Recent recognition of faculty and staff at the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř includes France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Richard R. Ernst Prize for contributions to magnetic resonance, and a National Science Foundation CAREER award from the Division of Materials Research.

UW professor named CNRSĚýfellow-ambassadorĚý

, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, was welcomed into the 2026 cohort ofĚýfellow-ambassadors by France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Active across all scientific fields for more than 80 years, CNRS is Europe’s largest fundamental research agency.Ěý

Launched in 2023, the CNRS Fellow-Ambassador program brings internationally recognized researchers to France to foster scientific collaboration. As one of nine members selected this year, Olden joins a group that includes Nobel laureates and other globally renowned researchers, withĚýnearly 30ĚýactiveĚýfellow-ambassadors.Ěý

As part of the program, Olden will spend time in France over the next three summers, collaborating with scientists on research aimed at addressing sustainability challenges facing freshwater ecosystems.Ěý

The opportunity closely aligns with Olden’s broader research program, which focuses on advancing the science and practice of freshwater conservation. His work spans climate change, conservation biology, invasive species, and freshwater community ecology, with an emphasis on bridging fundamental research and practical conservation challenges through quantitative approaches.Ěý

OldenĚýnotedĚýthat France has long been home to some of the world’s most talented scientists.ĚýĚý

“The opportunity to work alongside them—exchanging ideas, tackling shared challenges in freshwater sciences and building lasting research partnerships—is something I look forward to enormously,” Olden said.Ěý

Chemistry professor receives 2026 Richard R. Ernst Prize for contributions to magnetic resonance

, UW professor of chemistry, was one of four researchers awarded the 2026 Richard R. Ernst Prize in Magnetic Resonance, presented at the EUROMAR 2026 conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.ĚýTheĚýannual prize recognizes scientific achievements that expand the capabilities and impact of magnetic resonance.Ěý

Stoll was recognized for his contributions to electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) through widely adopted computational tools and data analysis methods, particularlyĚýEasySpin, software developed andĚýmaintainedĚýby Stoll and colleagues. The software has become a standard resource in magnetic resonance laboratories, allowing researchers to simulate and analyze complex EPR spectra.Ěý

EPR experiments produce signals that scientists use to learn about the structure and behavior of molecules and materials.ĚýEasySpinĚýhelps researchers interpret those signals by allowing them to model what an experiment should look like under different conditions and compare those simulations with real-world data. That capability supports research ranging from understanding how the structure and movement of proteins affect their function to studying molecular systems with potential applications in quantum sensing.Ěý

For Stoll, the award also brings attention to a part of the scientific process that canĚýoperateĚýbehind the scenes: developing andĚýmaintainingĚýthe software researchers rely on to do their work. He noted that although scientific software is essential to many research pipelines and workflows, securing federal or foundation funding for its development can be difficult.Ěý

“It’s very exciting for scientific software development to get some recognition,” Stoll said.Ěý

StollĚýalso credited theĚýEasySpinĚýuser community with helping drive continued improvements to the software’s scope, performance,ĚýaccessibilityĚýand usability.

UW professor of physics receives NSF CAREER Award to study electron interactions in quantum materialsĚý

, UW assistant professor of physics, received a 2026 National Science Foundation CAREER Award of more than $600,000 from the Division of Materials Research.

The NSF CAREER Award is the agency’s most prestigious honor for early-career faculty, recognizing those with the potential to become academic leaders in both research and education.

With the award, Barnard and his team will study how interactions between electrons give rise to unusual forms of electronic order in two-dimensional quantum materials, including superconducting states and electronic crystals. The researchers will use a new measurement technique developed in Barnard’s Classical and Quantum Nanosystems Lab that allows them to deliberately change how electrons interact while simultaneously measuring how the material responds.

In other words, rather than only observing the properties of a quantum material, Barnard’s team can adjust one of the forces shaping those properties and watch what changes. Understanding how these interactions produce behaviors such as superconductivity could help researchers learn how to more precisely control the electronic properties of materials, foundational knowledge for the development of future electronic and quantum technologies.

