Salish Sea Currents magazine

A new study outlines the strong link between dissolved oxygen declines and increasing water temperatures, raising questions about the effect of future climate change on Puget Sound.

Citizen science bird counts are providing more detail than ever about North American bird declines. While the overall numbers are discouraging, new levels of understanding may help conservation efforts. Biologist Eric Wagner writes that despite larger trends, species recovery can be important on a very small scale, perhaps a few birds at a time.

There is an ongoing concern that human activities can cause reductions in the amount of oxygen available to fish and other marine species. In Puget Sound, scientists are working to evaluate when and where some of these reductions could have an adverse ecological impact. As part of a series of workshops on Puget Sound water quality, the Puget Sound Institute asked Dr. Tim Essington of the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences to describe how low dissolved oxygen affects species like salmon or Dungeness crabs. The following text is adapted from a video presentation by Essington in 2023.

Low dissolved oxygen levels put aquatic life in Puget Sound at risk – but not everywhere. A combination of careful monitoring efforts and powerful computer models are now enabling scientists to identify which areas of our regional waters are most prone to low oxygen levels, when, and why. This article is part of a series of reports funded by King County about the quest to define healthy oxygen levels in Puget Sound.

Artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful new tool for whale identification. New software can be adapted and used to identify any animal with a dorsal fin on its back.

Beavers are typically associated with freshwater environments, but scientists have learned that they also survive and thrive in the shoreline marshes of the Salish Sea. New research is revealing the vital connection between tidal beavers and salmon.