2015 Whiteley Lecture Series: mysteries of NW marine world explored
Published 6:23 pm Friday, January 2, 2015
What happens at the mouth of a river when decades of built up sediment is unleashed by the demolition of a dam?
Are the species of coral that grow in chilly waters of the Salish Sea imperiled by ocean acidification? Does underwater wreckage make for good habit for marine life in the San Juans?
Find out the answers to these questions and more by attending the 2015 series of Arthur Whiteley Lectures.
Sponsored by the San Juan Nature Institute and hosted by U of W Friday Harbor Laboratories, the series is named in honor of former University of Washington biology professor Arthur Whiteley, who, along with wife Helen Riaboff, helped lay the foundation of what would evolve into a world-renown marine research center along the north shore of the Friday Harbor waterfront.
Whiteley died in April 2013, at age 96.
First up in the 2015 Whiteley Lecture series is Dr. Jacques White, executive director of Long live the Kings, a Seattle-based non-profit whose mission is to help restore wild salmon and steelhead to the waters of the Pacific Northwest.
White will probe reasons behind the die-off of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the shared inland marine waters of U.S. and Canada in a presentation entitled “The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project,” Jan. 15, beginning at 7 p.m. at the U of W Labs’ Commons.
On Jan. 29, veteran diver and underwater photographer Dr. Derek Smith will talk about his European adventures and offer hints of his work in the San Juans in a presentation entitled “Shipwrecks: artifidical habitats for marine communities.” While much of his research surrounds exploration of ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, Smith is conducting similar research in the San Juans.
University of Washington associate professor Andrea Ogston steps into the lecture series spotlight Feb. 12 to talk about dam removal and sediments in “Update on the Elwha Project.” Ogston and her students have studied and documented the movement of sediments and its effect on nearshore of the Elwha River following the landmark demolition of its two dams.
On Feb. 26, a presentation by U of W associate professor Alex Gagnon will zero in on cold-water corals and challenges that face these “ecosystems” from the effects of ocean acidification. Gagnon, who will make The Labs home base for much of his new research project on Puget Sound Corals, will share his experience in exploring for deep-sea coral using manned and unmanned submarines as part of the presentation.
For more on San Juan Nature Institute and the Whiteley Lectures, visit, www.sjnature.org.
