Student Bio Expo 2015

Transcription

1 Student Bio Expo 2015 JOURNALISM Category Submission Template Before filling out this form, choose the save as function to rename this document. Label the document as follows: Journalism_MercerIsland_Casper For example, Lucy Lopez from Eastlake High School submitting a Journalism project would label her file: JN_MI_Casper Designated Category and school abbreviations can be found on the last page of this document. Please read through this form completely before beginning. After completion, use the save as function to save this document as a PDF, if possible. Part I Cover Sheet Student Name: Allie Casper School: Mercer Island High School Teacher Name: Mr. Cooke Grade Level: 12 Title of Project: Swimming Upstream: The State of Wild Salmon in the Pacific Northwest Mentor name, if applicable: Jake Allegier I understand that I need to supply any special AV or electrical equipment needed for my project (i.e. CD player, DVD player, laptop computer, extension cord).

2 Part II Category Requirements If you are unfamiliar with any of the elements listed below, please refer back to the Journalism Category Requirements. They can be found on nwabr.org Journalism Project Insert your Journalism Project in the gray box below: Swimming Upstream: A Feature on the State of Wild Salmon Populations in the Pacific Northwest It s hard to find people who get excited when you talk about salmon. On the surface, they re not very exciting animals. Trainers at SeaWorld don t ride around on their backs, and we don t connect to fish the same way we do with other mammals. However, when you investigate further, this seemingly ordinary fish is actually quite extraordinary (I promise). Salmon are a vital part of life in the Pacific Adult Coho salmon returning to their home stream to spawn after several years in the ocean. Northwest. They provide a food source for both the human and wild animal populations of the region (including the dearly loved Orca Whale population). Salmon hold together so much of the ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest that they are considered a keystone species. There are five species of salmon that inhabit the Pacific: Coho (silver), Chinook (King), Sockeye (Red), Pink (Humpy), and Chum (Dog) (Salmon Nation, 2011). You can use your five

3 fingers to remember the five species of salmon: thumb represents Chum, pointer is for Sockeye (because you can poke someone s eye with that finger), middle finger is for King (because both the middle finger and the King salmon are the largest of the five), ring finger represents Silver, and pinky represents Pink. Salmon have long served as a symbol of the northwest, but the future of wild salmon populations in Washington, Oregon and Northern California is currently up in the air. The local salmon populations of the Northwest have been decreasing for decades. In 1999 salmon species had disappeared from 40% of their natural habitat (Washing State Recreation and Conservation Office, 2010). The typical salmon life cycle starts in a body of freshwater like a lake, stream, or river. When the salmon are old enough they travel downstream and eventually reach the ocean. They will spend several years in the ocean until they are ready to breed. At that point the salmon will migrate back to their place of birth to start the cycle all over again (Salmon Nation, 2011). The main factor that contributes to the decline of wild salmon populations is freshwater habitat loss, but the habitat that does remain often contains pollutants that cause harm to young salmon starting their journey to the ocean. With so many factors working against the wild salmon population the question arises: Can wild salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest survive? As of 2007, the wild salmon population on the coast of Washington state is at 1.8% of its historical run size. At the Basin of the Columbia River (the river separating Washington and Oregon) the run size is currently 1.7% of what it was in the late 1800s (Lackey, Salmon using a hatchery in Issaquah, Washington ). To the average seafood consumer it may seem that salmon is nowhere near a threatened

4 species, but the salmon harvested commercially are not wild salmon populations. They come from either fish farms or hatcheries. Fish farming is a practice where large numbers of a species of fish (like salmon) are kept in pens or nets, and are essentially grown there. Open-ocean fish farms are criticized for polluting nearby water with the waste of the salmon and for overuse of antibiotics that also drift into nearby water. However, in-land fish farms are largely considered more sustainable (Bland, 2013). Hatcheries are facilities that raise salmon and then spawn them when they return to the hatchery as adults. Several Hatcheries are being used to assist the population growth of some wild salmon runs. However, hatcheries do not return the carcasses of adult salmon to their habitat. Naturally, these carcasses would provide nutrients for the ecosystem around the salmons home stream. There are efforts being made by the fish and wildlife departments in several states to return carcasses to the habitats where they would normally degrade (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2015). A Look at One Challenge Wild Salmon Face: Copper One pollutant recently found to harm salmon is copper. Some common human sources of An example of a copper brake pad 0.jpg copper are copper smelters, pesticides, and protective boat coatings, but another less known source of copper is the brake pads in cars (Science Daily, 2012). The copper that comes off these brake pads finds its way into storm drains and eventually runs into one of the bodies of freshwater that run through the Northwest. The presence of dissolved copper in the habitats of young salmon has peculiar effects on the senses of young salmon. Several studies have been done to look at exactly how copper impacts the salmon. The results of those studies are both fascinating and troublesome.