Barnard said his lab has spent the past several years developing what he described as a “one-of-a-kind tool” to help researchers better understand how superconductivity and other phenomena emerge in atomically thin materials.

“Now, with NSF CAREER funding, we are beginning to put this tool to work and looking forward to what we will discover,” Barnard said.

The project will also provide research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and support the development of open-source hardware and STEM modules that offer hands-on experience with van der Waals material assembly and electronic measurements.

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Approximately 90% of the U.S. population . A significant portion of the water supplying those systems comes from forested lands, which means that policies impacting forests also impact our water access.

In 2001, the Clinton administration passed the , blocking 60 million acres of national forest land from development to limit industrial timber harvest and preserve forest ecosystems. Although popular with the public, the roadless rule drew immediate criticism from timber and related industries. Last summer, the federal government announced plans to rescind it.

A new study from the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř and Conservation Science Partners, , highlights the potential consequences of losing those protections by mapping how the roadless rule protects rivers.

“The roadless rule supports the drinking water supply for 25 million Americans and offers critical protection of wildlife habitat and recreational assets. In short, rivers in roadless areas are essential for both people and nature,” said lead author , a UW professor of aquatic and fishery science.

To show how forests impact freshwater, the researchers looked at nearly 110,000 square miles of national forest representing 2,488 officially designated “roadless areas.” They cross-referenced the roadless areas map with a recent study assessing river protections nationwide to see where rivers and roadless areas overlap, and therefore which rivers were vulnerable to losing protection.

The researchers found that more than 80,000 miles of rivers in the continental U.S. receive some protection from the roadless rule. Of those protected segments, nearly 62,000 miles of river are protected by only the roadless rule. That water reaches 25 million people across the country, often at downstream distances far from roadless areas.

Research shows that forested lands provide higher quality water because soil microbes and plant roots filter contaminants before water arrives at treatment facilities. Cleaner water requires less processing, reducing potential treatment costs for public utilities. Some water utilities are investing in watershed protection as a way to save money and limit chemical use as demand for water rises.

“Forest cover is well recognized for generating economic benefits by avoiding the large capital costs of water treatment plants needed to ensure clean, safe drinking water for people,” said Olden.

Roadless areas are also vital strongholds for sensitive aquatic species, Olden added. At-risk species such as the use protected habitat for spawning and raising young. Hunters and anglers also value roadless areas because they support such productive fish and wildlife habitat and offer unparalleled opportunities for outdoor recreation.

After the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the plan to rescind the roadless rule last year, more than half a million people submitted comments during the public comment period, which ended in September. According to the Center for Western Priorities, more than expressed opposition to the plan.

Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers attempted to by attaching it to the Wildfire Prevention Act, which supports prescribed burns and forest thinning to fight megafires. Their to justify clawing back protections claimed that rescinding the roadless rule would allow for better forest management, but . Research shows that roadbuilding in formerly roadless areas is more likely to increase fire risk.

“To be clear, the rule does not block any management action that supports forest health, wildfire mitigation or recreation,” Olden said. “In fact, energy projects, transmission lines and mining development remain permitted within roadless areas.”

Roadbuilding and logging can cause sediment build up in lakes and rivers, which must be filtered out. Chemicals from construction can also end up in the water supply. Reductions in forest cover resulting from rescinding the roadless rule may compromise water quality in the U.S., among other negative consequences for animals and ecosystems.

The U.S. Forest Service says it is reviewing public comments and a proposed rule and draft statement of environmental impact this year.

“Any decision to rescind or downgrade the roadless rule that may put forested lands at risk requires careful consideration of the numerous benefits they offer to people and nature,” said Olden. “Our study offers data to inform such decisions.”

This study was funded by the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř and from a contract from American Rivers to Conservation Science Partners.

For more information, contact Olden at olden@uw.edu.

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The U.S. boasts more than 4 million miles of rivers, peppered with laws and regulations to protect access to drinking water and essential habitat for fish and wildlife. But in the first comprehensive review of river protection, research co-led by the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř shows that the existing regulations account for less than 20% of total river length and vary widely by region.

