Current Research Blogs
Anna's Blog
Anna Gilboard, undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Hi everyone!
I’ve been making lots of progress on my capstone project! This month I’ve been shifting gears a bit from just exploring the dataset to actually starting to organize it in a way that will help answer my main research questions. Instead of just looking at where and when strandings are happening, I’ve been going back through the data and breaking each case into categories based on potential cause. Right now, I’m sorting strandings into three groups: cases that are clearly non-human related, cases that are possibly linked to human activity, and cases that are random or unknown. This has been a pretty detailed process since it means going through individual records and trying to interpret notes, conditions, and context for each stranding. It’s definitely not perfect, but it’s helping me start to quantify something that initially felt really hard to measure. One of the most interesting parts so far has been seeing how many cases fall into that “unknown” category. It’s a good reminder of how messy real world data can be, especially when you’re working with wildlife and opportunistic reporting. At the same time, I’m starting to get actual numbers for the cases that could be tied to human activity, which is exciting because that’s a big piece of what I want to explore in this project. Overall, this month felt like a step toward turning some of my messy figures into something more structured and usable. There’s still a lot of uncertainty (and probably always will be), but I’m starting to feel like I can actually ask, and maybe answer, some of the bigger questions behind these strandings.
Until next time,
Anna
Mallory's Blog
Mallory Stonier undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Hello all,
Happy April fools! However, in lack of seal-iness, this month has been incredibly busy and very rewarding. Camryn and I have been working with preliminary results of our project, including harbor seal behavioral responses to three different years of hatchery-releases. It has been a great learning curve, and I am excited about the patterns emerging during different hatchery release schedules. We are preparing to present our findings in May at the Northwest Student Society of Marine Mammalogy Conference at Simon Fraser University and Scholar’s Week here at WWU. In the meantime, winter classes have wrapped up, and we have many wonderful new research assistants that I’m looking forward to working with. With smolt observation season rapidly approaching, I can’t wait to observe alongside returning smolt researchers as well as new observers.
I’m excited to continue volunteering with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center where baby season is quickly ramping up. Baby birds and mammals require constant, around-the-clock feeding schedules, which can be busy but incredibly rewarding. The Marine Mammal Stranding Network is also headquartered at the Whatcom Humane Society WRC, and I appreciate the opportunity to be of help to stranded marine mammals in need. It’s always important to remember marine mammal protections when sharing the bay with wildlife, especially as the weather warms. I’ve already learned a lot about stranding network responses, but I enjoy learning more from speaking with staff or participating in monitoring marine mammals of concern. The MMSN includes NOAA and WDFW, and response often requires constant eyes on live stranded marine mammals, which is where volunteers are essential.
As spring quarter begins, I am eager to get back to Whatcom Creek for observations and continue WEH molecular work. I’m also ecstatic to return to lab meetings, as last quarter I had scheduling conflicts. Lab discussions are always engaging and give everyone a chance to connect with our lab community, which I have missed being a part of. Fresh classes and project updates feel rejuvenating amongst the busy spring season. Not to mention the cherry blossoms in full bloom on campus and lengthening days.
Best,
Mallory
Chloe's Blog
Chloe Bentley, undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Hello everyone! It's great to be back. Right now, I am in Vietnam for spring break!
Man was winter a fun quarter! Classes were very fun, particularly my evolutionary class. I had to apply many of my previous classes and it was satisfying to see how they all fit together. Now I only have one more biology class and then I am done with the major!! Crazy!
Recruitment was a huge success! We had so many fantastic applicants and it was very hard to make selections. All the new recruits are excellent, and we are very excited to have them join our MMEL family! Once break is over, we will have a get together to meet everyone and get training sorted out. It will be a fun time. With spring quarter comes SMOLT project! Soon the creek will be back to being very active, perfect for training.
Siena and I have gotten to the point in our project where we are fixing up our abstract and planning a poster for conferences! We are presenting for scholars' week and at the annual Marine Mammalogy conference, this year in Canada!
We have also selected managers for next school year! Siena and I can't wait to introduce them soon! It will be a fantastic year with strong leadership.
Until next time!
Seals and Salmon,
Chloe
Ellies's Blog
Ellie Taylor, undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Hi everyone,
March has been another busy and productive month, filled with both continued troubleshooting in the lab and some exciting developments for our team.
