Aquatic Conservation Center Features
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
May 27, 2010. The Conservation Biology Institute has created data to describe the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to begin to discern the possible damage it could cause to terrestrial, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems should it make landfall. By overlaying these projected trajectories on a standardized grid, we can select areas that may contain oil from the spill and identifiy protected areas that are likely to be most directly affected by the spill immediately, and in the near future. Read More.
Colorado River Water Supply
A scenario of 20% reduction in annual Colorado River flow by 2057 due to climate change results in a near tenfold increase in the probability of annual reservoir depletion by 2057. Flexibility in current management practices could mitigate some of the increased risk due to climate change-induced reductions in flows. Water managers and their stakeholders are now considering how the reliability of water supplies might be affected if drought conditions become more frequent. Read More.
Bull Trout and Climate Change
Climate strongly influences regional and local bull trout distributions. Climate warming (predictions) of 1-5 degree C could result in losses of 18-92% of thermally suitable young producing habitat area and 27-99% of large habitat areas (>10,000 hectare). A warming climate could profoundly affect the distribution and abundance of many fishes (Chu et al. 2005, Perry et al. 2005). Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) may be especially vulnerable to climate change. Read More.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
The Gifford Pinchot Task Force (GPTF) works with fish and wildlife biologists to protect and restore native trout, wolf, and big game populations in ecosystems of the Central Cascades (focus on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest). The 1.3 million acre GPNF stretches from the Columbia River Gorge on the south to Mount Rainier National Park on the north, and includes Mount St. Helens on the west and much of Mount Adams on the east. Read More.
Threats to Coral Reefs
Worldwide coral reefs are increasingly stressed by natural and anthropogenic forces, including storm surges, changes in sea level, ocean temperature and pH, destructive fishing practices, and careless tourism. The World Resources Institute (WRI) assessed threats to coral reefs in a number of key marine ecoregions, including the Caribbean. Results from these assessments can be used to develop effective conservation strategies. Read More.
Klamath-Siskiyou
The Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, located in southwest Oregon and northwest California is an area of extraordinary biodiversity (Whitaker 1960), recognized by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as an area of global botanical significance and classified by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a global 200 site (Ricketts et al. 1999). Forested lands decreased in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion between 1972 and 1992 while fragmentation increased on both private and public lands. Fragmentation rates on public lands were high for all basins, especially for the Rogue. Read More.
