Episodes
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For the final episode of FieldSound Season 2, we’re revisiting an episode from season one with Laura Prugh, wildlife ecologist and associate professor at the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
Prugh is also part of the Washington Predator-Prey Project, which studies the potential ecological impact of recolonizing wolves in Washington state.
Wolf numbers in Washington have been steadily growing, raising questions about what the return of this large predator species means for ecosystems, deer populations and people alike.
A recent paper reported that human activities are likely limiting the impact of wolves on one of their primary food sources – white-tailed deer.
You can read about the Washington Predator-Prey Project and their findings over at our website at www.environment.uw.edu.
Enjoy this conversation with Laura Prugh and stay tuned for FieldSound Season 3 coming September 2024.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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In this episode of FieldSound, we hear from Ryan Kelly, professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. Trained as both an ecologist and a lawyer, Kelly brings a unique perspective to his research at the boundaries of marine science and real-world environmental law and policy. He works closely with federal agencies and currently serves on a national task force that aims to move science into practice at a federal level.
A major focus of Kelly's research involves environmental DNA, or eDNA, which is genetic material shed by organisms that is released into the environment. It can be collected from a variety of environmental samples, such as soil or seawater, with the idea that as organisms interact in the environment, their DNA will accumulate in their surroundings. Kelly explains that now we can take a cup of seawater, for example, sequence the DNA out of it, and see what lives nearby — we can see hundreds of thousands of species, all at once.
Now, the challenge is to make sense of all this data. Kelly also is the director of the eDNA Collaborative, which aims to move the use of eDNA out of the lab and into practice in real-world environmental management and conservation.
Some ways it's already being used: In Puget Sound, using eDNA to look at the impacts of urbanization on the nearshore environment; measuring the effects of culvert restoration for salmon in Washington state; and surveying the edges of the invasion of European green crab in Washington.
The Collaborative has awarded 130 "microgrants" to people in 40 different countries in its goal to make this technology and knowledge more accessible.
Kelly also discusses his recent co-authored work, "Between the Tides," which offers readers a comprehensive guide to the beaches and tidepools of Washington, Oregon and California, enriching our understanding of coastal marine ecology.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Missing episodes?
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In this episode of FieldSound, KOMO 4 Chief Meteorologist Shannon O'Donnell and University of Washington students speak about the formation of the UW Dawgcast, born out of ATM S 493: Media & Meteorology in the UW Department of Atmospheric Sciences.
ATM S 493, which launched in 2020, is the first broadcast meteorology class offered on the West Coast. With it, the UW joins Pennsylvania State University and Mississippi State University as schools that offer broadcast meteorology instruction. The course equips students to learn how to create forecasts, communicate the science of weather, and gain real-world broadcast experience using industry-standard equipment.
While the class takes place each winter quarter, students from all majors can participate in the UW Dawgcast club year-round.
Steve Pool Memorial Fund for Students in Atmospheric Sciences
Steve Pool was one the leading television weathercasters in Seattle for nearly 40 years, providing meteorological insights and weather education to millions of viewers across western Washington. A profoundly impactful UW alumnus, he was committed to the University of Washington and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, establishing an internship program that provided dozens of UW students with experience in broadcast meteorology — with several going on to successful careers in TV weather (such as O’Donnell at KOMO 4).
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences is honored to be undertaking an effort to create an endowed scholarship to support undergraduates in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences in honor of Steve Pool. Your support will provide financial assistance to promising atmospheric sciences students and foster training opportunities for the next generation of meteorologists and atmospheric scientists. Learn more about the campaign here.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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David Montgomery is a geomorphologist who looks at the processes shaping Earth’s surface and how they affect ecological systems — and human societies. He has studied everything from the ways that landslides and glaciers influence the height of mountain ranges to the way that soils have shaped human civilizations, both now and in the past. He has worked in mountain ranges throughout the world, from the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest to the Andes in South America and Tibet, and the Himalaya in Central Asia.
In addition to his academic work, Montgomery has written a number of popular science books, three of which won the Washington State Book Award. He is an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has received many awards throughout his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Vega Medal.
