Pacific sand lance captured in a beach seine. Sand lance are a forage fish that underpin Puget Sound food webs and are intimately connected to Puget Sound beaches. The fish spend a portion of their time buried in the sand and eggs are laid on the upper beach, making healthy beaches critical to the success of this species.
Puget Sound Priority Ecosystems Science
Active
By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
June 11, 2021
Puget Sound Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) supports interdisciplinary ecological research in the Puget Sound, Washington, watershed and nearshore.
Puget Sound Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) supports interdisciplinary ecological research in the Puget Sound, Washington, watershed and nearshore. USGS research is coordinated with and informed by close collaborations with federal, tribal, state, and local partners leading salmon and nearshore recovery efforts. Puget Sound PES studies link both the ecosystem services and detrimental aspects of sediment and associated contaminants to natural hazards management (e.g., channel aggradation and flooding, shoreline erosion), habitat function and restoration, and other societal concerns. From assessing the effects of tidal restoration and dam removal on salmon recovery in the Nisqually River Delta and Elwha River to modeling the flow of sediment through nearshore habitats and impacts of associated contaminants on marine food webs, USGS science is being used to guide restoration and management decision-making for ecosystems and human health and wellbeing. Puget Sound PES addresses goals of the USGS Science Strategy, Puget Sound Federal Task Force Action Plan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Estuary Program, and Northwest Fisheries Indian Commission.
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound...
PS-CoSMoS: Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System
The CoSMoS model is currently available for most of the California coast and is now being expanded to support the 4.5 million coastal residents of the Puget Sound region, with emphasis on the communities bordering the sound.
Estuaries and large river deltas in the Pacific Northwest
Essential habitat for wild salmon and other wildlife borders river deltas and estuaries in the Pacific Northwest. These estuaries also support industry, agriculture, and a large human population that’s expected to double by the year 2060, but each could suffer from more severe river floods, higher sea level, and storm surges caused by climate change.
USGS science supporting the Elwha River Restoration Project
The Elwha River Restoration Project has reconnected the water, salmon, and sediment of a pristine river and coast of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.
River Loads into Puget Sound
The Issue: Puget Sound, WA, is the second largest estuary in the United States and its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters sustain biologically-productive terrestrial, coastal, and marine habitats. Development and associated human activities have significantly degraded the Sound, causing declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and losses of critical habitats...
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Pacific sand lance on a beach seine
Pacific sand lance captured in a beach seine. Sand lance are a forage fish that underpin Puget Sound food webs and are intimately connected to Puget Sound beaches. The fish spend a portion of their time buried in the sand and eggs are laid on the upper beach, making healthy beaches critical to the success of this species.
Setting out a sampling net
USGS scientist Collin Smith, aboard USGS research vessel Dogfish, sets out a sampling net—called a lampara net—to capture nearshore fishes in a subtidal eelgrass bed in Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
USGS scientist Collin Smith, aboard USGS research vessel Dogfish, sets out a sampling net—called a lampara net—to capture nearshore fishes in a subtidal eelgrass bed in Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Eelgrass bed
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Beach seine on Bainbridge Island
On Bainbridge Island, Washington, USGS scientists (left to right) Theresa "Marty" Liedtke, Lisa Gee, Ryan Tomka, and Collin Smith hauling a sampling net—called a beach seine—over an eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn on the upper intertidal areas of beaches in Puget Sound.
On Bainbridge Island, Washington, USGS scientists (left to right) Theresa "Marty" Liedtke, Lisa Gee, Ryan Tomka, and Collin Smith hauling a sampling net—called a beach seine—over an eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn on the upper intertidal areas of beaches in Puget Sound.
Edmonds, WA train tracks
Train tracks and overwater structures along Browns Bay in Edmonds, Washington often occur on developed shorelines of Puget Sound. The built environment can interrupt the flow of sediment from back-beach bluffs to the intertidal zone, attenuate and redirect alongshore currents, and reduce upper beach habitat.
Train tracks and overwater structures along Browns Bay in Edmonds, Washington often occur on developed shorelines of Puget Sound. The built environment can interrupt the flow of sediment from back-beach bluffs to the intertidal zone, attenuate and redirect alongshore currents, and reduce upper beach habitat.
