Application of biochar to managed agricultural and forest ground has been demonstrated to increase soil fertility and productivity and may aid in the retention of H₂O and water-soluble nutrients thereby improving water quality while reducing soil acidity and nutrient leaching. However, there have been few studies that examine potential effects of biochar on insect communities. We examined the direct effects of one formulation of dry biochar on survival of four species of common forest insects: major adult workers of the thatch ants, Formica obscuripes Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae); adult bark beetles, Ips pini (Say) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) and adults of two bark beetle predators, Temnochila chlorodia (Mannerheim) (Coleoptera: Trogossitidae) and Enoclerus sphegeus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cleridae). There was a significant reduction in survival for three of the four species (F. obscuripes, I. pini and T. chlorodia) when exposed to dry biochar in confined arenas. The decreased survival only occurred when the insects had direct contact with the material. Further, while exposure to all particle sizes significantly decreased survival, the decreased survival was not different among the particle sizes tested (< 150 mm, > 1.0 mm, or a combination of particle sizes). The results demonstrate a potential for negative impacts on multiple insect species following exposure to dry biochar. However, additional work examining insect exposure to the material under field conditions is required to fully understand the potential impacts of biochar on insect populations and communities.

Estimates of plant biomass derived from field measurements can be used to quantify wildlife habitat, fuel loads, net primary production, and nutrient cycling. The difficulty involved with developing species-specific allometric equations for plant biomass results in many studies utilizing estimates of shrub cover instead. We assess whether reasonable predictive equations for shrub biomass can be achieved across a group of six common shrub species growing on recent clearcuts in the Oregon Coast Range. Variables used in the models were total basal area summed across stems, height, and crown area (plan view) using an ellipse formula based on crown length and width measurements. Species-level models had adjusted R² values ranging from 0.76–0.99 for total biomass and current growth. An all-species model had an adjusted R² of 0.93 for total biomass and 0.84 for current growth. The aggregate models applied to the individual species gave similar R² values except for current annual growth of oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor) and vine maple (Acer circinatum). Simpler models based just on crown area or crown area plus height ranged from adjusted R² of 0.63–0.68 for all-species models of total or current biomass. These deciduous shrub biomass models can be used to help estimate forage and cover for birds, ungulates, and other wildlife. Furthermore, these models might prove useful for other plant species growing under similar geographic and climatic conditions; however, caution is warranted as the models should be validated with some destructive plant sampling for other species or use in other regions.

Ecological departure, or how much landscapes have changed from a natural range of variation (NRV), has become a key metric in forest planning and restoration efforts. In this study we define forest restoration need as the specific change in structural stage abundance necessary to move landscapes into the NRV. While most restoration projects in the forested ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest, USA (Oregon and Washington) have embraced this paradigm, our understanding of what treatments to apply where, when, and at what magnitude is evolving and continues to be refined. We build on a body of existing LANDFIRE/Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) work on ecological departure to assess the ecological departure of all forested landscapes in the region. Moreover, we assess departure in moister forests west of the Cascade crest, and compare them with fire-dependent forests east of the crest and in southwest Oregon. These “moister Westside” forests have received relatively less attention in a fire ecology context, and we hypothesize restoration needs there are quite different. We show a substantial need for disturbance-related treatments in the drier fire-dependent portion of this region (east of the Cascade crest plus southwest Oregon), with over half of this treatment type falling on Federally-administered land. On the Westside the need for succession is more pronounced. The lack of pronounced disturbance need west of the Cascade crest suggests restoration there may require strategies more nuanced than in the fire-dependent zone.

Although the Snohomish River estuary remains the second largest tidal wetland complex in Puget Sound, approximately 90% of pre-settlement habitat has been disconnected from tidal exchange. This estuary is currently the focus of the largest restoration effort in Puget Sound, with opportunity to restore tidal exchange to over 50% of pre-settlement levels. The Snohomish River also currently supports populations of all anadromous Pacific salmon species, including Endangered Species Act listed Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), steelhead (O. mykiss), and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). The combination of extant anadromous Pacific salmon populations, large existing tidal wetland complexes, and large restoration potential make the Snohomish River estuary a great opportunity to benefit salmon population recovery and conservation efforts. To support restoration planning and effectiveness monitoring, we developed baseline characterizations of key physical attributes (salinity and temperature). Our results indicated that brackish (0.5–30 ppt) conditions extended farther upriver than previously described, with distributary channels downstream of the middle mainstem and lower Ebey Slough remaining brackish throughout most of the year. During extreme low flows (< 0.65 m³ s^-1), salt water (> 0.5 ppt) can at times intrude throughout the distributaries and up to river kilometer 15.9 above the first bifurcation. We also observed temperatures exceeding stress thresholds for juvenile salmonids throughout the estuary from July through September, a period that overlaps with juvenile rearing. This research is timely with several large restoration projects scheduled for construction by 2020, and these baseline characterizations can be used to evaluate restoration responses, as well as to inform project prioritization and monitoring.

