How do emerging pollutants such as microplastics and pesticides affect aquatic ecosystems? Ecotoxicologist Susanne M. Brander joins the podcast today to discuss her work on this poignant topic of research…
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Congratulations to Dr. Dana Sanchez for receiving the 2023 Frances Dancy Hooks Award!
OSU researcher revisits dead orca saga through genetic analysis
(January 2, 2023)
Earlier this year, KLCC reported on a killer whale carcass spotted off the Oregon Coast. While the carcass was never recovered, an Oregon State University researcher has made some determinations from its genetic residue.
Get to know 10 of Oregon’s most famous gray whales
(December 20, 2022)
You may have seen some gray whales off the Oregon coast, but how familiar are you with them, really?
Satellite-Linked Tag Improves Long-Term Whale Tracking
(December 13, 2022)
Researchers can monitor whales more effectively with the new RDW tag developed by Oregon State University.
Northwest scientists study source of pervasive plastic pollution
(December 1, 2022)
Plastic doesn’t decompose but degrades into smaller pieces that will remain in the environment for thousands of years
"Older than dinosaurs," lamprey back at Miller Lake
(November 27, 2022)
Jordan Ortega caught the six brown trout as an Oregon State University graduate student who's part of a team working to get lamprey back into Miller Lake.
Global plastic treaty should address chemicals
(November 24, 2022)
In March, the global community agreed to establish a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. To deliver on this goal, the treaty needs to cover all issues of plastics chemicals as an inseparable part of the problem.
Scientists have identified off the coast of Ecuador a distinct population of oceanic manta rays that is more than 10 times larger than any other known subpopulation of the species.
Documentary "Element" Features OSU Work, Begins Darkside Run
(October 27, 2022)
Lisa Ellsworth, served as an adviser on the film project. Ellsworth, a range ecologist, studies the long-term consequences of fire in forests and the sagebrush country of central and eastern Oregon.
The number of trout in a southern Oregon stream system showed no decline one year after a fire burned almost the entire watershed, including riparian zone trees that had helped maintain optimal stream temperatures for the cold-water fish.
Oregon State University researchers have developed a new satellite tag that allows them to better track whales’ behavior, including previously unobservable feeding events during dives.
U.S. populations of the seabird have crashed in the past half century. Researchers hope an upcoming series of surveys will reveal how dire the situation is—and if the bird should be considered endangered.
The search for the source of plastic pollution
(July 25, 2022)
Groundbreaking microplastics research is underway at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, located in Newport on the Oregon Coast.
Op-Ed: Closing the plastic tap
(June 3, 2022)
Why the U.N.’s plastic treaty must cap production and include chemicals too.
On the Wing: The East End's Most Controversial Bird
(May 26, 2022)
Susan Haig, a professor of wildlife ecology at Oregon State University, has been studying the plover for decades. She says the presence of plovers indicate the quality of a beach. If they're present, that's a good sign.
Five of the fifteen Oregon State University students and recent graduates that have been announced as semi-finalists for the 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program are from Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences.
Researchers develop automated method to identify fish calls underwater
(January 6, 2022)
An Oregon State University research team and collaborators have developed an automated method that can accurately identify calls from a family of fishes.
A new study of the genetic profiles of wild and hatchery coho salmon demonstrates important distinctions in how the two types of fish form mating pairs.
Christopher Cousins, a PhD candidate from Oregon State University, has received a $100,000 scholarship to further his work of researching habitat refugia and turning his findings into a bilingual children’s book for Latino youth.
Non-native fish are main consumers of salmon in reservoirs, researchers find
(September 22, 2021)
Fisheries managers in Oregon are increasingly identifying and grappling with threats posed by illegally introduced or invasive species overlapping with native fish populations.
Episode Info // Teaching the Next Generation of Conservationists
It was a Dark and (Slightly) Stormy Night in Grouse Country
(September 17, 2018)
Chris Branam went out into the wilderness with a group of graduate students, and Andrew Olsen showed him how to trick grouse into staying put so that they could catch and tag them. Turns out he's not so bad at it.
Amazon mangroves ‘twice as carbon rich’ as its rainforests
(September 5, 2018)
Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in coastal waters across the tropics and subtropics. They are most easily recognised by their tall protruding roots, which they use to anchor themselves against incoming tides.
Passengers aboard a boat in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf were treated to a rare sighting of a little-understood whale on a clear blue day earlier this week.