Freshwater conservation strategies have historically emphasized protections against land use and development on public lands, including National Wildlife Refuges, Wilderness Areas and National Forests. However, protection measures that are specific to lakes, rivers and wetlands are much less common.

Most of the protection afforded to rivers comes from land-based measures, but the growing global consensus is that this isn’t enough. Freshwater ecosystems are losing biodiversity faster than anywhere else. To improve stewardship, researchers first need to map the existing protections and attempt to gauge their benefits.

“We examined the patchwork of different aquatic and terrestrial protection measures that seek to support river resilience to better understand where we are doing well and where there is room for improvement,” said , a UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.

Olden co-led this study with and . They published the results Jan. 9 in an in Nature Sustainability, alongside a on the topic.

Rivers supply clean drinking water and power to millions of Americans. They provide habitat for fish, water for thirsty crops, and create transportation networks for people, goods and animals. But the nature of rivers makes them harder to protect. They cross borders, traverse ecological zones and snake between public and private lands.

Waterways are now represented in some major conservation initiatives, such as the — an effort to protect 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030 — but that wasn’t always the case.

“Threats to fresh waters often originate outside the bounds of protected land areas,” Olden said. “So unfortunately no matter how much attention you give an individual stretch of river, it is only as protected as its headwaters.”

Because the mechanism of protection varies depending on the policy or management practice, the researchers developed a river protection index to compare river segments based on water quantity, quality, connectivity, habitat and biodiversity — key ecological attributes supporting freshwater resilience. They categorized segments by protection level to identify gaps and prioritize areas in need of protection.

“We layered local, state and federal protection mechanisms onto the river network to reveal where and how we seek to protect America’s rivers,” Olden said.

The study reported that nearly two-thirds of rivers in the U.S. are unprotected. Just over 19% of total river length in the entire U.S., and 11% in the contiguous U.S., is protected at a level deemed adequate to safeguard the health of river ecosystems. . Protections favor high elevation and remote areas, as well as public lands. Low-elevation headwaters and large swaths of the Midwest and South are underprotected.

River-specific protection efforts remain scarce. The — a seminal freshwater protection measure passed in 1972 —Ěý protects just 2.7% of total river length. Habitat bulwarks for endangered species protect 1.3% and approximately 2% receive protection from river-specific designations, such as .

Land-based regulations, by comparison, apply to a much larger chunk of the total. Federal Wilderness Area designations apply to 6.3% of total river length and river and floodplain protections encompass 14.2% of total river length.

The study also highlighted the potential value of investing in watershed management programs.

“Working to ensure that protected rivers also have protected upstream watersheds supports reliable access to clean water that doesn’t need treatment, which can be expensive, before it hits the faucets of American households,” Olden said.

Beefing up protections doesn’t mean cutting off access to rivers, either.

“We can use regulatory action to support equitable access to the numerous benefits rivers provide human society,” Olden said. “Protected rivers support recreation, freshwater biodiversity and cultural value. It’s a win-win-win.”

For more information, contact Olden at olden@uw.edu.Ěý

Additional co-authors include , and of Conservation Science Partners; and and of American Rivers.

This study was funded by American Rivers.

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The ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř is proud to announce that 56 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at UW have been named on the list from Clarivate.

The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the .

Highly Cited Researchers demonstrate significant and broad influence in their fields of research. The total list includes 7,131 awards from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. This small fraction of the global researcher population contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and contributing to innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and which drive societal impact, according to Clarivate.

The that determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers is drawn from data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

The list below includes faculty and researchers whose primary affiliation is with the UW, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Please note: Some of the people on the list are no longer with the UW and their current affiliation is noted. This list reflects initial data from Clarivate and may be updated.

