Commercial fishing is a culturally and economically significant industry on the Oregon coast. The importance of this industry to human communities is often neglected in fisheries research, with economic and ecological data being favored by managers and decision makers. Recent observations in many coastal communities have indicated aging of fishermen...
Resource availability follows seasonal cycles in environmental conditions. To align physiology and behavior with prevailing environmental conditions, seasonal animals integrate cues from the environment with their internal state. One of the systems animals use to integrate those cues is the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its primary effector, glucocorticoid hormones. The...
Extreme water levels generating flooding in estuarine and coastal environments are often driven by compound events, where many individual processes such as waves, storm surge, streamflow, and tides coincide. Despite this, extreme water levels are typically modeled in isolated open-coast or estuarine environments, potentially mischaracterizing the true risk of flooding...
Fishermen Lead Injury Prevention Program (FLIPP) factsheet on what to include in a fisherman's first aid kit, plus flashcards with more details on the supplies to include.
This guide is a quick reference for consumers on what is being caught fresh, locally by commercial fishermen and when.
General guide and Astoria version.
Part of the Hatfield Marine Science Center's Sea Lion exhibit.This public exhibit is about the projected shift in temperature that could be associated with significant movements in the small fishes that make up much of the diet of California sea lions. If they prey moves, perhaps the sea lions will...
1. Globally, river systems have been extensively modified through alterations in riverscapes and flow regimes, reducing their capacity to absorb geophysical and environmental changes.
2. In western North America and elsewhere, alterations in natural flow regimes and swimways through dams, levees, and floodplain development, work in concert with fire regime,...
Working waterfront industries are reliant upon water access and encompass everything from wild harvest and cultured seafood to towboats, shipping, and marine research. Many of the industries along Oregon’s working waterfronts are inaccessible to the public or hard to see, even though they play critical social and economic roles in...
Aggregations of the neustonic hydrozoan Velella velella occur periodically in the northern California Current. Despite the regular occurrence of notable bloom events in this productive upwelling zone, little is known about their trophic ecology. We used gut content and stable isotope analyses (SIA) to elucidate V. velella prey selectivity and...
This publication provides information about transient lodging taxes (TLTs) to tourism-industry stakeholders and community decision-makers such as hotels, restaurants, tour operators, resource managers, county commissioners, city councils, chambers of commerce, visitor centers, and local citizens and elected officials. TLTs are one form of local revenue generated through the tourism industry...
This study uses semi-structured interviews and an online survey to explore the structure, challenges and outcomes of a five-year National Science Foundation-funded water scarcity modelling project in the Willamette River Basin of Oregon, USA. The research team chose to facilitate broader impacts by engaging stakeholders from the study’s inception (e.g....
Fisheries-related mortality has been influential in driving global declines in seabird populations. Understanding the overlap between seabird distribution and fisheries is one important element in assessing bycatch risk, and may be achieved by tracking the movements of individual birds and fishing vessels. Here, we assess the spatiotemporal overlap between the...
This field guide covers the flora and fauna you may see along the one-mile Yaquina Estuary nature trail. The trailhead is on the east side of the Visitor Center at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon.
This report assesses climate change impacts and associated community and ecosystem vulnerability. It was compiled by a group of Oregon State University researchers and students, outreach specialists, and coastal community members in Tillamook County, Oregon (OR). Through sustained engagement with the Tillamook County Coastal Futures Knowledge to Action Network (TCCF...
Neste estudo exploratório, de caráter qualitativo, objetivamos compreender a experiência de adolescentes em museus de ciência em visita fora do contexto escolar. Em particular, apresentamos a análise da visita de cinco grupos, entre 14 e 17 anos, de escolas públicas, à exposição “Passado e Presente - ciência, saúde e vida...
This chapter is part of Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate.
Coastal foredunes are often the “first line of defense” for backshore infrastructure from the hazards of erosion and flooding, and they are key components of coastal ecosystems. The shape and growth characteristics of coastal foredunes, typically characterized by...
Because barriers are low-lying and dynamic landforms, they are especially sensitive to changing environmental conditions. The continued existence of barriers will depend on the degree to which these landforms can maintain elevation above sea level while also migrating landward. We are increasingly learning that ecomorphodynamic interactions (i.e., interactions between morphology,...
Climate change impacts on extreme water levels (WLs) at two United States Pacific Northwest estuaries are investigated using a multicomponent process-based modeling framework. The integrated impact of climate change on estuarine forcing is considered using a series of sub-models that track changes to oceanic, atmospheric, and hydrologic controls on hydrodynamics....
Coastal upwelling ecosystems around the world are defined by wind-generated currents that bring deep, nutrient-rich waters to the surface ocean where they fuel exceptionally productive food webs. These ecosystems are also now understood to share a common vulnerability to ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). In the California Current Large Marine...
With growing populations and consumer demand, there has been a turn to the deep sea to meet our natural resource needs. The deep sea provides a range of benefits to humans—called ecosystem services—including carbon sequestration, fisheries, waste absorption and detoxification, and nutrient cycling, all of which are vital to life...
A visual guide to the invasive Asian jumping worm, including an explanation of why these worms matter, how they spread, how they may cause an increase in toxic mercury in water, and their potential impacts on the ecosystem.
This report and its companion study, Assessment of Registered Oregon Coast Outfitters and Guides, reviews the online marketing effectiveness, pricing, and amenities of guided fishing and tour businesses in Oregon, specifically coastal Oregon.
