SEA Semester: Caribbean Reef Expedition (New Fall 2017 Program)

Written by

adviser note: SEA Semester programs have been pre-approved to transfer in for UW credit with the School of Oceanography. Contact an adviser to find out how the courses can fit into major/minor requirements.

We’re excited to launch our newest academic program next fall!
SEA Semester: Caribbean Reef Expedition will combine fieldwork in Woods Hole and the Virgin Islands with a research voyage throughout the Caribbean to examine tropical reef ecosystems, their diverse marine life inhabitants, and the impact of human actions upon them. Students will explore how a variety of local, national, and international organizations are working together to conserve and sustainably manage these reef environments.
This program is ideal for students with an interest in conservation policy and/or marine ecosystems. They will approach solutions to effective reef management in the context of history, policy, and science. We welcome students of all majors to apply.
Now Enrolling for Fall 2017!
We’re currently accepting applications for a diverse array of program offerings to Atlantic, Pacific, and Caribbean destinations this fall. Spread the word!
Fall Deadline: May 1, 2017

View a full program description on our website.

[UW Today] UW’s Kristin Laidre awarded Pew marine fellowship to study effects of climate change, subsistence hunting on polar bears

Written by

from UW Today, February 22, 2017. Note: Applied Physics Laboratory Oceanographer Kristin Laidre is the teacher for FISH 464: Arctic Marine Vertebrate Ecology. This course is offered in winter of ‘odd years’, and can be applied to the requirements of the marine biology minor.

Kristin Laidre/University of Washington
Kristin Laidre is seen with two polar bear cubs.

A new, two-part University of Washington project aims to explore the interacting effects of climate change and subsistence hunting on polar bears, while also illuminating the cultural value of the species to indigenous peoples and the role they play in conservation. Led by Kristin Laidre, a marine biologist at the UW’s Polar Science Center and the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, the three-year project will include a public art-science exhibition that combines photography, storytelling and science focused on polar bears, climate change and local Inuit communities in Greenland.

“Broadly, people know polar bears are negatively affected by loss of sea ice, so they are understandably upset to hear polar bears are also being hunted,” Laidre said. “The reality is, the reason for the projected decline of polar bears is a much bigger, global problem related to human-caused climate change and is largely unrelated to harvest. Managing and conserving polar bears in a changing climate has to include working closely with local Arctic communities and respecting subsistence needs.”

Laidre’s project is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which today awarded her and 10 other international researchers prestigious fellowships for marine conservation. Pew chooses fellows based on their past contributions to marine science and their projects’ potential to protect ocean environments.

[read the full story at UW Today]

Apply now for 2017-2018 College of the Environment Scholarships

Written by

The College of the Environment is pleased to announce the availability of undergraduate scholarships for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Scholarships for Returning Undergraduates:

  • College of the Environment Scholarships – open to all College of the Environment students
  • Clarence H. Campbell Endowed Lauren Donaldson Scholarship –  open to students pursuing an Oceanography or Aquatic & Fishery Sciences major
  • Yakama Nation Endowed Fund for Student Support – open to any Yakama Nation tribal member who is a student in the College of the Environment

Details can be found at: https://environment.uw.edu/students/student-resources/funding/scholarships/

Application Deadline: March 27, 2017

Awards will be announced in early May 2017.

Eligibility: Scholarships are available for undergraduate students pursuing a major in the College of the Environment. Previous recipients may re-apply. Award decisions are based upon a combination of academic merit and financial need. At this time, all College of the Environment Scholarships require that students have unmet financial need as determined by the University of Washington Office of Student Financial Aid. Thus, you must have a current FAFSA or WASFA on file to be considered for these scholarships.

Award Amounts: Award amounts for all scholarships vary depending on financial need, but typically range from $2,000-$3,500 annually. Award amounts will be distributed over the course of Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters during the 2017-2018 academic year, paid directly to the recipient’s student account.

To Apply:

  1. Complete the Scholarship Application Survey 
  2. Submit the following to the Scholarship and Funding Committee Dropbox 
    • Unofficial transcripts from UW (please also submit community college/HS transcripts if at UW less than 2 quarters as of Spring 2017)
    • Personal Statement (1 page maximum) that indicates in the header which scholarship(s) you are applying for and includes the following separate sections:
      • Statement of Academic and Professional Goals: Please include your intended major if you are undeclared. Please describe your academic and professional goals. Comment on your progress towards completing course requirements for your major/degree. Describe any other relevant experiences that have influenced your academic path.
    • Statement of Financial Need: If applicable, please describe circumstances creating financial need and the impact of the scholarship on your annual financial need.

Questions? Contact coenvaa@uw.edu

[Tide Bites] Scanning All Fish!

Written by

This article comes from “Tide Bites”, the monthly newsletter of UW Friday Harbor Laboratories. “Scanning All Fish!”, by Adam Summers, with Kory Evans-Jackson and Malorie Hayes: read the full article at the FHL website.

Friday Harbor Labs
CT scan of an African Jae barb.