Ivan Anishchenko (Vilya)

David Baker

William A. Banks

Gregory N. Bratman

Steven L. Brunton

Guozhong Cao

Ting Cao

Lauren Carter (Gates Medical Research Institute)

Helen Chu

David H. Cobden

Katharine H. D. Crawford

Riza M. Daza

Frank DiMaio

Kristie L. Ebi

Evan E. Eichler

Emmanuela Gakidou

David Ginger

Raphael Gottardo (CHUV)

Alexander L. Greninger

Simon I. Hay

Andrew Hill (Infinimmune)

Eric Huang

Michael C. Jensen (BrainChild)

Neil P.Ěý King

C. Dirk Keene

J. Nathan Kutz

Eric H. Larson

Aaron Lyon

Michael J. MacCoss

Brendan MacLean

C. M. Marcus

Julian D. Marshall

Ali Mokdad

Thomas J. Montine (Stanford)

Mohsen Naghavi

Marian L. Neuhouser

Julian D. Olden

Robert W. Palmatier

David Pigott

Hannah A. Pliner (Bristol Myers Squibb)

Ganesh Raghu

Stanley Riddell

Andrea Schietinger (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Jay Shendure

M. Alejandra Tortorici

Troy R. Torgerson (Allen Institute)

Cole Trapnell

Katherine R. Tuttle

David Veesler

Theo Vos

Alexandra C. Walls (BioNTech SE)

Bryan J. Weiner

Di Xiao

Jie Xiao

Xiaodong Xu

Jihui Yang

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Bob Wilbur thought he’d found a retirement home that would be a place of peace. Nestled against Admiralty Bay on the western edge of Whidbey Island, the three-story house is surrounded by trees and shoreline. It offers the kind of quiet that only an island can provide. Except when the Growlers fly.Ěý

As often as four days a week, Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft based at the nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island fly loops overhead as pilots practice touch-and-go landings. The noise is immense, around the level of a loud rock concert. “It interrupts your day,” Wilbur said. “You’re unable to have a pleasant evening at home. You can’t communicate. You constantly try to organize your day around being gone when the jets are flying.”Ěý

New research from the ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř shows that the noise isn’t just disruptive — it presents a substantial risk to public health. in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, an analysis of the Navy’s own acoustic monitoring data found that more than 74,000 people are exposed to noise levels with adverse health effects.ĚýĚý

“Military aircraft noise is substantially more intense and disturbing than commercial jet noise,” said lead author , a graduate student in the UW College of the Environment. “Noise exposure has many downstream effects beyond just annoyance and stress — high levels of sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, increased risk of cardiovascular disease — these have real impacts on human health and quality of life. We also found that several schools in the area are exposed to levels that have been shown to put children at risk of delayed learning.”

Guided by conversations with community members and local advocacy groups, researchers analyzed four weeks of acoustic and flight operations data , in addition to prior-year data collected by a private acoustics company and the National Park Service. Researchers then mapped noise exposure across the region to estimate how much noise specific communities were exposed to in an average year.Ěý

Researchers estimated that two-thirds of Island County residents, including everyone in the cities of Oak Harbor and Coupeville, were exposed to potentially harmful levels of noise, as was 85% of the population of the Swinomish Indian Reservation. Ěý

In total, an estimated 74,316 people were exposed to average noise levels that posed a risk of annoyance, 41,089 of whom were exposed to nighttime noise levels associated with adverse effects on sleep. Another 8,059 people — most of whom lived within fairly close proximity to aircraft landing strips – were exposed to noise levels that can pose a risk of hearing impairment over time.Ěý

“Our bodies produce a lot of stress hormone response to noise in general, it doesn’t matter what kind of noise it is. But particularly if it’s this repeated acute noise, you might expect that stress hormone response to be exacerbated,” said co-author , a UW professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. “What was really interesting was that we’re reaching noise exposure levels that are actually harmful for hearing. Usually I only think of hearing in the context of working in factories or other really, really loud occupational settings. But here, we’re reaching those levels for the community.”ĚýĚý

Taken as a whole, the potential harms can be quite serious, Seto said. “Imagine people trying to sleep, or children in school trying to understand their teachers and you’ve got these jets flying.”Ěý

Every monitoring station on Whidbey Island measured noise events in excess of 100 decibels when jets were flying. In some instances, noise levels were “off the charts” — exceeding the limits of models used to predict the health effects of noise exposure around the world. Ěý

