Publications

This report presents the results for two sampling periods (October 2007 and January 2008) during a 4-year monitoring program to characterize selenium concentrations in selected irrigation drains flowing into the Salton Sea, California. Total selenium, selenium species (selenite, selenate, organoselenium), and total suspended solids were determined in water samples, and total selenium was

Describe reproduction and early life history characteristics of white sturgeon populations in the Columbia River between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams. Define habitat requirements for spawning and rearing white sturgeon and quantify the extent of habitat available in the Columbia River between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams. Progress updates on young-of-the-year recruitment in...

INTRODUCTION The Nisqually Fall Chinook population is one of 27 stocks in the Puget Sound evolutionarily significant unit listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Preservation and extensive restoration of the Nisqually delta ecosystem are planned to assist in recovery of the stock. A pre-restoration baseline including life history types, estuary residence time...

Lost River suckers Deltistes luxatus and shortnose suckers Chasmistes brevirostris , listed as endangered in 1988 under the Endangered Species Act, have shown infrequent recruitment into adult populations in Upper Klamath Lake (NRC 2004). In an effort to understand the causes behind and provide management solutions to apparent recruitment failure, a number of studies have been conducted...

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules are important mediators of cell-mediated immunity in vertebrates. MHC class IA molecules are important for host anti-viral immunity as they present intracellular antigens and regulate natural killer cell (NK) activity. MHC class Ib molecules on the other hand are less understood and have demonstrated diverse immune and non-immune functions...

BACKGROUND There is growing interest in starting a program to sink ships in Puget Sound to create one or more underwater dive sites. Experience in other parts of the world has indicated that sunken vessels are highly popular with divers and could provide a basis for increased recreation and attraction of out-of-state divers with attendant economic benefits to the State. The Washington...

A study to estimate the effects of Iron Gate Dam discharge on ESA-listed juvenile coho salmon during their seaward migration to the ocean was begun in 2005. Estimates of survival through various reaches of river downstream from the dam were completed in 2006 and 2007 as part of this process. This report describes the estimates of survival during 2007, and is a complement to a similar...

Biotechnology has been used extensively in the development of vaccines for aquaculture. Modern molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cloning and microarray analysis have facilitated antigen discovery, construction of novel candidate vaccines, and assessments of vaccine efficacy, mode of action, and host response. This review focuses on DNA vaccines for finfish to...

Laboratory populations of Tubifex tubifex from mitochondrial (mt)16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) lineage III were generated from single cocoons of adult worms releasing the triactinomyxon stages (TAMs) of the myxozoan parasite, Myxobolus cerebralis. Subsequent worm populations from these cocoons, referred to as clonal lines, were tested for susceptibility to infection with the myxospore stages...

Background. A large multigene family of NOD-like receptor (NLR) molecules have been described in mammals and implicated in immunity and apoptosis. Little information, however, exists concerning this gene family in non-mammalian taxa. This current study, therefore, provides an in-depth investigation of this gene family in lower vertebrates including extensive phylogenetic comparison of...

We demonstrate that native grass species from coastal and geothermal habitats require symbiotic fungal endophytes for salt and heat tolerance, respectively. Symbiotically conferred stress tolerance is a habitat-specific phenomenon with geothermal endophytes conferring heat but not salt tolerance, and coastal endophytes conferring salt but not heat tolerance. The same fungal species...

Habitat models can be used to predict the distributions of marine and estuarine non-indigenous species (NIS) over several spatial scales. At an estuary scale, our goal is to predict the estuaries most likely to be invaded, but at a habitat scale, the goal is to predict the specific locations within an estuary that are most vulnerable to invasion. As an initial step in evaluating several...