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2013 Spring | Natural Science & Restoration

How Urbanization Impacts Marine Invertebrate Communities

Student(s):

Ellie Canade

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Jameal Samhouri, Ole Shelton

Partner(s):

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  • NOAA

Faculty advisor(s):

Megan Dethier, Department of Biology, Friday Harbor Labs

With population growing and urbanization increasing in the Pacific Northwest, we question how humans are affecting our local marine habitats. Impervious surfaces, such as roads, produce more runoff thus carrying contaminants into aquatic systems. Studies have shown that urbanization is negatively impacting stream invertebrate diversity. My capstone aimed to determine if urbanization is similarly affecting invertebrate diversity in nearby marine habitats. I worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) at the Northwest Fisheries Science center (NWFSC). We compared diversity between urban and less urban sites in Puget Sound.