposal, allowing them to be paired with a mentor doing similar work. The workshop itself runs from September to October. Part of the mentorship process is a brainstorming discussion about proposal ideas and tips on CV writing. A panel discussion with former GRFP awardees also facilitates a useful exchange where current applicants can find out what has worked for others.
The workshop presents a fantastic opportunity for both intra- and inter-department community building and networking, with speakers including Chelsea Wood presenting tips on letters of recommendations, and Mark Scheuerell about writing compelling personal statements and research plans.
Ending with an NSF-style review session, this final step is a speed review session simulating how proposals might be assessed and students benefit from feedback from multiple mentors on their full application.
The whole process is collaborative and relies on people willing to volunteer their time in SAFS, SEFS, and SMEA. One of the key aims of the workshop is to make the application process as equitable and accessible as possible, so join us in spreading the word about it to anyone who is interested.
We are excited to announce that the Equity & Inclusion Committee has released the “Undergraduate Mentorship Guide for Community-Building”, which is now available on the SAFS DEI webpage! The guide is designed to help undergraduate students and their mentors navigate the mentoring relationship and achieve success.
This mentorship guide is intended primarily for undergraduate students (mentees) and for graduate students, postdocs, and staff, (who may serve as mentors) at SAFS. This mentor relationship plays an important role in community-building and can help support SAFS undergrads.
The main goal of the guide is to encourage community-building within all of SAFS, so that undergrads can find answers to any questions they may have about their education and opportunities at the UW as well as in their future careers. Inside the guide, the section for mentees includes potential topics for mentorship, tips for finding a mentor, and how to set expectations and boundaries. The section for mentors explores mentoring dynamics and roles, phases in a mentoring partnership, and listening techniques.
Mentorship is a critical component of student success and sense of belonging, and we hope that this new guide will be a valuable tool for all of our students and their mentors.
A special thanks to Jenn Gosselin for contributing the bulk of the work on this guide! If you have questions or feedback, you can contact the SAFS EI committee at safsincl@uw.edu. We look forward to hearing how the Undergraduate Mentorship Guide has helped you in your mentorship journey!
Join us every Friday this Spring for the SAFS Cafe.
The SAFS faculty are pleased to host you for hot drinks and snacks, and a chance to take a quick break from your day to catch up with colleagues.
When: Fridays at 10am
Where: FISH second floor kitchen and patio
What should I bring? Bring your coffee or tea and stop by for a snack and a chat!
SAFS Cafe dates for Spring: April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, May 5, May 12, May 19, May 26, June 2 and June 9.
Join your SAFS Community for a special All Hands Meeting where you can ask all of your burning questions! 
Want to know more about the life of a post doc? Interested in the graduate program process? Always wanted to ask a faculty member what their day looks like? Wondering what are some of the important topics impacting our school? Want to know how SAFS is working to be more inclusive?
Taking place on Monday, April 24, at 2:30-4pm, get together with all of the SAFS community to ask and answer questions from amongst our different peer groups: undergrads, grads, postdocs, staff and faculty.
A lot has been happening in recent months, including a new SAFS Code of Conduct and DEI Strategic Plan, and this year’s All Hands Meeting aims to build community and connection more deeply and create space for peer groups to learn about each other’s experiences.
It’s not long now until the event, so please make sure to submit your questions by April 7 here: https://forms.gle/qb46n3JNoWQ6M8UK7.
The set up on the day will involve splitting into different rooms with a mix of all peer groups, with time to answer questions submitted beforehand. It will finish with everyone gathering together at the end to share highlights, and facilitators will send notes out afterwards for those who cannot join.
We look forward to seeing you there for the SAFS 2023 All Hands Meeting: Burning Questions, and make sure to submit ahead of time: https://forms.gle/qb46n3JNoWQ6M8UK7
The SAFS Boots in the Mud fund is a special opportunity to provide our students with materials and equipment needed for immersive learning opportunities.