5 Researchers found that the main sense affected was smell. As odd as it might seem, salmon rely heavily on smell for many parts of their life. It is thought that they find their way to their home stream from the ocean partly through their sense of smell. Young salmon however, usually use smell for a slightly different purpose. If a young salmon is attacked by a predator it will send out an alarm signal, which is a chemical that other salmon can smell that tells them to stop all motion in hopes of not being noticed by an oncoming predator. This chemical is called Schreckstoff, which is German for scary stuff (Brown, 2007). However, studies by both Oregon State and Washington State Universities found that the presence of dissolved copper even in very small amounts reduced this panic response in young Coho salmon. Coho salmon are one of the most commercially sought after species of salmon. They also spend about half their life cycle in freshwater areas like the Columbia River ( NOAA Fisheries, 2014). This map shows the areas of Oregon and Northern California where wild Coho populations are at risk for extinction. The red areas are at a high risk of extinction and the yellow areas have a moderate risk of extinction. This map is from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also conducted studies on this topic and they found that the amount of copper that can harm salmon is incredibly small. They were measuring the amount in µg/l (micrograms per Liter). To give some perspective, there are one million micrograms in a gram. A reduction in response to the alarm signal was noted by scientists at concentrations as low as 3 µg/l (Hecht, 2007). Humans start to notice harmful

6 effects of dissolved copper like nausea and vomiting at similar levels (around 4-6 µg/l), but that is usually over an extended period of time (Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, 2014). In salmon it can only take a few minutes for copper to inhibit the sense of smell. Tests of water near highways in the Pacific Northwest have shown copper concentrations 60 times above the threshold levels tested by scientists (Hecht, 2007). The exact way that Copper affects a salmon s sense of smell is still unknown. It is also unknown how salt water environments affect how toxic copper is to salmon. Humans are also negatively affected when there is dissolved copper present in water. What Other Challenges do Wild Salmon Populations Face? Toxic substances are not the only thing impeding wild salmon populations. Jacob Allgeier and Jan Ohlberger from the University of Washington s Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Department both agree that habitat degradation mostly due to dams is the largest threat to wild salmon populations in the A before and after picture of the Elwha Dam that illustrates how the construction of a dam can drastically change the landscape of the surrounding area. Pacific Northwest. Dams are obvious and challenging physical barriers that have disrupted the migration of many wild salmon populations for decades. The powerful rivers of the Pacific Northwest (including the Columbia, Snake and the Norfolk Clearwater Rivers) are great sources of clean renewable hydroelectric power, but many of the dams that harness the energy of these rivers were not built with the local ecosystem in mind. Newer dams are required to have some mode that allows for passage of migratory fish species like salmon, but those regulations were not enforced along the Washington-Oregon border,

7 which includes the Columbia River, until the 1930s. By the time the laws were enforced the Oregon Fish Commission found that 50% of the prime spawning and rearing habitat for salmon in the Columbia basin had been lost (Harrison, 2008). One example of an older dam that caused many migration problems for salmon in Washington is the Elwha Dam. The Elwha Dam was located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Construction started in 1910 and ended in 1913 (before any regulations regarding accommodations for salmon were made). The Elwha Dam supplied power to a local pulp mill in the town of Port Angeles. After 14 years another dam was built further upstream that was intended to supply energy to local communities. The Glines Canyon Dam finished construction in The two dams severely limited the runs of all five species of The locations of the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams on the Olympic Peninsula. salmon along with those of steelhead and cutthroat trout. The dams also sit within the limits of the Olympic National Park. By the 1980s the public had major objections to the dams for several reasons including the environmental impacts as well as the fact that the dams no longer supplied sufficient energy to neighboring communities. In 1992 Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act. This law marked the start of the carefully orchestrated demolition of the Glines Canyon and Elwha Dam (National Park Service, 2015). The removal of the dams on the Elwha River started in 2011 and continues to this day. It is the largest dam-removal project in the world. Although the final pieces of both dams have been removed the park rangers of the Olympic National Park are still dealing with the massive amount of sediment that built up behind the dams (enough to fill Century Link Field