In this episode, Montgomery discusses his career trajectory, which began with a fascination for maps as a child and led him to become a geomorphologist studying Earth's surface features. He describes his transition from biology to geology during college.
Montgomery also shares insights from his research on soil erosion and its impact on civilizations, as well as his collaboration with his wife, Anne Biklé, on books about soil health and regenerative farming. Listen to learn more about the importance of soil microbiology for crop health and human nutrition. You can also catch some music by his band, Big Dirt.
Related: UW Magazine published this recent feature on Montgomery.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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In this episode of FieldSound, we take you to UW Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands, where marine researchers Joey Ullman and Olivia Graham prepare for a dive on a cold January morning. They scout sites for deploying juvenile sunflower stars, aiming to compare the survivability of lab-grown versus wild-caught specimens.
Fiona Curliss, another researcher, discusses the intricate process of raising these sea stars, from fertilization to adulthood, and the importance of their work in combating sea star wasting syndrome.
Learn about the interesting research that is being conducted at UW Friday Harbor Labs, which provides an ideal environment for studying marine biology. Faculty and researchers from the University of Washington and beyond gather at FHL to explore oceanography, chemistry, biology, ecology and other marine sciences. Students have the chance to engage deeply in research and coursework, linking classroom knowledge to the ecosystems of the San Juan Archipelago.
Watch a video about FHL's sea star rearing efforts
The project recently was featured on NBC's 'Wild Kingdom' showhttps://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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GEODUC — which stands for Geoscience Education, Oceanographic Discovery and Undergraduate Collaboration — is a place-based, National Science Foundation-funded program spearheaded by faculty and staff in the College of the Environment. Created to broaden the depth and breadth of perspectives that inform scientific inquiry in marine science fields, GEODUC actively recruits UW transfer students from all disciplines.
GEODUC begins with a 10-day residency at Friday Harbor Labs each September, where transfer students experience the geosciences through hands-on exploration, fieldwork and research. Back in Seattle, GEODUC students meet for weekly seminars throughout the academic year beginning in autumn quarter, where they build community, learn important academic skills, and prepare for successful careers. The seminars feature speakers from a variety of backgrounds who share how they found their way in the sciences, helping students to see that they, too, belong in the research community.
In this episode, students from the program and professors José Guzmán and Mikelle Nuwer share about the GEODUC experience.
Additionally, the GEODUC teaching team recently was awarded the UW’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Teams, one of the University’s highest teaching recognitions. The team includes:
Jane Dolliver (she/her), Program Manager, College of the Environment
José Guzmán (he/him), Associate Teaching Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Marine Biology
Kerry Naish (she/her), Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Marine Biology
Mikelle Nuwer (she/her), Associate Teaching Professor, School of Oceanography
LuAnne Thompson (she/her), Professor, School of Oceanography
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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In this episode of FieldSound, Professor Claire Willing shares her research on the vital plant-fungal interactions hidden below the soil surface, particularly mycorrhizal fungi. Willing discusses their ancient symbiotic relationship with plants and significance in nutrient uptake, soil structure, and plant health.
Willing is an ecologist specializing in microbial ecology, plant ecology, and plant physiological ecology. Willing is the John C. Garcia Professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. With a primary focus on plant-fungal interactions, particularly those between plant roots and mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi, Willing's lab investigates the intricate dynamics shaping ecosystem health.
https://www.washington.edu/research/new-faculty-spotlight-claire-willing/https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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In this episode, Associate Professor of Earth and Space Sciences Alison Duvall shares about tectonic geomorphology, her work with the Cascadia CoPes Hub to increase knowledge about natural hazards and empower communities to build resilience in the face of environmental change, and her path to becoming a scientist.
Duvall is a geologist who studies how mountains are built and how the landscape responds to these processes. More specifically, she looks at how plate tectonics, erosion, and climate all work together to shape the Earth’s surface across both space and time. In addition to mountains, she investigates what happens when two blocks of Earth’s crust slide past each other (called strike-slip faulting), changing hill slopes, river channels, and other features of the landscape. Because they are often continuous for long distances, strike-slip faults are especially prone to large earthquakes, but measuring their activity is hard. Duvall hopes to develop new ways of both recognizing and analyzing fault activity directly from surface processes.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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From the University of Washington College of the environment, this is FieldSound.
