{"id":7693,"date":"2012-08-26T23:25:31","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T04:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=7693"},"modified":"2012-08-26T23:25:31","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T04:25:31","slug":"watching-the-river-flow-the-complex-effect-of-stream-variability-on-bristol-bays-wildlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2012\/08\/26\/watching-the-river-flow-the-complex-effect-of-stream-variability-on-bristol-bays-wildlife\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching the river flow – the complex effect of stream variability on Bristol Bay’s wildlife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sylvia Fallon, a Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, blogged about ecosystem dynamics and the key role of salmon in Alaska\u2019s Bristol Bay watershed last week, in a post inspired by Peter Lisi\u2019s presentation<\/a> at ESA\u2019s 2012 annual meeting in Portland. Peter is a postdoc in Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Here\u2019s an excerpt from Sylvia\u2019s post:<\/p>\n

\"ESA<\/a>Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska supports the world\u2019s greatest wild salmon fishery.\u00a0 And now scientists have a new understanding why: water temperature and stream flow.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Variation in the temperature and flow of streams is key to supporting not just Bristol Bay\u2019s prolific salmon populations, but also the area\u2019s immense wildlife diversity from bears to birds to plants, according to new research presented this week at the Ecological Society of America meetings in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 Working in the Wood River watershed of Southwest Alaska, scientists found that the diversity of stream conditions results in salmon that spawn at different times throughout the season, thereby extending the time that predators and scavengers can feast on this important food supply.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026continue reading \u201cWatching the river flow \u2013 the complex effect of stream variability on Bristol Bay\u2019s wildlife\u201d on Sylvia\u2019s NRDC blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to speaking in a symposium<\/a> on \u201cThe Evolving Role of Environmental Scientists in Informing Sustainable Ecosystem Policy and Management\u201d at ESA2012, Sylvia delivered a lunchtime address to ESA\u2019s Rapid Response Team<\/a>, advising them on her area of expertise, policy engagement.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000\u2019s, ESA assembled a diverse group of ecologists from agencies, academia and other research environments, who agreed to be on call to reporters and policy makers for expert information on rapidly evolving events of with ecological ramifications \u2014 events like the 2010 BP oil spill and hurricane Katrina. But the Team is not just for breaking news. They are also on hand (or on the other end of a phone) to provide ecological context and background on biofuels, climate change, agriculture, forests and fisheries. The Team\u2019s membership turns over every few years to bring in new blood and give longer functioning members a break.<\/p>\n

Rapid Response Team scientists, and ESA members at large, are also encouraged to reach out to media and legislators before being asked.<\/p>\n

Fish & Wildlife and other government agencies, for example, typically have public comment periods for policy proposals. Sylvia urged the Team not to underestimate the power of commentary from independent scientists. \u201cIn these situations, my association with an environmental advocacy group does tend to compromise my credentials,\u201d she said. During comment periods she often reaches out to scientific community to submit comments, \u201cbegging, will you comment, have you commented, can I write some comments for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that letters of support can bolster agency scientists on management issues that are highly visible and carry heavy political baggage. \u201cIn cases where it\u2019s political and they need to justify their decision, a letter from an environmental organization doesn\u2019t do a lot of good. A letter from a group of scientists or a scientific society can help them do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sylvia Fallon, a Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, blogged about ecosystem dynamics and the key role of salmon in Alaska\u2019s Bristol Bay watershed last week, in a post inspired by Peter Lisi\u2019s presentation at ESA\u2019s 2012 annual meeting in Portland. Peter is a postdoc in Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Here\u2019s an excerpt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1114,1436,2],"tags":[38,1392,1444,1419,777,1445,1446,707,22],"class_list":["post-7693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecology-about-town","category-esa2012-annual-meeting","category-research","tag-alaska","tag-bears","tag-bristol-bay","tag-esa2012","tag-mining","tag-pebble-mine","tag-rapid-response-team","tag-salmon","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}