8 nine times). Despite the additional challenges of dealing with sediment dumping into the Straight of Juan de Fuca, wildlife in the area has responded to the change extremely positively. The sediment has actually created 70 acres of new beach area perfect for animals like crabs, clams, and sand lace (Nijhuis, 2014). Salmon that originally spawned along all 75 miles of the river have been slowly returning to their native streams. For the 102 years that the dams were in place, Salmon came back to the concrete walls every spawning season and tried to swim through the Elwha dam to get to their native breeding grounds (Slobig, 2014). In 2012, the run of Chinook salmon that returned to the Elwha was the largest seen in decades. Sockeye Salmon have also returned to a small lake that turns into a tributary of the Elwha. This lake was previously unavailable to the salmon because of the Elwha dam (Main, 2014). Left: A chart showing the original ranges of different Salmonids Right: A personal photo from my trip to the former site of the Elwha dam Technology May Offer a New Hope: The Salmon Cannon It is unrealistic to assume that eventually all old dams that cannot accommodate salmon migration will be torn down. Most dam removals are extremely expensive and time-consuming. The removal of the Elwha dam cost approximately $30 million. There are many intricacies involved with safely taking down a large concrete structure that holds back hundreds of

9 thousands of gallons of water. With those complications in mind, it might seem that certain wild salmon populations are simply out of luck. Enter the salmon cannon. It looks like something from the Looney Tunes, but An employee from Washington State s Department of Fish and Wildlife uses the salmon cannon to transport Chinook Salmon into a truck _fish_cannon_21585.jpg the pneumatic tube works on the principles of pressurized gas, and it can safely transport salmon over obstacles (like dams) that they would not otherwise be able to overcome. The company that makes the cannon has a fitting name: Whoosh Innovations, and according to their website, the product was first developed to safely and quickly transport apples in Washington State s many apple orchards (WHOOSH INNOVATIONS, 2014). As of 2013, the cannon has only been used in the transport of hatchery salmon, but the company hopes to work with the department of fish and wildlife to use the technology to help the wild salmon of the Pacific Northwest (Overland, 2013). There are mixed feelings on how much the salmon cannon could actually impact wild salmon populations. Jan Ohlberger (from the University of Washington) stated that the technology is, a silly gimmick, but compared to bringing salmon upstream with trucks or helicopters, it might be a promising alternative to facilitate salmon migration. Why Don t Salmon Just Find New Freshwater Habitats? Salmon migration might seem chaotic when you witness them scrambling upstream with mindless desperation during spawning season, but salmon will not spawn just anywhere. They are hardwired to return to the exact stream in The maintenance of freshwater habitats like the Columbia River will be crucial to the success of wild salmon populations on the future. GtgZdvgaQoA/TW3u1v4kqDI/AAAAAAAAAds/QUFPo- DC92A/s1600/columbiagorge.jpg

10 which they were born. This is outrageous considering that these fish travel out to sea for thousands of miles. What are the chances that a fish will end up in the exact stream where it was born? Salmon use magnetic fields and their acute sense of smell to find home again. Studies at Oregon State University looked at the migration of salmon on the Frasier River, and found the fishes route home was based on which path had the magnetic fields that were present in the area when the salmon first left. Essentially, somewhere inside that tiny fish brain is a sort of compass that makes an imprint of the magnetic fields of the salmon s home. Salmon can also use their keen sense of smell to hone in on the exact stream or river in which they were born. Each river has a chemical makeup due to the surrounding soil and plants that make it unique, and salmon can figure out which one among a few is their true home (Arnold, 2013). All these tools that salmon use to find their specific stream of origin means that they can t adapt and find a new place to spawn as easily as we might like. We have to accommodate them where they are. Jan and Jacob from the University of Washington are both pessimistic about the future of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, but if we are aware of our actions, and can develop technologies fast enough wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest just might have a chance. Sockeye salmon returning to their home stream to spawn. r1.jpg