“We found it striking that Growler noise exceeds the scientific community’s current understanding of the potential health outcomes,” said co-author , a UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. “For this reason, our estimates of health impacts are conservative.”Ěý

The noise has been the subject of community disputes and legal controversy since 2013, when the U.S. Navy moved more Growler jets onto Whidbey Island and increased the number of flights to more than 110,000 per year. Bob Wilbur is a member and the current chair of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, a community group that has sued the Navy over the jet noise and increased flight operations. The group also helped facilitate the UW study, and Wilbur is a co-author.ĚýĚý

Like other military aircraft, the Growlers’ noise differs significantly from commercial jets — louder and deeper, the kind of sound that people feel before they hear.ĚýĚý

“It’s the intensity, the intermittent nature of the noise, and the low-frequency energy specifically,” Jacuzzi said. “Those three things are very different than what you experience from normal commercial flights, which are predictable and high in altitude. When Growlers fly over a home, they emit a rumbling noise that penetrates windows and shakes walls.”ĚýĚý

While commercial jet noise has been the subject of extensive study, research into military aircraft noise is relatively rare. Previous UW-led research found that military flights were the largest cause of noise pollution on the Olympic Peninsula. While discussing that study, Whidbey residents complained that the noise disturbed their sleep and interfered with students’ schoolwork, which prompted this new line of inquiry. While conducting this study, researchers worked closely with community members and advocacy groups and held multiple webinars to share results and shape future work.ĚýĚý

“Our research was motivated by the growing chorus of complaints by Washingtonians across multiple counties,” Olden said. “We believe the science speaks for itself. It’s no longer a question of whether noise impacts people, but how, where and how much these effects are experienced.”Ěý

Other authors are Lauren Kuehne of Omfishient Consulting, and Anne Harvey and Christine Hurley of Sound Defense Alliance. This research was funded by the UW Population Health Initiative.

For more information, contact Jacuzzi at gioj@uw.edu.Ěý

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The ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř is proud to announce that 47 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at UW have been named on the annual list from Clarivate.

The highly anticipated annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.

The list of faculty and researchers who were acknowledged for their work while at UW includes:

• David Baker
• Frank DiMaio
• William Sheffler
• Dr. Jay Shendure
• Cole Trapnell
• David Veesler
• Alexandra C. Walls*
• Philip Mease
• Dr. Christopher J. L. Murray
• Dr. Ganesh Raghu
• Dr. Stanley Riddell
• Alejandra Tortorici
• Dr. William A. Banks
• Gregory N. Bratman
• Steven L. Brunton
• Guozhong Cao
• William A. Catterall
• David H. Cobden
• Riza M. Daza
• Dr. E. Patchen Dellinger
• Dr. Janet A. Englund
• E. Erskine
• Michael Gale Jr.
• Raphael Gottardo
• Celestia S. Higano
• Neil P. King
• Ali Mokdad
• William S. Noble
• Julian D. Olden
• L. Patrick
• David L. Smith
• Dr. Piper Meigs Treuting
• Spencer A. Wood
• Jesse R. Zaneveld
• Ning Zheng
• Dr. Hans D. Ochs
• Simon I. Hay
• Evan E. Eichler
• Deborah A. Nickerson**
• John A. Stamatoyannopoulos***
• Dr. Thomas J. Montine****
• Di Xiao
• Xiaodong Xu
• Bryan J. Weiner
• Mohsen Naghavi
• Theo Vos
• David M. Pigott

The that determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these scientific elite are based. This year Clarivate partnered with Retraction Watch and extended the qualitative analysis of the Highly Cited Researchers list, addressing increasing concerns over potential misconduct.

The full 2022 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found online .

* now is at BioNTech SE.

** on Dec. 24, 2021.

*** now is at Altius.

**** now is at Stanford University.

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, a professor in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, has been named a 2022 fellow of the Ecological Society of America. Fellows are elected for life, and the honor recognizes scientists who advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, nonprofits and the broader society.

Olden studies the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems in response to environmental change. Olden seeks to integrate science-based approaches with on-the-ground management decisions, and he actively engages in science communication and community science efforts.

