The bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ) is a deep-water, globally distributed, but data-limited species due to its habitat use and cryptic nature. Its slow growth, long lifespan, and uncertain population status have prompted concern about its vulnerability and resulted in an IUCN Red List status of “Near Threatened.” A lack of information about critical habitat use throughout the species’ life cycle, such as breeding...

Rockfish, Sebastes spp., are bottomfish that come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors with 28 species recognized in the Salish Sea. Based on increasing concern over the long-term stability of rockfish populations in Washington by state and federal agencies, the Seattle Aquarium formalized a benthic monitoring program starting in 2005 on rocky reefs west and east of Neah Bay, Washington. Diver-operated video (DOV) surveys...

Rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) are a long-lived, understudied, multi-species fish assemblage in inland Washington (USA) waters. Driven by large-scale fishery removals in the 1970s, their numbers declined and have yet to recover, perhaps due to slow maturation and rare recruitment success. Since then, rockfish fishing restrictions have increased within Puget Sound, culminating in a 2010 total ban. Here, we analyze rockfish communit...

Hawai ′ i coral reefs are essential ecosystems providing resources in the form of food and recreation as well as stabilizing nearshore biodiversity. The Seattle Aquarium has exhibited Hawai ′ i reef fishes and corals since the mid-1980s to educate guests about these critical ecosystems. In 2009, and in collaboration with Hawai ′ i’s Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) and Washington State University, the aquarium expanded its...

Sea otters, Enhydra lutris , were once abundant along the nearshore areas of the North Pacific. The international maritime fur trade that ended in 1911 left 13 small remnant populations with low genetic diversity. Subsequent translocations into previously occupied habitat resulted in several reintroduced populations along the coast of North America. We sampled sea otters between 2008 and 2011 throughout much of their current r...

Spatial analyses of marine mammal stranding data can be used to identify stranding patterns and improve surveillance and monitoring. Using ArcGIS and SaTScan, we analyzed 12 years (2002–2014) of dead beachcast marine mammals from San Juan County, Washington, to better understand patterns of carcass deposition. We plotted the locations for 631 dead marine mammals and aggregated strandings into 1,000 m segments of shoreline. “Ho...

Habitat characteristics are primary determinants of nearshore marine communities. However, biological drivers like predation can also be important for community composition. Sea otters ( Enhydra lutris ssp.) are a salient example of a keystone species exerting top‐down control on ecosystem community structure. The translocation and subsequent population growth and range expansion of the northern sea otter ( Enhydra lutris keny...

Aim To examine the contribution of large‐diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location Global. Time period Early 21st century. Major taxa studied Woody plants. Methods We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plan...

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long‐term forest dynamics research sites ( CTFS ‐Forest GEO ) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very large plots (median size...

Sea otter ( Enhydra lutris ) populations experienced widespread reduction and extirpation due to the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries. We examined genetic variation within four microsatellite markers and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) d ‐loop in one prefur trade population and compared it to five modern populations to determine potential losses in genetic variation. While mtDNA sequence variability was low within both m...