Farallon Institute News
Second FI Science paper recommends saving "one-third for the birds"
December, 2011
An international group of scientists including FI President Bill Sydeman has shown that seabirds begin to suffer when the food available for them in the ocean declines below a critical level. This level is approximately one-third of the maximum amount of food available, wherever they happen to be in the world. The study focused on seabirds that feed mainly on small fish such as sardines, anchovies and sandeels. These are often key species in marine ecosystems that are often also exploited by humans, resulting in competition between fisheries and seabirds. Read more...
FI paper in Science on how climate change affects marine life
November, 2011
Dr. Bill Sydeman has co-authored a new study published today in the journal Science, which finds that life in the seas is likely to be affected by climate change as much or more than life on land. The study also provides evidence that some of the most diverse marine ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to risks from ocean warming. An accompanying press release is also available.
Julie Thayer working in Brazil
September, 2010
Dr. Julie Thayer, currently working in Natal, Brazil on the design of Marine Protected Area for coral reef systems, will be returning to the U.S. in January when she will join FI full-time. Julie’s ongoing research includes collaborative fisheries research, working with commercial and recreational fishers, to investigate long-term variation in Chinook salmon diet in central-northern California (Thayer et al. 2010).
Isaac Schroeder now a postdoc at NOAA
August, 2010
Dr. Isaac Schroeder has taken a new post-doctoral research position at the NOAA NMFS Santa Cruz laboratory working on salmon. Though moving on from his current post at FI, Dr. Schroeder will continue to work on collaborative ecosystem studies on climate change and the seasonality of upwelling with FI, NMFS-ERD and OSU scientists, a project funded by NSF.
Marcel Losekoot joining FI
July, 2010
Mr. Marcel Losekoot has joined FI as a computer programmer, database manager, and analyst. Mr. Losekoot, who works collaboratively at UCD/Bodega Marine Laboratory and FI, is developing products from FI’s long term studies of seabirds at sea off California, British Columbia, and Alaska, as well as integrating biological data with novel data from state and federal ocean observing systems.
NCEAS working group
June, 2010
Working with collaborators from Australia, England, Spain, and Denmark, Dr. Bill Sydeman is now serving on a National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis working group considering climate change impacts on marine ecosystems. Amongst other activities, the working group has developed a meta-database on publications concerning marine climate impacts, and will be analyzing this database for similarities and differences between taxonomic groups, trophic levels and geography.
The North Coast Program
May, 2010
A major new coastal studies research and management initiative to promote scientifically sound catch limits and guide the restoration on salmon populations by accounting for ocean ecosystem change and variability is now underway. Led by Farallon Institute and the Sonoma County Water Agency, with collaborators including UC Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory, Humboldt State University (HSU), Northwest and Southwest Fisheries Science Centers of NOAA/NMFS, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), the a North Coast Program focuses on Chinook and Coho salmon and Steelhead populations in northern California.
Symposium at upcoming Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC): Phenology: is timing everything?
April 22-24, 2010
Andy Thomas (University of Maine) and Bill Sydeman (Farallon Institute) are co-convening a symposium at the upcoming EPOC meeting at Timberline Lodge, Oregon. Phenology is the study of the seasonal timing of physical and biological components of the ecosystem and the causes and consequences of timing variability. Changes in phenology imposed by a warming climate are likely (IPCC, AR4), impacting those trophic linkages that depend on optimal environmental windows or matched timing. From a biological perspective, species within a community may adapt synchronously to change in their physical environment making phenological changes less significant. However, if rates of adaptation differ between species, or phenological changes in physical characteristics impose changes in biogeography, there is the potential for disruption of previously co-evolved trophic dependencies. This session seeks both modeling and observational papers addressing all aspects of changing ocean phenology, from physical processes and forcing to all levels of the food web. We especially seek papers that are multi-disciplinary, integrated, and cover multiple trophic levels and their interactions / dependencies.
Press Democrat report on this year’s salmon fishing season
April 8, 2010
Fishery regulators will begin debating Monday whether to allow sport and commercial salmon fishing in Northern California this year, following fish counts in the Sacramento River system that were the lowest in years.
California Ocean Protection Council and California Sea Grant award new project to NOAA-NMFS and collaborators, including Farallon Institute
March, 2010
California’s Chinook salmon fisheries appear to be becoming increasingly variable, with (recent) record abundances followed by record lows leading to fishery closure. Why is this happening and what can resource managers do about it? The three year project entitled ”The future of the California Chinook salmon fishery: Roles of climate variation, habitat restoration, hatchery practices, and biocomplexity” will examine multiple and cumulative influences affecting the salmon fishery. Principal investigators Brian Wells and Steven Lindley (NOAA, Southwest Fishery Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division (FED), Santa Cruz will lead the research. Associate researchers include Eric Bjorkstedt (FED); Louis Botsford, UC Davis), John Field (FED) John Carlos Garza (FED), Churchill Grimes (FED), David Hankin (Humboldt State University), Sean Hayes (FED), Bruce MacFarlane (FED), Melodie Palmer-Zwahlen (California Department of Fish and Game), Michael O’Farrell (FED), William Sydeman (Farallon Institute), and Cindy Thomson (FED).
New Alaska Sea Grant award to Farallon Institute, NOAA-NMFS and University of Alaska
February 01, 2010
The project, titled Increased Variance As a Leading Indicator of Reorganization in Alaskan Marine Ecosystems: An Empirical Test will investigate whether marine ecosystems respond to external forcing with abrupt reorganizations that are economically and socially devastating to fishing communities. Using novel ecosystem modeling approaches, FI scientist Mike Litzow and collaborators Franz Mueter (UAF) and Dan Urban (NOAA-NMFS) will conduct a study exploring the use of variance (rather than the mean) in fisheries statistics an indicator of ecosystem reorganization. The team will test key parameters for increasing in spatial variance prior to ecological reorganizations in Alaskan waters during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Russian River salmon in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
January 12, 2010
Lower numbers of Chinook Salmon are returning to the Russian River of Central California again this year. In an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Dr. Sydeman emphasizes that these shrinking populations reflect coast-wide reductions in salmon abundance and changes in the nearshore ocean environment.