, an assistant professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, has been named a 2022 early career fellow, an honor for researchers who are within eight years of completing their doctoral training.

Harvey’s research focuses on understanding forest disturbances — fires and insect outbreaks — and how forests are shaped by these disturbances, along with climate. For the last decade, Harvey has conducted research on the disturbance ecology of forests in the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies and coastal California.

“I’m delighted to see these two exceptional faculty recognized by the ESA,” said Maya Tolstoy, Maggie Walker Dean of the UW College of the Environment. “Julian and Brian each bring innovative approaches to research, teaching and community engagement that are outstanding within their fields, and further the essential work of understanding human impacts on our planet’s ecological processes.”

According to the Ecological Society of America’s April 12 , Olden was elected for “pushing the frontiers of invasion ecology and deepening the understanding of freshwater sustainability through environmental flows management, for tireless science communication and for his dedication to training the next generation of freshwater ecologists and conservation biologists.”

Harvey was elected for “deepening understanding of the effects of natural disturbances, especially fire and insect outbreaks, on resilience and management of forests in the U.S. West; for excellence in science communication and outreach; and for outstanding teaching and mentoring at all levels from undergraduate to advanced graduate.”

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The development of small hydropower dams is widespread throughout Brazil and elsewhere in the world, vastly overshadowing large hydropower projects. The proliferation of these smaller dams is a response to growing energy and security needs. Their expansion, however, threatens many of the remaining free-flowing rivers and biodiverse tropical regions of the world— interrupting the migrations of freshwater fishes, on which millions of peoples’ livelihoods depend.

A new ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř published Jan. 11 in Nature Sustainability quantifies these tradeoffs between hydroelectric generation capacity and the impacts on river connectivity for thousands of current and projected future dams across Brazil. The findings confirm that small hydropower plants are far more responsible for river fragmentation than their larger counterparts due to their prevalence and distribution.Ěý

“The cumulative impacts of many small hydropower dams have long been ignored; instead, focus has been on them in isolation, resulting in claims that their impacts are small,” said co-author , a UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.Ěý

This study was led by , a recent doctoral graduate in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Florida International University.

Dams constrain the movement of migratory fish along river networks and isolate critical habitats, such as spawning and feeding grounds, which may contribute to local extinctions, population declines and collapses of fishery stocks. This makes migratory fish species some of the most vulnerable organisms to hydropower development in the tropics.Ěý

The authors emphasize that many of the migratory fish species impacted by fragmentation are of high ecological and socioeconomic importance, and that some communities may feel the impacts more than others. For example, some small hydropower dams have been linked to the decline of fish stocks that are relied on heavily by Brazil’s Indigenous groups, because fish are no longer reliably migrating through their historic range.Ěý

Another concern cited by the authors is that small hydropower dams greatly outnumber large hydropower dams, but their combined energy output is much less. In Brazil, small hydropower plants only account for only 7% of total generation capacity even though they represent more than 85% of hydropower plants in the country.Ěý

The collective impacts of Brazil’s rapidly growing small hydropower development on river fragmentation and migratory fish species is extensive, and shows no signs of lessening as the planned construction of new dams continue, the study explains. It is projected that river fragmentation will increase by 21% in the future, and two-thirds of the 191 migratory species assessed in the study occupy river basins that will experience greater connectivity losses. The authors advocate for improved strategic planning of hydropower development with environmentally informed criteria to minimize the potential adverse ecological effects.

“We were motivated by the hope that society could be smarter about new dam constructions in the future,” said Olden. “The study demonstrates that with careful planning, Brazil can meet future energy production needs with only modest impacts on river fragmentation and migratory fishes.”

This research was funded by a H. Mason Keeler Endowed Professorship from the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, the CNPq/Science Without Borders Fellowship, the Rufford Foundation and National Geographic Society. Mathis Messager, who recently earned a master’s at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and is now at McGill University, is also a co-author.

For more information, contact Olden, at olden@uw.edu.

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An area in the Olympic Peninsula’s Hoh Rain Forest in Washington state for years held the as one of the quietest places in the world. Deep within the diverse, lush, rainy landscape the sounds of human disturbance were noticeably absent.

