Ed Ricketts Memorial Lecture
Jane Lubchenco
Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology, Oregon State University
Seas the Day - Navigating Uncharted Waters in Ricketts' Backyard
A broad suite of ocean-based and land-based activities is changing the nearshore ecosystems of the California Current Systems (CCS) off the West Coast of Washington, Oregon and California, in unprecedented ways. These changes present formidable challenges to meeting the goals of protecting and restoring marine ecosystems. New scientific understanding about how these ecosystems function, how they are changing, and how they providethe goods and services people expect is providing critical new insight into how we can navigate the unchartered waters of ocean protection and restoration. PISCO (the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans) is a unique consortium of marine ecologists, oceanographers, physiologists, molecular biologists, biomechanics experts and other marine scientists dedicated to a more integrated understanding of the dynamics of the inner shelf region of the CCS. Among other approaches, PISCO utilizes and develops new technology to tackle long-standing, unresolved, and critical questions. Highlights of PISCO's new insights into Rickett's back yard will be presented.