A new population of at least 700 blue whales has been found living between the North and South Islands of New Zealand.
Researchers listened as solitary humpback whales made a supposedly social call.
Authored by Ashley Braun
May 14th,...
During the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, the whaling industry reduced the population of humpback whales across the globe to near extinction.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Ecosystems that have been altered by human activities can provide suitable habitat for native birds, according to scientists in the United States and Australia.
PUBLISHED APRIL 17, 2018
Drought, floods and heat waves are becoming more common in western North America, and scientists expect the trend to continue. The culprit? A new study points to climate change.
John Dubuisson, documents librarian at the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library, was awarded the 2018 National Military Fish and Wildlife Association’s Natural Resources Conservation Management Communication Award for Promoting Public...
Hiding somewhere in the sagebrush on a wide-open area were dozens of sage grouse. It was dark. So dark it seemed you can see nearly every star.
Most of us spiff ourselves up when we're looking for love.
Sue Spector was kayaking with her husband down the pristine Braden River in western Florida when she spotted an otter.
On one side, there's the rising ocean. On the other, rising buildings.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Does a bear leave scat in the woods? The answer is obvious but the effects on an ecosystem may not be.
Researchers who confirmed in recent years that salmon use the Earth's geomagnetic field to guide their long-distance migrations have found that the fish also use the field for a much simpler and smaller-scale migration: When the young emerge from...
An uptick in urban rats has homeowners frantically trying to figure out ways to thwart infestations.
The finding, published in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes, could change a commonly held view that hatchery-raised fish are generally expected to behave in the same manner, said Julia Unrein, who led the study as a master's...
It's a story of bears, birds and berries.
A team of ecologists, led by William Deacy and Jonathan Armstrong of Oregon State University, investigated whether the early ripening of elderberries, caused by anomalously high spring temperatures, changed what Kodiak bears eat.
Nominations for the 2018 Donald H. Rusch Memorial Game Bird Research Scholarship will be accepted through May 1.
Most blue whales are 'right-handed'
(November 28, 2017)
Of course, they don’t have hands. But scientists used motion-sensing tags to show that most blue whales roll to the right as they feed – except when swimming upward.
Marine mammal populations have been rebounding along the West Coast in recent decades, and apparently they're eating a lot to celebrate.
Animals can be left-handed or right-handed just like humans, including the largest ones that have ever lived. But they can also be ambidextrous.
The impact of creatures that drifted to the Oregon Coast after the 2011 tsunami will be the topic at the latest Science on Tap presentation, set for Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Newport’s Rogue Brewery.
Seal and sea lion populations along rebounded during the past 40 years, and the protected animals are snacking on millions of Chinook salmon throughout the West each year, potentially eating into any progress from conservation projects.
The cost of the nearly $1 billion Savannah harbor deepening project is measured not only in money, but also in wildlife. And it’s getting steeper.
Entangled: Making The Sea Safer For Whales
(November 2, 2017)
More than 30 times this year, the federal government has received reports of whales tangled in fishing gear along the West Coast. Sometimes the whales manage to wriggle free.
When commercial fishermen spool out long lines in pursuit of sablefish— better known to consumers as black cod—seabirds looking for an easy meal dive to steal the bait off the series of hooks.
Fishermen collaborate to protect West Coast seabirds
(October 5, 2017)
Fishermen and researchers are working together to zero in on ways to keep West Coast fisheries from threatening endangered seabirds.
Grizzly bears have stopped eating salmon in favour of elderberries after being forced to make a choice due to climate change. Warming temperatures meant that the berries are ripening...
For the past two decades, scientists have documented a gradual lowering of the frequency of blue whale calls and they haven't been sure why – or even whether the phenomenon is intentional.
New research suggests that a rise in tick-borne diseases could be linked to a shortage of mouse predators like foxes and martens.
Whales will be affected by seabed mining, says expert
(August 14, 2017)
Seabed mining could send the blue whale population out of the South Taranaki Bight, says a marine mammal expert.
The video of a baby gray whale swimming alongside the beach goers at Laguna Beach, Orange County, California, on Tuesday, has gone viral after it was posted by a local photographer.
Professor Jim Rivers of Wildlife Ecology at Oregon State University discusses his long-term study of the elusive and threatened marbeled murrelet.
CORVALLIS, Ore.