SAFS hosts weekly lunch-time seminars, where students and faculty share findings from their current research. Read through our past seminars to get an idea of topics covered and be sure to check out our events calendar to download upcoming seminars on your calendar.

Any recordings will be uploaded below and on the SAFS YouTube.

Winter 2026 Quantitative Seminars

Fridays at 12:30-1:30 pm in FSH 203.

 

Option to join the seminars remotely via Zoom is available.

1/23/26 – ** ROOM CHANGED TO FSH-213**

Melanie Davis (Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University)

TITLE: “Hierarchical Science”: How effective data synthesis can better inform management

ABSTRACT: Integrating habitat restoration with hatchery, harvest, hydropower, and climate drivers has long been considered the “holy grail” of effective salmon management, and can help managers move beyond habitat-only strategies to better understand tradeoffs among recovery actions. This talk highlights a “hierarchical” approach to data synthesis in the Nisqually River Delta that uses restoration monitoring data, salmon life-history information, and climate scenarios to better inform habitat restoration and salmon management. We draw from detailed monitoring and bioenergetics data to connect restoration actions directly to juvenile growth, survival, and fishery outcomes.

01/30/26 – No Speaker

02/06/26

Andrew Berger (Puyallup Tribe Fisheries)

TITLE:  A Retrospective: Long-term Trends in Juvenile Salmon Migration Timing and Abundance in the Puyallup River

ABSTRACT:  The Puyallup River Juvenile Salmonid Production Assessment Program has operated for over two decades to quantify outmigrating juvenile salmonids using rotary screw traps on both the Puyallup and White Rivers. Since its inception, the program has generated a continuous, multi-species time series of juvenile abundance, migration timing, and species composition that contributes to adult return forecasts and long-term population assessment. This presentation focuses on the sampling methods, data structure, and insights gained from twenty years of standardized screw trap monitoring. We describe the operation and consistency of the trap, summarize interannual trends across juvenile salmonid species, and highlight recent patterns associated with the pronounced increase in juvenile pink salmon production. Together, these data provide a rare long-term perspective on juvenile salmonid migration dynamics in a highly altered river system and underscore the value of sustained monitoring for interpreting variability, detecting change, and contextualizing recent population responses.

02/13/26

Jack Litle (Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle)

TITLE: Extreme heat selected for extreme body size via trait-microhabitat interactions

ABSTRACT:  Increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves threaten the persistence of species on earth. Survival under extreme heat is often attributed to organismal traits, yet realized heat exposure also depends on microhabitat. We show that the Pacific Northwest Heat Dome —an historic heatwave that killed over a billion coastal organisms—drove selection on body size in an intertidal mussel population, favoring opposite extremes of the size distribution. The direction of selection depended on habitat, with small mussels favored on the high shore but large mussels favored on the low shore. Dynamic heat flux simulations revealed that body size and microhabitat interacted to determine available cooling behaviors, driving the direction of selection. Climate impact projections focusing primarily on species’ traits may systematically miss predictable trait–microhabitat interactions that drive natural selection under extreme heat.

02/20/26

Alanna Hildebrandt (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Tacoma)

TITLE:  Investigating stormwater runoff for tire-derived anti-degradants from athletic fields

ABSTRACT:  In recent decades, the prevalence of artificial turf fields has increased drastically. The University of Washington (UW) has installed numerous outdoor turf fields to benefit student health and well-being and create surfaces where students can train and recreate in all weather. However, the installation of fields filled with waste tire rubber may be negatively impacting aquatic life in nearby waterways. Recently, 6PPD-Quinone [an ozone transformation product from a common tire rubber additive, 6PPD] was found to be highly toxic to aquatic organisms, including coho, chinook, and steelhead salmon. In fact, 6PPD-Quinone (6PPDQ) is acutely toxic to coho salmon at extremely low concentrations (95 ng/L), placing 6PPDQ in the top five acutely toxic compounds to aquatic organisms.

02/27/26

Erik McDonald (School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Tacoma)

TITLE:  Sciences and Mathematics, Department of School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

ABSTRACT:  Are you interested in fisheries? Do you want to learn one way to estimate the number of spawning salmon in a stream? This topic will be discussed in the context of a community engaged coho salmon pre-spawn mortality monitoring project at Swan Creek (Puyallup, WA). I want this presentation to be accessible to every student, so I will keep the jargon to a minimum.

03/06/26

Shima Abadi (The School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle)

Title TBD

03/13/26

Fran Ehrenberg (University of Washington, Seattle)

Title TBD

Archived Quantitative Seminars

Past seminar recordings can be found on our YouTube channel Quantitative Seminar playlist

Autumn 2025 Seminars
Spring 2025 Seminars
Winter 2025 Seminars
Autumn 2024 Seminars
Spring 2024 Seminars
Winter 2024 Seminars
Autumn 2023 Seminars
Spring 2023 Seminars
Winter 2023 Seminars
Autumn 2022 Seminars
Spring 2022 Seminars
Winter 2022 Seminars
Autumn 2021 Seminars
Spring 2021 Seminars
Winter 2021 Seminars
Autumn 2020 Seminars
Spring 2020 Seminars
Spring 2015 Seminars