Evacuation strategies have been established for most user groups in tsunami inundation zones; however, surprisingly little information is available for a growing visitor group - surfers. For near-shore tsunami events, Oregon surfers, who recreate in the nearshore region, must make life or death choices when deciding what to do in...
The StreamWebs Field and Classroom Watershed Investigation Curriculum is designed to help formal and nonformal educators use StreamWebs as a platform to conduct meaningful, field-based, student-driven investigations that continue in the classroom. The desired outcomes are to provide science inquiry-based opportunities for students to work collaboratively in the field in...
This report summarizes the StreamWebs program, curriculum development and testing. The StreamWebs program provides students, teachers and project partners with hands-on field and classroom training; access to field sampling equipment; curriculum materials and open-source, web-based tools for watershed data analysis. The program launched a number of new partnerships and added...
Water quality impacts both human and ecosystem health. Many pharmaceuticals and personal care products are considered contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) due to their bioactive properties. Among these, metformin—the most commonly prescribed drug for treatment of type 2 diabetes—has been reported at high concentrations (μg L⁻¹) in stream, lake, and...
An exhibit on display at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center in Newport, Oregon. Lists some of the responsibilities and costs of buying, setting up, and maintaining a freshwater aquarium.
This chapter synthesizes more than two decades of interdisciplinary scholarship by the coauthors related to fishing families and coastal communities. Amid the contemporary narrative of increasing coastal storms, erosion, and other physical hazards associated with climate and related coastal hazards facing coastal communities, we find myriad ways that Oregon fishing...
This case study is in response to a recognized need to transform short-term regional ocean condition forecast information into useful data products for a range of end users, considering their perceptions of uncertainty and risk associated with these forecasts. It demonstrates the value of user engagement in achieving long-term goals...
Climate change poses known and unknown risks for coastal communities and also challenges for university faculty and local government staff who communicate about climate sciences. Conceived as a way to move beyond traditional models of science communication, this project involved public and private decision makers in specific at-risk communities in...
Pyrosomes are colonial pelagic tunicates that have fascinated marine biologists for over a century. Their name comes from the “fiery” bioluminescence that luminous organs produce at night time. Blooms of pyrosomes, identified as Pyrosoma atlanticum (Peron, 1804), have recently appeared in the North Pacific Ocean, prompting questions about environmental factors...
This research focused on population dynamics of two gelatinous zooplankters (Aequorea & Pyrosoma atlanticum) in the northern California Current to assess their relationship to environmental conditions and role in the pelagic ecosystem. Data collected since 1999 showed seasonal and interannual fluctuations in the abundance and distribution of Aequorea in the...
Ever wonder what that jelly-like blob on the beach is? Want to know how to identify a bloom of jellyfish? This guide was created to help identify common gelatinous animals encountered at sea or beachcombing. With this guide you can appreciate the diversity of gelatinous animals on the Oregon coast...
Despite progressive policies and continued advances in ocean management, numerous shifts associated with global changes have been observed in marine ecosystems in recent years, including warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. As global change accelerates, science is needed to inform evidence-based management strategies for continued ecosystem services. Resilience management, in which...
The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early-impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate...
Marine microbes exhibit highly varied, often non-spherical shapes that have functional significance for essential processes, including nutrient acquisition and sinking rates. There is a surprising absence of data, however, on how cell shape affects grazing, which is crucial for predicting the fate of oceanic carbon. We used synthetic spherical and...
Oregon is in the midst of major changes to the way it manages use of the ocean off its shores. Consideration for all stakeholder groups will contribute to defensible decisions regarding the use of ocean and coastal resources. This relies on an understanding of the various stakeholders in ocean resources,...
Marine debris is a growing problem that harms the environment and the economy. Its impacts range from impeding navigation to entangling wildlife and fouling beaches. Research helps explore this issue, bridges knowledge gaps, and supports prevention and reduction efforts.
In the recently-released Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan (OR MDAP), local...
This information sheet educates professional crabbers on best practices to avoid whale entanglement and reduce and recover derelict gear. It also provides information on how and when to report an entanglement.
Understanding larval bivalve responses to variable regimes of seawater carbonate chemistry requires realistic quantification of physiological stress. Based on a degree-day modeling approach, we developed a new metric, the ocean acidification stress index for shellfish (OASIS), for this purpose. OASIS integrates over the entire larval period the instantaneous stress associated...
This study investigates the use of a mobile application, Whale mAPP, as a citizen science tool for collecting marine mammal sighting data. In just over three months, 1261 marine mammal sightings were observed and recorded by 39 citizen scientists in Southeast Alaska. The resulting data, along with a preliminary and...
In this report, we build off of the knowledge and relationships created from the Seacast tool (2017) to explore the perceptions of uncertainty for both data providers and users. We then use the knowledge of these perceptions to derive metrics that address uncertainty which are acceptable to both parties. These...
The particle capture mechanisms of biological filters determine the particle spectrum that is ingested by filter-feeding animals. Although ascidian feeding has been extensively investigated, the organismal-scale fluid dynamics and mesh-scale particle-filter interactions are not fully characterized. Fluorescein dye visualization of flow through the branchial sac of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis...
The purpose of this study is to understand how NOAA West Watch's content is used, by whom, and how the process of delivering the tool might be improved.
An outdoor interpretive sign that describes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the purpose of the NOAA Marine Operations Centers. Includes image of sign in situ.