On the research side, I received the redesigned SRY primer and was eager to start testing it for sex identification. While the new primer is a step in the right direction, I’m still working through some challenges in getting clean, consistent qPCR results. This has meant staying in the optimization phase a bit longer than expected, adjusting reaction conditions, testing different DNA concentrations, and troubleshooting amplification inconsistencies. Although it can be frustrating at times, this process is a critical part of ensuring that the assay is both reliable and reproducible before scaling up. Taking the time to refine these conditions now will ultimately strengthen the accuracy of our sex identification and the conclusions we draw from the data.
Outside of the lab, this month also marked our lab’s recruitment period. We spent a lot of time reviewing applications and conducting interviews, and it was great to meet so many enthusiastic and motivated students. I’m really excited about the group we’ve selected and am looking forward to working with the new hires in the coming months. It’s always fun to see fresh perspectives and energy come into the lab.
Overall, while I was hoping to be further along with data collection by now, this month has once again reinforced how delicate molecular work is. I’m hopeful that with a bit more troubleshooting, we’ll be able to move into full-scale analysis soon and in the meantime, I’m excited to help onboard our new team members.
Cheers,
Ellie
Siena's Blog
Siena Gorohoff, undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Happy Spring! I'm so excited that spring quarter is starting. Spring in Bellingham is the best and we usually get lots of nice weather for observations which is always fun. This past month was pretty crazy, the end of winter quarter, finals week and then spring break were all so busy but finals and the end of the quarter went well and I’m looking forward to all my classes starting spring quarter.
I’m also looking forward to the NWSSMM conference that is coming up. It'll be really nice to get to see work from other students researching marine mammals and to get to put together the work Chloe and I have been doing to make our poster. I’m sure spring quarter is going to go by so fast with all the presentations and working on my capstone for MACS, but I think it’ll all be really rewarding to see all the work come together. I’m especially excited to get our maps and figures ready for the poster, I think it will be really cool to see everything we’ve done laid out as a poster. I think data that can be understood well visually is so important and can be so helpful to communicating the ideas and results of the work. Being able to see stranding from our data set mapped out has been so interesting, especially when we see things we didn’t expect. I’m so excited to get to present and share what we’ve learned through the conference and poster sessions this quarter. It's been fun to do the work and talk about it but showing it to people who haven’t been involved will be really interesting to see how our ideas and work are communicated.
I think this quarter is going to be pretty great! I’m excited for everything coming up and hoping that the weather starts to get a little warmer so I can spend some more time outside since all the spring blooms are finally coming back again.
Hope everyone has a great start of the quarter, see you next month!
Siena
Zoe's Blog
Zoe Hosford, graduate student
1 April 2026
March was a big milestone month for me, as I am about to turn in my first full thesis draft, which feels both exciting and slightly terrifying.
Most of this month was spent shifting out of analysis mode and into writing everything up, which honestly felt like a completely different skill set. It forced me to stop running “just one more model” and actually decide what the story is. A lot of my time went into figuring out what matters, what does not, and how to explain it in a way that is clear without oversimplifying everything I have done.
One of the biggest things that became really clear while writing is how important spatial variability is in my system. Some sites are increasing, others are decreasing, and none of it is lining up in a clean, satisfying way. At first that felt like a problem, but it has slowly become the point. Seals are not responding the same way everywhere, and trying to force that kind of consistency would probably miss what is actually happening.
I also spent a lot of time refining how I talk about predator effects. It is one thing to get a significant result, but another to explain what it actually means biologically. Writing this section definitely forced me to think harder about how seals respond to killer whale presence and over what time scales those responses make sense. There were a few moments of staring at my screen wondering if I understood my own models, but we got there.
At the same time, I was wrapping up winter quarter teaching, which meant a lot of grading, emails, and last-minute questions. It was one of those weeks where I felt like I was either writing my thesis or answering Canvas messages with no in between. That said, teaching has been a really fun part of the graduate program, and it has been cool to feel more comfortable running labs and interacting with students as the years have progressed.
I also spent time cleaning up figures and tables so they all match and actually look like they belong in the same document. This took longer than expected, but it makes everything feel a lot more polished and easier to follow.