11 Part III Science Content The science content of your project will be assessed in your Journalism project. You do NOT need to include a separate Science Background paper. Part IV Connections and Collaborations Insert your Connections and Collaborations Statement in the gray square below: While researching for my topic I came across several invaluable resources including my mentor, Jake Allegier, as well as a NOAA lab on the effects of dissolved copper on the sensory systems of juvenile salmon. I also used several invaluable websites including articles of the same style as mine. One that was especially useful was National Geographic, which provided a lot of information about the background of salmon as well as the way they navigate. Through my research I was able to look at many different writing styles and I think I picked up on some of the ways those articles kept their audience attentive just by reading so many well written pieces. My mentor was also really helpful. Jake is a Postdoctoral Fellow for the National Science Foundation, and he works in the Aquatic and fishery Sciences Department of the University of Washington. He works on studying the movement and behavior of juvenile salmon to assess the effectiveness of river restoration projects. He also works on constructing coral reefs in the Caribbean. Having Jake as my mentor was great because he linked me to several academic resources that I would not have been able to find on my own. He was also kind enough to be interviewed for my project, and he even recruited others in his department to be interviewed as well.

12 One resource that especially notable was a lab that had been conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I used many government websites to gather information on my topic, but this was a much more in depth academic lab that outlined a series of experiments conducted by NOAA. It was cool to be able to see raw data that was involved in the labs. The lab was fifty pages long, yet it was captivating, and I read nearly all of it. I would have done my whole paper on the effects of dissolved copper on salmon if there was enough material to fill up nine pages. Overall, I loved the process of research because I was able to find resources that provided information and showed me a real world application of the information I was gathering. My mentor was also a great resource that showed me what working on my topic would look like in the real world. Part V Annotated Bibliography Copy and paste your annotated bibliography in the gray square below: Works Cited Arnold, Carrie. "Mystery Solved: Salmon Navigate Using Magnetic Field." Blog National Geographic. National Geographic, 13 Feb Web. 22 Mar I used this source to gather information on how salmon use magnetic fields and smell to navigate to their home stream. Bland, Alastair. "Can Salmon Farming Be Sustainable? Maybe, If You Head Inland." NPR. NPR, 2 May Web. 21 Jan This site provided information about fish farms. Specifically, new kinds of fish farms and why those types are better than traditional open-ocean fish

13 farms. I believe this source to be reliable because NPR is a reputable news outlet, and within the article there are interviews with experts. Brown, Aimee. "Copper Increases Predation Risk to Salmon, Other Fish." Oregon State University. Oregon State University, 16 Mar Web. 20 Nov This source was excellent because it gave a broad overview of my topic, addressed the research from my previous source, and built upon that information. This article also talked about the damage that low levels of dissolved copper can have on a juvenile salmon's ability to detect alarm signals. "Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries." Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch). NOAA Fisheries, 15 May Web. 21 Jan I used this source to gain further information specific to coho salmon. Specifically, their conservation status, reliance on fresh water ecosystems, and commercial importance. "Copper from Car Brakes and Mining Is Making Salmon Prone to Predators."ScienceDaily. Washington State University, 12 July Web. 20 Nov In this article a postdoctoral student who had studied the effects of dissolved copper on salmon was interviewed. She explained her research and also brought up different anthropogenic sources of copper. Also of note in this article it was mentioned that Washington State is phasing out copper brake pads over the next years. "Copper in Drinking Water." Copper in Drinking Water: Health Effects and How to Reduce Exposure Fact Sheet. Minnesota Department of Health, n.d. Web. 20 Nov I used this source to look into the health effects of Copper in humans. This article reinforced what was stated in other articles. It was mainly used to validate information from

14 previous sources. This source also pointed out that the threshold level of copper for humans is much higher than it is for salmon. "The Fish." Salmon Nation: Meet the Species. Ecotrust, 8 Feb Web. 21 Jan I used this source to gain background information on salmon in general as well as the abundance of each species by region. Specifically the Coho salmon population as that was the species most closely studied by scientists looking into the effects of copper on juvenile salmon. Harrison, John. "Nwcouncil.org." Fish Passage at Dams. The Northwest Power & Conservation Council, 31 Oct Web. 12 Feb This source provided information about how dams affect the migration of salmon. It also had an extensive amount of information of the history of dams in the pacific northwest. Hecht, Scott A., David H. Baldwin, Christopher A. Mebane, and Tony Hawkes. An Overview of Sensory Effects on Juvenile Salmonids Exposed to Dissolved Copper: Applying a Benchmark Concentration Approach to Evaluate Sublethal Neurobehavioral Toxicity. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oct Web. 20 Nov This source was especially useful not only because of the information available within it, but also because of the format in which the information is presented. This is a professional research paper that focuses on several of the adverse effects that dissolved copper has on salmon. The paper has all the elements that I will be expected to include in my research paper. This paper is 55 pages long, and mine will not be nearly that long, but I found that this resource was immensely helpful because it had information on the threshold levels for copper, the damage to the olfactory functions of salmon

