Current Research Blogs
Dawson's Blog
Dawson Little, graduate student
1 November 2025
Hi y'all,
October has mostly been about finally getting fully set up to begin the molecular side of this project. After months of ordering, waiting, tracking shipments, re-ordering, and working through supply backlogs, I now have all the reagents and equipment I need in the lab, including ethanol, to start processing and extracting DNA from river otter scat samples. This is a major milestone because everything builds from here: the reference library, the metabarcoding runs, and ultimately a clearer picture of what these otters are eating in the estuaries. It feels good to finally move from planning and preparation into hands-on molecular work.
I also attended the Caroline Gibson Scholar reception with the Northwest Straits Foundation in Bellingham. I gave a short talk on my thesis research and on the Tribe’s European green crab management work. The event brought together students, researchers, and community members who care deeply about coastal ecosystems. Several conversations afterward stood out, especially those tied to personal experiences along the shoreline. It was meaningful to see how this research resonates beyond academic settings.
Later in the month, I was in Bellingham working with Ellie and Dietmar to collect and organize tissue samples from key crustacean species that will serve as confirmed positive references for the metabarcoding work. This part of the process is careful and methodical: verifying IDs, labeling vials, recording metadata, and storing everything in a consistent system so comparisons will be reliable when sequencing begins. It is quiet work but important groundwork.
Out in the estuary, I set up a trail camera at a few of the river otter latrine sites and was finally able to capture clear photos of the otters moving through the area. I will include a couple of these images with the blog. Having visuals of the animals themselves helps bring the project to life and connects the lab work back to the places and species it is rooted in. Looking ahead, I will begin extractions and move toward our first metabarcoding runs. At the same time, we are wrapping up the end-of-season summary for the Tribe’s green crab trapping efforts as the field season shifts with the colder weather. Overall, this month felt like a steady and meaningful step forward. The project is beginning to take shape in a tangible way, and the work feels connected across the field, the lab, and broader community.
Best,
Dawson
River otter using latrine at night. Photo by D. Little
River otter using latrine during the day. Photo by D. Little
Anna's Blog
Anna Gilboard, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
Hi everyone!
This month will be all about digging into data. I received data from Jess at the Whale Museum, and I’ve been cleaning and exploring the harbor seal pup stranding dataset for my capstone project. It’s a massive dataset, spanning over ten years of reports from The Whale Museum. I’ve been buried in spreadsheets trying to make sense of all the columns and notes. Even though I’m still early in the process, a few patterns are already standing out. Some beaches pop up again and again, and the summer months are especially busy, probably reflecting both seal pup season and how many more people are out on the water that time of year. It’s cool finally starting to see these trends take shape.
Outside of my own research, I’ve been training new photo croppers in the lab. It’s funny being on the teaching side of things now since that’s how I first got started here. It’s been really rewarding watching new lab members get the hang of it and seeing how our photo process connects to the bigger picture of what we do. I have also been seeing a ton of seals down at Whatcom Creek lately, which is always so exciting! I love watching them catch fish, and the other day I got lucky enough to see two seals playing with each other. Their vocalizations were so cute!
Next up, I’ll start diving into spatial analysis and mapping out where strandings happen across the islands. There’s still a lot to untangle, but it’s starting to feel like the project is finally coming together, and I can’t wait to see what the next few months reveal.
Thanks for reading,
Anna
Siena's Blog
Siena Gorohoff, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
October has totally flown by! Chloe and I have been working a ton on the stranding project. We got data from the Whale Museum earlier this month and it has been so cool to start working with it, doing some early analysis has been really interesting. I know we are planning to start working with some heavier coding software soon to start mapping the data and I'm really excited to learn how to do that and to get to see all the data we got represented visually.
Observations have also been going really well, it's getting cold but not yet freezing so it's been a lot of fun being at the creek and seeing seals and changing leaves, even when it's been pouring rain we still have a lot of fun. Also since it’s Halloween we got to do a pumpkin carving get together after lab earlier this week, our seal pumpkin turned out super cute and it was fun to work on the design and carving with a few lab members outside of normal meetings and observations.
Looking forward to another great month of observations and work towards the project.
Happy Halloween! See you next month!
Siena
Ellie's Blog
Ellie Taylor, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
Hi everyone
Hope you are all enjoying this rainy fall. Although it’s not the best weather for all of our researchers working in the field, I love getting to watch the rain from the lab bench!
This month we’ve started extracting DNA from crustacean tissues to build a reference library four our upcoming diet analysis work. These reference sequences will help us identify which prey species show up in river otter scat samples later on. I’ve also been doing some scat extractions on our known sex samples to use as a control in our molecular sexing assays. It’s been great seeing all the pieces starting to come together, and I’m very excited to start generating some data!
Work with Wild EcoHealth has also been ramping up this month. We recently added some more MMEL folks to the Wild EcoHealth team. It’s been wonderful seeing new faces in the lab and seeing everyone putting their molecular skills to use.