Overall, March felt like pulling everything together for the first time. Getting a full draft done is a little chaotic, but also really exciting because it finally feels like a complete project instead of a bunch of disconnected analyses.
With spring quarter starting now, I am shifting into revisions, presentations, and the final push to finish this thing without opening too many new analytical rabbit holes.
Until Next Time,
Zoe
Camryn's Blog
Camryn Sumrok, undergraduate student
1 April 2026
Hello!
March has flown by, and with it, winter quarter has come to a close. It’s been a really full and rewarding stretch of time. My Salmonid Fish Habitat and Ecology class has ended, and I have loved learning about habitat bottlenecks and restoration strategies. I keep finding myself making stronger connections between course material and the Smolt Project. It’s one thing to learn about these concepts in class, but seeing how they play out in real systems here in Whatcom County makes everything feel much more tangible.
In MMEL, things have continued to move forward steadily. With data input for the Smolt Project complete, our attention has shifted more toward writing and analysis. Mallory and I have spent a lot of time refining and strengthening our abstract, which has been both challenging and really exciting. It feels like the project is becoming more “real” as we shape how we communicate our findings. We are also continuing to prepare for coding and analysis in R, and I’m looking forward to seeing our data come to life once we start visualizing patterns.
One of the most meaningful parts of this month has been mentoring a high school student in the lab. It’s been such a cool experience to share what I’ve learned and help them get comfortable with fieldwork and research. It’s also made me reflect on how much I’ve grown since I first joined the lab.
Recruitment is officially over, and I’m looking forward to welcoming new students and helping them find their footing in the lab. I am confident our new members will work hard and strengthen the lab.
Field observations at Whatcom Creek have stayed pretty quiet, which is expected for this time of year. Seal sightings have been minimal, but the creek still has its own rhythm. Flocks of geese, gulls, and ducks continue to pass the time, and every once in a while, we get a visit from Eeyore, our resident heron. These slower days always make the seasonal shifts in our work feel even more pronounced. I am looking forward to a more busy and seal-active spring quarter!
As winter transitions into spring, I’m feeling especially grateful for opportunities to grow as a researcher, for the chance to mentor others, and for all the small moments in the field that make this work so meaningful. With graduation getting closer, there’s a mix of excitement and uncertainty, but also a strong sense of appreciation for everything that has led up to this point. May the future bring more research!
Happy Spring!
Seals and Salmon!
Camryn
Dawson's Blog
Dawson Little, graduate student
1 April 2026
Hi y'all,
March was a busy and productive month, balancing travel, presentations, and continued progress as the project moves further into its molecular phase. Much of the work this month focused on maintaining momentum in the lab while also taking advantage of opportunities to engage with the broader research community.
One of the major highlights this month was attending the National Shellfisheries Association Conference in Portland. In addition to presenting this work, I helped organize and run a special session focused on European green crab, which brought together researchers from across the country working on different aspects of invasion, monitoring, and management. Being part of that session provided a valuable opportunity to hear a wide range of perspectives and approaches, and to better understand how this project fits within the broader context of green crab research along the West Coast and beyond.
The conference also created space for a number of productive conversations around diet analysis, metabarcoding workflows, and predator–prey dynamics in estuarine systems. These discussions were especially timely given where the project currently stands, and they helped inform how I'm thinking about upcoming sequencing and analytical steps.
Back in the lab, work has continued on finishing up extractions and preparation for sequencing. I have been coordinating next steps with collaborators and refining elements of the metabarcoding workflow, including plans to test a UMI-tagging approach to improve data quality and reduce amplification bias. While there are still several moving pieces, progress this month has helped set the stage for transitioning into sequencing and data generation in the near future.
Writing has also remained an important focus. Continuing to refine sections of the thesis alongside ongoing lab work has helped strengthen the overall structure of the project and clarify how different components connect. Balancing both writing and lab progress remains a challenge, but it has been an important part of keeping the project cohesive as it moves forward.
Overall, March felt like another transition point. With much of the groundwork either completed or actively underway, the project is now approaching a stage where data generation and analysis are within reach. While there is still a considerable amount of work ahead, it is encouraging to see steady progress and increasing alignment across different parts of the project.
Best,
Dawson