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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Vignette 13: The Salish Sea Model, Tarang Khangaonkar P.E.
Vignette 13: The Salish Sea Model, Tarang Khangaonkar P.E.
Institute Publications
Given numerous concerns related to the health of the ecosystem and the possibility of anthropogenic impacts—from population growth to climate impacts, such as sea level rise—scientists, engineers, and planners seek an improved basic understanding of the biophysical behavior of the Salish Sea. The Salish Sea Model (SSM) development was motivated by this urgent need for a comprehensive predictive model that could diagnose water quality issues and concerns and serve as a planning tool in support of Puget Sound restoration efforts. The SSM was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) …
Vignette 14: Eelgrass Wasting Disease, Olivia Graham, Morgan Eisenlord, Drew Harvell
Vignette 14: Eelgrass Wasting Disease, Olivia Graham, Morgan Eisenlord, Drew Harvell
Institute Publications
Rising seawater temperatures can increase the risk of disease outbreaks in many taxa. Pathogens are potentially the ultimate keystone species in that their small biomass can have massive impacts that ripple through ecosystems. Disease outbreaks can be particularly damaging when they affect ecosystem engineers, such as seagrasses. Outbreaks of wasting disease in seagrasses are one of a myriad of stressors associated with declining temperate and tropical seagrass meadows around the globe. Levels of eelgrass wasting disease are high in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound. These increasing levels of disease are a threat to sustainability of eelgrass meadows, our …