15 exposed to copper, the chemosensory disruptions that occur when salmon are exposed to certain levels of dissolved copper, and how to organize this kind of information into a professional research paper. Lackey, Robert T. "Restoring Wild Salmon to the Pacific Northwest: Chasing an Illusion?" EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 2 Oct Web. 21 Jan This site provided a lot of information about the general health and causes of decline for salmon in the Pacific Northwest. I believe it to be a reliable source because it is from a government website and includes many citations about where it obtained the information within the article. Main, Douglas. "As The World's Largest Dam Removal Is Completed, Fish Already Returning." Newsweek. Newsweek, 9 Sept Web. 12 Feb This source provided the current status of several salmon pecies on the Elwha River. It also provided a reinforcement of the background information about the dams that I had found in other sources. McIntyre, Jenifer K., David H. Baldwin, James P. Meador, and Nathaniel L. Scholz. "Chemosensory Deprivation in Juvenile Coho Salmon Exposed to Dissolved Copper under Varying Water Chemistry Conditions." Environmental Science and Technology. ACS Publications, 12 Jan Web. 10 Dec This source was a study on how factors other than the amount of dissolved copper can change how harmful the copper is to salmon. The study looked at variables like hardness, alkalinity, ph, and dissolved organic matter. McIntyre, Jenifer K. "Low-level Copper Exposures Increase Visibility and Vulnerability of Juvenile Coho Salmon to Cutthroat Trout Predators." Ecological Society of America. Ecological Society of America, 29 Mar Web. 10 Dec This source was sent to me by my mentor. It

16 contains information about the ways that copper effects the alarm systems of juvenile Coho salmon. It details how the salmon were ineffective at evading predators like cutthroat trout when exposed to copper. Nijhuis, Michelle. "World's Largest Dam Removal Unleashes U.S. River After Century of Electric Production." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 26 Aug Web. 11 Feb This article went into depth on the effects of the dam removal on the local ecosystem. It is a very well written article from National Geographic. It talks about the dam in a bigger global context, and how this removal relates to dams in other countries. Overland, Martha A. "The Salmon Cannon: Easier Than Shooting Fish Out Of A Barrel." NPR. NPR, 31 Aug Web. 11 Feb I used this source to gain background information on the salmon cannon. This includes the origins and science behind the cannon as well as what the company hopes to use the cannon for in the future. The company has only used the cannon to transport hatchery salmon, but they hope to apply the technology to wild salmon (as of 2013). "Salmon Hatcheries Overview Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife." Salmon Hatcheries Overview. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Web. 21 Jan I used this site to get information about salmon hatcheries. I believe it to be reliable because it cites data that contributes to its information and is from a government department not a corporation or organization. "Salmon Recovery in Washington." Salmon Recovery. Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, Web. 11 Dec I used this website to find basic information on the current status of salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. Many of the numbers about salmon population decline are from this website.

17 Slobig, Zachary. "Salmon Return to Washington's Elwha River for the First Time in 102 Years." TakePart. Participant Media, 17 Sept Web. 12 Feb This article was created to notify the public of some of the promising signs of salmon returning to the upper reaches of the Elwha River. "Toxilogical Profile for Copper." TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR COPPER (1988): n. pag. Background and Environmental Exposures to Copper. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 21 Nov Web. 24 Nov I used this source to research anthropogenic sources of Copper. I also found out about several of the harms that copper can cause in people. United States. National Park Service. "Elwha River Restoration." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 11 Feb Web. 12 Feb This source provided the background information for the history of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. It focused on their construction and evironmental impact. It also had some information on the removal of those two dams. United States. National Park Service. "Frequently Asked Questions." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 10 Mar Web. 22 Mar I used this site to confirm facts about the background of the Elwha Dam as well as the estimated cost of the entire removal project. I believe this site to be very reliable because the National Parks Service was directly involved in the removal and restoration projects of the Elwha River. "WHOOSHH INNOVATIONS - Background." WHOOSHH INNOVATIONS - Background. WHOOSHH INNOVATIONS, 21 Jan Web. 11 Feb This is the website for the company that created the salmon cannon. It includes more specific information about the design and benefits of the cannon. The website also talks extensively about the origins of the cannon and how it works based on pneumatics.

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