During low tide at Padilla Bay on a bright day in early May, you could find a class of UW undergraduates exploring the largest contiguous seagrass ecosystem in the lower 48. Why? To collect data to assess the habitat value of seagrass.
An estuary in Puget Sound at the saltwater edge of the Skagit River Delta, Padilla Bay has nearly 8,000 acres of eelgrass (a type of seagrass), which becomes totally exposed during low tide. These eelgrass meadows, nestled in the mudflats of Padilla Bay, were the location for a visit by the FISH 312: Aquatic Ecology class, made up of juniors and seniors at UW SAFS.
Led by Carter Smith, SAFS Assistant Professor, students chose from different datasets compiled during the class to answer a research question of their own choosing. A few of the students chose to use the data collected during the Padilla Bay fieldtrip for their research questions.
For more than 40 years, Padilla Bay has been designated as a National Estuarine Research Reserve because of its unusually large eelgrass meadows. Eelgrass is a vital part of the fabric of the Pacific Northwest for a multitude of reasons: it acts as a nursery for salmon, crab, perch, and herring. It’s home to a range of invertebrates which are a critical food resource for both animals and humans. It also acts as a carbon sink, by trapping the gas in the mudflats.