Join us as we explore the College’s impact around the globe with our researchers as they share stories of their exciting, groundbreaking and influential discoveries.
FieldSound will both entertain and educate listeners about the field of environmental science while kindling personal connection to the world around them.
Join us in the field for season 2 of FieldSound, the official podcast from the University of Washington College of the Environment.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Earthquakes can strike at any moment. On the final Season 1 episode of FieldSound, UW seismologists Harold Tobin and Audrey Dunham discuss the impending threat of “The Big One” - a large-scale earthquake that will strike along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Tobin and Dunham also share recent advances in earthquake and tsunami preparedness for communities inland and along the coast in the Pacific Northwest.
Harold Tobin is a professor in the UW Department of Earth and Space Sciences and holds the Paros Endowed Chair in Seismology and Geohazards. He is also the Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and the designated Washington State Seismologist, studying tectonic plate boundaries, how faults work, and the conditions that lead to earthquakes.
Audrey Dunham is a UW Department of Earth and Space Sciences Postdoctoral Scholar working with the Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub (CoPes Hub) focused on ground motion simulations of potential Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes and quantifying hazards for coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest.
The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is supported by the Friends of Earthquakes fund.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Mount Rainier Institute provides regional schools with in-depth programs focusing on forest science and STEM education, using the Charles Lathrop Pack Experimental Forest - located at the foot of Mt. Rainier, as an outdoor classroom.
Pack Forest, part of the UW School of Environment and Forest Sciences, sits on 4,300 acres of working forestland. The forest provides the resources to discover, teach and demonstrate the concepts of sustainable forestry.
On this episode, FieldSound visits the Mount Rainier institute for “Maple Syrup Day” to learn about experimental production of Big Leaf Maple Syrup alongside kids from a local elementary school.
Read about how UW is helping to build a maple syrup industry in Western Washington.
The Mount Rainier Institute is supported by the Mount Rainier Institute Fund and has received grant support from The Russell Family Foundation and Outdoor Schools Washington.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Randie Bundy is a researcher with the University of Washington School of Oceanography. Her complex work looks into the cycling of trace metals in marine environments, how bioactive metals such as iron, copper, and cobalt are acquired by marine phytoplankton and bacteria, and how the organic forms of these metals affect their uptake and cycling in the ocean.
Bundy recently co-led a team aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson for the recent Gradient 5 Survey with all female principal investigators, LGBTQIA+ diversity represented, and participants from 14 countries of origin.
On this episode, Bundy shares her path to science, how she approaches scientific inquiry, and what it's like to be an ocean scientist living and working at sea.
Since 2018, Randie Bundy has received 4 grants from the Simons Foundation: Mechanisms of trace metal regeneration in the upper ocean via organic ligands, The fundamental role of heterotrophic bacteria in the global iron cycle, The Impact of Trace Metals on Microbial Communities in the Pacific Ocean and In the Iron Continuum: Physicochemical Metal Speciation Dictates Bioavailability.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Anne Polyakov is a PhD student in the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management Program at the University of Washington.
Anne's PhD research covers a variety of animals and ecosystems, including fungal communities along salmon streams. Recently, she spent a summer with the UW Alaska Salmon Program studying ecosystems along three streams, collecting data to track the uptake of salmon nutrients beyond the water’s edge, and how fungi might play a role in this intricate process.
She is passionate about interdisciplinary research at the intersection of ecology and statistics, utilizing a variety of modeling techniques to better understand ecological dynamics.
Read our recent article on Anne's research in Alaska: https://environment.uw.edu/news/2022/11/fish-forests-and-fungi/https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Aaron Wirsing is an ecologist with the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences studying predator-prey interactions.
On this episode of FieldSound, Wirsing discusses his research in both terrestrial and aquatic systems, the ways that top predators, such as grey wolves and tiger sharks, shape their ecosystems and how humans affect predator-prey interactions through processes such as urbanization and climate change.