Puget Sound Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) supports interdisciplinary ecological research in the Puget Sound, Washington, watershed and nearshore.
Puget Sound Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) supports interdisciplinary ecological research in the Puget Sound, Washington, watershed and nearshore. USGS research is coordinated with and informed by close collaborations with federal, tribal, state, and local partners leading salmon and nearshore recovery efforts. Puget Sound PES studies link both the ecosystem services and detrimental aspects of sediment and associated contaminants to natural hazards management (e.g., channel aggradation and flooding, shoreline erosion), habitat function and restoration, and other societal concerns. From assessing the effects of tidal restoration and dam removal on salmon recovery in the Nisqually River Delta and Elwha River to modeling the flow of sediment through nearshore habitats and impacts of associated contaminants on marine food webs, USGS science is being used to guide restoration and management decision-making for ecosystems and human health and wellbeing. Puget Sound PES addresses goals of the USGS Science Strategy, Puget Sound Federal Task Force Action Plan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Estuary Program, and Northwest Fisheries Indian Commission.
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound...
PS-CoSMoS: Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System
The CoSMoS model is currently available for most of the California coast and is now being expanded to support the 4.5 million coastal residents of the Puget Sound region, with emphasis on the communities bordering the sound.
Estuaries and large river deltas in the Pacific Northwest
Essential habitat for wild salmon and other wildlife borders river deltas and estuaries in the Pacific Northwest. These estuaries also support industry, agriculture, and a large human population that’s expected to double by the year 2060, but each could suffer from more severe river floods, higher sea level, and storm surges caused by climate change.
USGS science supporting the Elwha River Restoration Project
The Elwha River Restoration Project has reconnected the water, salmon, and sediment of a pristine river and coast of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.
River Loads into Puget Sound
The Issue: Puget Sound, WA, is the second largest estuary in the United States and its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters sustain biologically-productive terrestrial, coastal, and marine habitats. Development and associated human activities have significantly degraded the Sound, causing declines in fish and wildlife populations, water-quality issues, and losses of critical habitats...
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Pacific sand lance on a beach seine
Pacific sand lance captured in a beach seine. Sand lance are a forage fish that underpin Puget Sound food webs and are intimately connected to Puget Sound beaches. The fish spend a portion of their time buried in the sand and eggs are laid on the upper beach, making healthy beaches critical to the success of this species.
Pacific sand lance captured in a beach seine. Sand lance are a forage fish that underpin Puget Sound food webs and are intimately connected to Puget Sound beaches. The fish spend a portion of their time buried in the sand and eggs are laid on the upper beach, making healthy beaches critical to the success of this species.
Setting out a sampling net
USGS scientist Collin Smith, aboard USGS research vessel Dogfish, sets out a sampling net—called a lampara net—to capture nearshore fishes in a subtidal eelgrass bed in Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
USGS scientist Collin Smith, aboard USGS research vessel Dogfish, sets out a sampling net—called a lampara net—to capture nearshore fishes in a subtidal eelgrass bed in Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Eelgrass bed
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Beach seine on Bainbridge Island
On Bainbridge Island, Washington, USGS scientists (left to right) Theresa "Marty" Liedtke, Lisa Gee, Ryan Tomka, and Collin Smith hauling a sampling net—called a beach seine—over an eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn on the upper intertidal areas of beaches in Puget Sound.
On Bainbridge Island, Washington, USGS scientists (left to right) Theresa "Marty" Liedtke, Lisa Gee, Ryan Tomka, and Collin Smith hauling a sampling net—called a beach seine—over an eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn on the upper intertidal areas of beaches in Puget Sound.
Edmonds, WA train tracks
Train tracks and overwater structures along Browns Bay in Edmonds, Washington often occur on developed shorelines of Puget Sound. The built environment can interrupt the flow of sediment from back-beach bluffs to the intertidal zone, attenuate and redirect alongshore currents, and reduce upper beach habitat.
Train tracks and overwater structures along Browns Bay in Edmonds, Washington often occur on developed shorelines of Puget Sound. The built environment can interrupt the flow of sediment from back-beach bluffs to the intertidal zone, attenuate and redirect alongshore currents, and reduce upper beach habitat.