But in recent years, the U.S. Navy switched to a more powerful aircraft and increased training flights from its nearby base on Whidbey Island, contributing to more noise pollution on the peninsula — and notably over what used to be among the quietest places in the continental U.S. While local residents and visitors have noticed more aircraft noise, no comprehensive analysis has been done to measure the amount of noise disturbance, or the impact it has on people and wildlife.

Now, as the Navy is set to implement in flight activities, a ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř provides the first look at how much noise pollution is impacting the Olympic Peninsula. The paper found that aircraft were audible across a large swath of the peninsula at least 20% of weekday hours, or for about one hour during a six-hour period. About 88% of all audible aircraft in the pre-pandemic study were military planes.

“I think there is a huge gap between what the Navy is telling people — that its aircraft are not substantially louder and operations haven’t changed — and what people are noticing on the ground,” said lead author , who completed the work as a research scientist at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and is now an independent consultant. “Our project was designed to try and measure noise in the ways that reflect what people are actually experiencing.”

The was published Nov. 25 in the journal Northwest Science.

The Navy is set to implement a 62% increase in airborne electronic warfare and 13% increase in air-to-air combat training over the Olympic Peninsula, a place that is historically, culturally and ecologically significant. Eight American Indian tribes call the peninsula home, while Olympic National Park receives more than 3 million visitors a year and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More than two dozen animal species are found only on the peninsula, and multiple species are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The Olympic Peninsula is a renowned hotspot for wildlife, home for people of many different cultures and a playground for outdoor enthusiasts,” said co-author , professor at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

The researchers chose three primary sites on the Olympic Peninsula to monitor the soundscape during four seasonal periods from June 2017 to May 2018. Two sites, at Third Beach and Hoh Watershed, were near the coast, while the third site was inland on the Hoh River Trail. They placed recorders at each site to capture sound continuously for 10 days at time, then recruited and trained volunteers to help process the nearly 3,000 hours of recorded audio.

“This data is very accessible — you can hear and see it, and it’s not rocket science,” Kuehne said. “I wanted people to feel like they could really own the process of analyzing it.”

From their analysis, the researchers identified nearly 5,800 flight events across all monitoring locations and periods. Of these, 88% were military aircraft, 6% were propeller planes, 5% were commercial airplanes and less than 1% were helicopters. Three-quarters of all recorded military aircraft noise occurred between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Most of the military aircraft were , or Boeing EA-18G jets that are used for electronic warfare — drills that resemble “hide and seek” with a target.

The researchers found that most of the aircraft noise was intermittent, detectible across all the sites that were monitored simultaneously, and followed no set pattern. The noise mostly registered between 45 and 60 decibels, which is comparable to the air traffic sounds in Seattle, Kuehne said. Occasionally, the sound level would hit 80 decibels or more, which is akin to the persistent noise when walking under Seattle’s former waterfront viaduct.

Audio interactive by Rebecca Gourley/ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř

Conversations with local residents also revealed a majority who notice the low-level jet noise, the researchers said. The chronic and unpredictable nature of the noise is especially tiresome for residents, and some report difficulty sleeping, learning in school and even interference with hearing aids.

Previous research has shown that loudness is only one aspect of how sound can impact human health. Studies have found that the duration of noise, unpredictable patterns and the inability to control exposure all contribute to stress, annoyance, sleep disturbance and interference with learning.

Noise impacts on wildlife are less studied, but some research has shown it can prompt physiological stress and impact animals’ ability to reproduce successfully. Noise can also interfere with how animals communicate and find prey.

“The deafening sound of anthropogenic noise not only threatens wildlife but may also deter people from visiting in the future,” Olden said. “Why travel to the Olympic Peninsula to only experience noise comparable to Seattle?”

The researchers hope these results will prompt follow-up assessments of how chronic aircraft noise impacts residents on the peninsula. They also hope the Navy will publicly acknowledge the extent of its noise pollution and consider changing its operations near the peninsula.