Recently, FHL became home to the Karel F. Liem Bio-Imaging Center. The centerpiece of the shared research facility is a very capable micro-source CT scanner from Bruker, a model 1173. The scanner can image radio-dense tissue at resolution as fine as 5 microns, and because of variable magnification geometry it can also image specimens about the size of two grapefruits. Having the machine right down the hall from my office led to experimentation with high-speed workflow. And that led to a project called #scanAllFish. Born from a series of tweets from @fishguy_FHL, the idea is to CT-scan every species of fish and put all the data up on the web for everyone to access free of charge. We aim to democratize CT data and ensure that in this corner of vertebrate comparative morphology, access to a scanner is not a competitive advantage. The Foundations who donated the bulk of the money to buy the machine asked that it be available to anyone who is visiting FHL, free of charge. This generosity enables the #scanAllFish project. Our strategy is to offer scan time to scientists who have a large diversity of species they want scanned. They bring lots of specimens and a small team to the Labs and spend an intensive few days or weeks scanning everything they are interested in. People have come from around the country to take advantage of the offer, and in the process we have scanned over 1,200 species of fishes. You can read more about the project by searching the web for #scanAllFish — it has made a small media splash. If you’d like to help support Adam’s goal of scanning all fish, you can donate to the Karel F Liem Fish Biology Endowment which supports the Karel F. Liem Bio-Imaging Facility at FHL.

[read the full story at FHL Tide Bites #42]

Three Seas Program (Northeastern University)

Written by

For over 30 years, the Three Seas Program has provided a training ground for aspiring marine scientists. The two semester program provides intensive training in three ecologically diverse settings at world-class locations with faculty members who are leaders in their field. Students have the opportunity to explore the intertidal ecosystem of Northeastern US, work with tropical species native to Panama, and learn about fishes and mammals of the Pacific Northwest.
The Three Seas Program has undergone significant growth in the past year.  We are now able to expand our undergraduate cohort to include students from institutions outside of Northeastern University.  We are reaching out to you with the attached letter, pamphlet, and flyer so that you may pass this information on to any undergraduate students you think would be interested in participating in the Three Seas Program.  If you would like hard copies of any of our materials, we’d be happy to send them over to you.
We are currently accepting applications for students who wish to join the Spring 2018 undergraduate class. We will begin reviewing applications in March but will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis after that.  Please share my contact information with any students you think may be interested as I am happy to connect with students to answer any questions they may have about the logistics of the Three Seas Program.

[UW Today] Vitamin B-12, and a knockoff version, create complex market for marine vitamins

Written by

Associate Professor Ingalls – referenced in this UW Today Article – teaches the “OCEAN 295: Chemistry of Marine Organic Carbon” course annually. This course can be taken in place of CHEM 220 for the Aquatic & Fishery Sciences and Oceanography majors.

Kevin Simans/University of Washington
An oceanographic sampler, known as a rosette, during a 2013 cruise in the North Pacific. Each bottle contains water from different depths, which is how researchers collected samples of the vitamins at sea.

The New Year is a busy time for pharmacies and peddlers of all health-related products. In the oceans, marine organisms rely on nutrients, too, but the source of their vitamins is sometimes mysterious.

University of Washington oceanographers have now found that vitamin B-12 exists in two distinct versions in the oceans. A microbe thought to be a main supplier of B-12 in the open oceans, cyanobacteria, is actually making a “pseudo” version that only its kin can use.

The study has implications for where algae and other organisms can get a vitamin that is essential to fueling marine life. The paper is in the Jan. 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“I think the world is getting used to the idea that all lifeforms are in some ways dependent on microorganisms,” said corresponding author Anitra Ingalls, a UW associate professor of oceanography. “This is another case where microorganisms are playing a really big role in the survival of others, but not quite in the way that we had expected.”

[read the full article at UW Today]

[study abroad]: Broadreach Marine Biology Study Abroad Courses

Written by

Hello! My name is Jill Furgurson and I am the Director of College Programs at Broadreach. Our programs offer hands-on, experiential learning designed to get you out of the classroom and immersed in the field of marine biology. Choose from a variety of unique courses and prepare to work alongside scientists in the field, earning professional certifications and college credit along the way.

Our marine biology programs include:

Each Broadreach program offers you the chance to try something new and make friends with peers across the globe – whether you’re kayaking with marine mammals or diving deep with sea turtles in Central America. We take just 10 – 12 students per program and spaces are filling quickly for our 2017 sessions. I encourage you to apply soon to take advantage of this opportunity to gain new skills, earn academic credit and explore your interests on a global scale.

“The Fiji Shark Behavior and Conservation program was amazing. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and reinforced my love of the ocean and environment. Although the shark dives were incredible, the most rewarding experiences were on land. I enjoyed helping out for community service and the village homestay was truly an eye opening experience” – Christine I.

To learn more visit www.broadreachcollege.com or contact me at jill@gobroadreach.com.

[UW Today]: Ocean acidification to hit West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, new assessment shows

Written by

from UW Today, January 12

NOAA Fisheries
The study modeled the potential risks of ocean acidification (under a future decrease in pH) on the West Coast marine food web and fisheries over 50 years, from 2013 to 2063.

The acidification of the ocean expected as seawater absorbs increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will reverberate through the West Coast’s marine food web, but not necessarily in the ways you might expect, new research shows.

Dungeness crabs, for example, will likely suffer as their food sources decline. Dungeness crab fisheries valued at about $220 million annually may face a strong downturn over the next 50 years, according to the research published Jan. 12 in the journal Global Change Biology. But pteropods and copepods, tiny marine organisms with shells that are vulnerable to acidification, will likely experience only a slight overall decline because they are prolific enough to offset much of the impact, the study found.
“What stands out is that some groups you’d expect to do poorly don’t necessarily do so badly – that’s probably the most important takeaway here,” said Kristin Marshall, lead author of the study who pursued the research as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “This is a testament in part to the system’s resilience to these projected impacts. That’s sort of the silver lining of what we found.”Marine mammals and seabirds are less likely to be affected by ocean acidification, the study found.

[read the full article at UW Today]