As the season settles in, I’m feeling grateful for having the opportunity to be a part of this lab and for everyone that has built our MMEL community!
Cheers,
Ellie
Mallory's Blog
Mallory Stonier, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
Hi all,
November is finally here, and I’ve been ecstatic to see all of the action happening at the creek. The Chinook run has been lots of fun to watch, and the Chum will be soon to follow. This week when I was on observation, Hank, our favorite sea lion who likes to frequent the creek, spent the entire time (2 hours) hunting in the upper river for salmon. We even got to see him catch one!
Outside of Whatcom Creek, everything else has been very busy as well. Lab meetings have been a lot of fun, especially getting to talk to other lab members. I have also been helping Vic with her project, which has been such an amazing learning experience and I’m excited to continue. Camryn and I are also getting ready to begin working with our data using R to build our graphs and interpret data, as she has worked with it before and I’m very excited to learn. I have also continued volunteering with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, where busier seasons have slowed down into raptor season, which has been simultaneously exciting and intimidating to say the least. Between the amazing people and the meaningful work that they do there, it remains a highlight of my week. In early October, I gave a tour of the lab to the high school seniors that were visiting Western’s campus. It was a lot of fun to see so many younger students interested in Marine Biology and answer their questions about what we do in our lab. They were particularly interested in scat samples and the processes involved.
Looking forward, I’m happy to get to see my family when they visit for my birthday in early November and share some of the seal activity I get to witness on a regular basis with them.
Sending everyone best wishes as Winter approaches and WWU weathers midterms.
Selas and Salmon,
Mallory
Camryn's Blog
Camryn Sumrok, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
Hello everyone,
Happy Halloween! This month has been an absolute whirlwind. Classes have been both interesting and challenging, and I am really enjoying the content and my professors.
Whatcom Creek has been booming with seals! Our research assistants have been hard at work, completing observations and recording excellent data. This quarter, I started helping Victoria Vinecke with her secondary project! She is utilizing findings from her thesis to investigate the possibility of genetically identifying photo-identified harbor seals using eDNA and genotyping in the thousands. I have been photographing the harbor seals for her, an opportunity I am eternally grateful for. Additionally, I have been continuing my volunteer work with Wild EcoHealth! Completing scat extractions with Chloe has been a great learning experience and has inspired me to explore the molecular side of marine science and ecology. I hope to keep learning and growing through this experience, and can’t wait for what's to come.
Mallory and I have been continuing our work for the Smolt Project extensively this month. Our outline is progressing nicely and data input has been smooth thus far. We are ecstatic for the Smolt Project to begin again in the spring!
Have a wonderful November!
Seals and Salmon,
Camryn
Zoe's Blog
Zoe Hosford, graduate student
1 November 2025
Happy November! It’s wild how fast October flew by, it feels like the quarter just started, but somehow we’re already deep into midterms, teaching, and thesis progress. The fall colors around Bellingham have been amazing this year, and I’ve been trying to soak them in between classes and long hours staring at my computer.
This month has been full of both teaching and research milestones. BIO 101 labs have been going really well so far this quarter! My students are starting to get more comfortable with the material, which has been really great to see, but I’ve also been navigating some challenges with the course, working to make sure students feel supported and heard while balancing everything behind the scenes. It’s been a great learning experience as a TA, both in communication and in finding ways to make the class more approachable for new students.
On the research side, I’ve been deep in R; refining code, troubleshooting some stubborn data issues, and continuing to explore trends. I’ve started getting more cohesive outputs from my models, and it’s exciting to finally see patterns emerging from months of prep work. Every little bit of progress feels like a win!
Outside of work and school, I’ve been trying to enjoy the last of the fall hikes with Gully before the rain really settles in. It’s definitely that cozy, coffee-and-code time of year again.
Here’s to wrapping up the quarter strong, and hopefully catching a few more sunny days before the winter gloom officially takes over.
Till next time,
Zoe
Chloe's Blog
Chloe Bentley, undergraduate student
1 November 2025
Hello everyone!
It has been a very eventual month at the creek! We have been getting a lot of action with the seals. Our data sheets have been very full. I was able to see some seals hunting in between logs and jumping with fish. Hank made an appearance a couple days ago and stayed for the whole observation, I unfortunately wasn’t there for it but jealous of those lucky observers.
Siena and I have started looking through our data from The Whale Museum! It has been very exciting to get our hands on the data, and we are very grateful. There are over 75,000 lines of sightings and reporting, so we have a lot of work ahead of us. Plus, learning how to tackle ArcGIS. It will be challenging, but very education for us. We can't wait!
School has been very busy, but very fun. I am learning how to enhance my research writing in Ecology Lab and learning my fungi IDing in Mycology! The weather lately has been very fitting for studying, rainy and windy! Which also makes for an interesting observation. We have also been getting a lot of people asking questions at the creek which is always fun to see that engagement.
Looking forward to the next blog.
Seals and Salmon,
Chloe