“My wildest-dream scenario is that this would allow the Navy to take seriously people’s requests that they move at least some of the training elsewhere, to other military operations areas,” Kuehne said.

This research was funded by The Suquamish Foundation, the One Square Inch of Silence Foundation and the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.

For more information, contactĚýKuehne at lauren.kuehne@gmail.com and Olden at olden@uw.edu.

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A cooler full of fish might not be the only thing anglers bring back from a trip to the lake. Unknowingly, they may also be transporting small aquatic “hitchhikers” that attach themselves to boats, motors ― and even fishing gear ―Ěý when moving between bodies of water.

Considerable research shows that aquatic invasive species can completely transform ecosystems by introducing disease, out-competing and eating native species, altering food webs, changing physical habitat, devastating water-delivery systems and damaging economies. Furthermore, once established, eradication of nuisance species is near impossible, and management can be extremely difficult and costly.

Although preventative measures have been enacted to reduce their introduction and spread, such as mandatory watercraft inspections, educational programs and even dogs trained in sniffing out invasive species, these aquatic stowaways still manage to find their way into new water bodies around the country.

One of the many challenges is identifying how these species spread through human movement. A new ÂŇÂ×ÉçÇř study uses passive data from a fishing technology company to model the movement of anglers and predict where aquatic invasives may be spreading. The were published Sept. 2 in the journal NeoBiota.Ěý

“Focusing on anglers allows us to look at a population that uses a wide range of gear on the water; therefore, they have the potential to move a very wide range of species,” said Rachel Fricke, a graduate student at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Fricke’s research on invasive species is a continuation of her undergraduate capstone project which she also completed at the school.

The researchers used data provided by ReelSonar, the Seattle-based developer of the pocket-sized fish finder . The iBobber syncs with an angler’s smart device and collects multiple pertinent data points, including fishing location. To date, over five million locations have been recorded from around the world.

“In the past, ecologists have done an incredible job extracting big datasets from the web without necessarily working with the organizations who collected the data in the first place,” said co-author , a professor of aquatic and fishery science. “This is to be expected, but I believe that real creativity in the future will come from more authentic collaborations where both ideas and products are co-generated.”

Previous studies relied on optional online forms, requiring anglers to log fishing trips from each location they visited. With ReelSonar’s passive data, these points are generated automatically, offering researchers an exciting opportunity to further understand where people are moving and when.

The authors specifically looked at location data in the United States and narrowed it down to identify individual trips made by anglers. By quantifying geographic patterns of fishing activities and assessing how these patterns change seasonally, the authors explored angler behavior (fishing frequency and distance traveled) between sites.

“We were predominantly interested in where people were fishing and the amount of time between their trips to different lakes,” said Fricke. “The length of time determines the types of species anglers unintentionally move, as each species has very different survival rates out of the water.”

The authors were also interested in the routes people were using to travel between fishing locations.

What they found was the vast majority of road distances traveled are over small spatial scales. Most anglers are staying near urban areas, but fishing multiple different lakes or rivers in a small radius over a short amount of time. The authors then focused on “invasion hubs,” water bodies that have many linkages via human movement to other nearby water bodies. The timeframe of these movements, which was mostly two days or fewer, fell well within the out-of-water survival threshold for the six invasive species identified in the study.

“Boiled down, people are moving a lot and they’re moving quickly from one place to theĚýnext, which has the potential to move a number of different invasive species,” said Fricke. “I don’t think we need to change the preventative measures that we use in light of this data, but it does enable us to better locate those preventative measures in space and time.”

Identifying highly trafficked roads near invasion hubs can be valuable from a management perspective and can help influence where roadside inspection stations and educational signage are placed.Ěý

“If we see points in these data where invasion hubs exist and where resources are not being allocated, this gives managers the opportunity to identify and implement required boat cleaning and boat inspection stations in those locations,” said Fricke. “This kind of data offers a ripe opportunity to reassess where we’re enacting preventative measures and to be more strategic about where we do that.”

Other co-authors are Spencer Wood and Dustin Martin of ReelSonar.ĚýThis research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Edward Allen Power, W.F. Thompson and Mary Gates Endowment scholarships.

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