Many marine species are shifting poleward with global climate change, and many move on a shorter-term basis with periodic climate variations such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The Pacific sand crab Emerita analoga (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Hippidae) is a dominant member of the wave-exposed sandy beach macrofauna of California and Oregon. Its occasional records from Washington to Alaska have been taken to correspond to ENSO events. However, there are surprisingly few scientific or citizen-science records of its presence in this region. We report the first published record in over 30 years of E. analoga in British Columbia, and summarize historical published and unpublished records. Because this species is conspicuous and readily identifiable, we suggest the general absence of its published, institutional, and citizen-science records coincident with most historical ENSO events may be due to a lack of reporting. In California, E. analoga accumulates harmful algal bloom toxins, is consumed by crabs, fish, birds, and marine and terrestrial mammals, and serves as the intermediate host for a variety of parasites, including the peritonitis-inducing acanthocephalan implicated in sea otter mortalities. As coastal waters warm, we predict that E. analoga will colonize sandy beaches north of its current range, where it may serve as an abundant prey item and as a vector for the trophic transfer of toxins and parasites. Detecting changes in its abundance will require the continued observation and reporting of its records, which we encourage in academic, government, and citizen-science venues.

The sprint swimming performance (V_max) of twenty-five adult wild shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) was studied in an outdoor experimental flume at four conditions consisting of two temperatures (12 °C and 19 °C) and two flows (High and Low). The fastest maximum velocity (V_max) achieved in an individual trial was 3.73 m s^-1, which is the greatest sprint velocity ever reported for a sturgeon species. The mean (SD) V_max by trial was 2.94 (0.56) m s^-1 for the Low Velocity 12 °C trial, 2.13 (0.50) m s^-1 for the Low Velocity 19 °C trial, 3.01 (0.47) m s^-1 for the High Velocity 12 °C trial, and 3.21 (0.88) m s^-1 for the High Velocity 19 °C trial. We did not detect a statistically significant difference in swim speeds among the trials. Individual shovelnose sturgeon performed maximum sprint speeds ranging from 1.29 to 3.73 m s^-1. Shovelnose sturgeon were able to reach maximum velocities for only a fraction of a second before returning to slower velocities, and often recorded multiple peaks in velocity throughout the course of a swim. The sprint velocities from our laboratory study indicate that the swimming capability of shovelnose sturgeon and possibly other sturgeon species is underestimated. The results of this study provide data that might support design and analysis of fish passage projects for shovelnose sturgeon and other sturgeon species.

Parasites transmitted through the consumption of infected prey items are commonly used to examine patterns of host feeding. However, an estimate of the prevalence of larval parasites in consumed prey items is often lacking restricting the ability to translate the number of parasites observed into the number of prey consumed. This study examined the prevalence of the nematode parasite Hysterothylacium aduncum in the benthic amphipod Americorophium salmonis recovered from the stomachs of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) collected near the mouth of the Columbia River estuary (USA) in May, June, and July of 2011. This study represents the first estimate of the prevalence of H. aduncum in A. salmonis from this locality. The stomachs of 118 subyearling Chinook salmon were examined for prey items. We recovered 472 undigested A. salmonis from stomachs that were then examined for juvenile H. aduncum. Six of the 472 A. salmonis were infected with H. aduncum (1.3%). However, prevalence and mean intensity of H. aduncum was 74.6% and 12.9 ± 15.0 S.D. respectively in the gastrointestinal tracts of those salmon. The low prevalence of the parasite in the ingested A. salmonis and the high recovery of adult parasites in subyearling salmon suggest salmon fed on perhaps hundreds of this prey item to acquire the observed numbers of H. aduncum as opposed to the 4.0 ± 6.2 S.D. A. salmonis found on average during stomach content examination. This reemphasizes the importance of A. salmonis as a prey item for subyearling Chinook salmon within the estuary.