The Predator Ecology Lab seeks to help better understand how predators influence their surroundings by interacting with their prey and seeks solutions to the challenges of large carnivore conservation & management in the changing world.
https://www.predatorecology.com/
Aaron Wirsing’s research has received support from the Seeley Fund for Ocean Research on Tetiaroa to establish and maintain a marine laboratory on the Tetiaroa atoll, the Save Our Seas Foundation and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Laura Prugh is a wildlife community ecologist with the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Research in her lab use a combination of intensive fieldwork, modeling, meta-analyses, and interdisciplinary approaches to study the response of wildlife communities to global change.
Recently, Prugh was lead author on a study published in the journal Science. Researchers at the University of Washington, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Spokane Tribe of Indians found that bobcats and coyotes were more than three times likely to die from human activity than from the claws and jaws of cougars and wolves, illustrating how humankind’s growing footprint is changing interactions among other species.On this episode of FieldSound, Prugh discusses her pursuit to understand connections in the environment, and highlights her work with the critically endangered Kangaroo Rats - the “ecosystem engineers” of the Carrizo Plain National Monument in Southern California.
Laura Prugh is the current holder of the John C. Garcia Term Professorship. Prugh Lab research is supported by the Wildlife Dynamics and Conservation Research Fund.http://prughlab.com
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Chelsea Wood is an Associate Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She is a leader in the ecology of parasites and pathogens in freshwater and marine ecosystems, the ecological drivers of parasite transmission, and human impacts on parasites in a changing world. Wood discusses the fascinating world of parasites, their “Rube Goldberg-esque” life-cycles, and her recent study - the world’s largest and longest dataset of wildlife parasite abundance - that suggests parasites may be especially vulnerable to a changing climate.
https://chelsealwood.com/
Chelsea Wood is W.M. Keck Foundation grant recipient for her work with historical reconstruction of infectious disease prevalence in wildlife.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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John Marzluff is a professor of wildlife science in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and renowned researcher studying the relationships between birds and humans.
On this episode of FieldSound, Marzluff discusses the intelligent, enigmatic and culturally-significant crow, the shared knowledge of crow communities, and the ways local habitat fragmentation and increased urbanization affect corvids (and corvids affect humans).
In 2022, Marzluff was named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, honored for advances in our understanding of how humans impact birds, and for communicating the importance of birds to the public. Marzluff's research is supported by the Marzluff Bird Research Fund, and he is the current holder of the James W. Ridgeway Professorship in Forest Resources.Through immersive, narrative storytelling, FieldSound explores the world of environmental science together with researchers at the University of Washington College of the Environment.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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Shima Abadi is Director of the Ocean Data Lab and an associate professor at the UW School of Oceanography. She also holds a joint appointment as an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Program at UW Bothell's School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM).
Abadi’s intricate research primarily focuses on ocean acoustical signal processing, noise propagation in the ocean, machine learning in analyzing ocean ambient noise, and developing algorithms for analyzing large data sets collected by underwater networks.
In this episode, Abadi discusses ocean acoustics and analyzing data to understand the soundscape of underwater environments.
Rachel Aronson holds an M.M.A. from the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and leads the Quiet Sound program. As a student, Aronson received support from the Linda J. Maxson Endowment in Marine Policy and the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs Graduate Student Fellowship Fund.
In this episode, Aronson shares about the collaborative program dedicated to reducing noise impacts to Southern Resident Killer Whales from large commercial vessels in Puget Sound.
Orca recordings courtesy of nps.gov.https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
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FieldSound, the official UW College of the Environment podcast, launches May 4, 2023!
Through immersive, narrative storytelling, FieldSound explores the world of environmental science together with researchers at the University of Washington College of the Environment.
Interviews and anecdotes connect listeners to the College’s global impact as guests share stories of their exciting, groundbreaking and influential discoveries. FieldSound entertains and educates listeners while kindling personal connection to the world around them.
Tune in to FieldSound on May 4, 2023 when our first episode drops, and be sure to like, share and subscribe to catch a new episode every week.
https://environment.uw.edu/podcast
