U.S.

EPA - ORD - NHEERL

Western Ecology Division

Corvallis, OR

Newport, OR

August 7-13, 2016

-Welcome Back, WED Travelers-

-EPA News-

Paul Ringold, David Peck, Dixon Landers, Kim

Hall, Amanda Nahlik (FEB), Jim Markwiese
(IO), and Kristin Winters (ORISE/FEB), July 1822 to Portland, OR to attend FEGS (Final Ecosystem Goods and Services) National and Regional Indicators Workshop

EPA this week released a report that shows clear

evidence of long-term changes to our climate,
and highlights impacts on human health and the
environment in the U.S. and globally.
Read more here.

Amy Zimmer-Faust (PCEB) July 22- August 1

to Lansing, MI to attend QMRA Workshop

A new EPA site provides a list of citizen science

projects at EPA, resources for citizen science
practitioners, and more.
See the new EPA citizen science page.

Mark G. Johnson (EEB) July 31-August 2 to

Washington DC to attend White House OSTP
Soil Planning Workshop

Scott Leibowitz and Marc Weber (FEB)

August 2-5 to Lakewood, CO to attend USGS
Conference for Data Integration

-Construction UpdatesThe next construction update meeting is Wednesday, August 17 at 10:00 AM in the Corvallis Main
LTR. Find out about upcoming interruptions of
major infrastructure systems (electrical, water,
ventilation, etc.).
Questions? Please contact WED Facilities Manager Primo Knight or visit WEDs Construction
Updates page.

-Feds Feed FamiliesFeds Feed Families campaign is underway this

summer and runs through August 31. Find more
information here.

-WED Division SeminarMurray Scown, a post doc at NERL Cincinnati,

will be visiting WED later in August and will present a guest seminar in the LTR at 10 am on August 15: Novel GIS Approaches to Watershed
Science and Management: Description, Prediction, and Integration. For additional information
contact Scott Leibowitz, Ryan Hill, or Marc Weber

-SPAMIf you receive an email that you suspect is SPAM

or malicious (phishing, virus, malware, etc.), forward it to SPAM@epa.gov. This is an email box
that will be monitored by the Agencys Computer
Security Incident Response Center (CSIRC).
All EPA Blogs
EPA Region 10 Facebook

-Whats Up at WEDWellness Wednesdays

Awards Potluck

WEDs blood pressure monitor will now be

available every Wednesday in the Main lunchroom. The rest of the week, you can check out
the monitor at the lobby front desk. Questions?
Contact Wellness Coordinator Karen Blocksom.

Thursday, WED held its annual awards ceremony and potluck at PCEB in Newport. Many
thanks to everyone who worked hard to make
the event a success. (Special thanks to the crew
that made the brisket, fresh tuna and pulled
pork.) There will be a full recap next week.

Spotlight on Research
Meet Cyren Rico, an NRC postdoctoral fellow who has been
at WED since January 2015. The former CEIN Graduate
Student from UTexas, El Paso is currently working on ecological effects of engineered nanomaterials.
I work with Chris Andersen, Mark Johnson and Jay Reichman. Recently, we got our proposal to Lawrence Berkeley
National Labs Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley
approved for synchrotron analysis, says Cyren.
His future plans are to land a faculty position, or possibly an
analytical/environmental chemistry research job with a company. Meantime, Cyren is here for a two-year tenure which
may be extended through January 2018.
Watch a YouTube clip of Cyren discussing his research with
cerium oxide nanoparticles.
Cyrens work at WED has included:
-intergenerational studies on responses of plants exposed to nanomaterials.
-Investigating effects of nanomaterials on natural abundance variations in stable isotopes in plants.
-Investigating the interaction between cerium oxide nanoparticles and soil nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus,
iron, manganese, calcium) and its effects on uptake in plants.
-Investigating the effects of mycorrhizae on nanomaterial transformation and uptake in plants.
-Submitting proposals and securing beamtime for synchrotron microscopy work at the Advanced Light
Source, University of California Berkeley National Laboratory.
Dr Rico earned his undergraduate degree at the
University of the Philippines, Los Banos; he did
graduate work at both Kyungpook National University in the Republic of Korea, and the University of
Texas at El Paso. His paper, entitled Interaction of
Nanoparticles with Edible Plants and Their Possible Implications in the Food Chain, published in

the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, was

chosen as best research paper selected from more
than 40 major peer-reviewed American Chemical
Society (ACS) journals and Chemical & Engineering News.
Learn more about Cyren Rico here.

Fox News Update

Ecosystem Services?
The motion sensor camera at WED recently
captured an image of an adult gray fox returning to WED campus with a captured camas
pocket gopher.

The gray fox is a mesocarnivore --a

mid-sized carnivore in which 50-70%
of the diet is the flesh of another animal.
Mesocarnivores are often more numerous when residing in close proximity to
humans and their foraging activities can
help keep the level of property damage
by rodents to an acceptable level.

From the Desk of Gregg Lomnicky

Last week I spent an afternoon teaching
Salmon Watch volunteer instructors about
aquatic macroinvertebrates at Heshavn Nature
Center. During the class we collected macroinvertebrates in nearby Oak Creek, identified
them and discussed habitat, feeding strategies, food web interactions and their relevance
as indicators of water quality and stream flow
duration.

Salmon Watch is an experiential field trip program

that teaches middle school youth about salmon and
healthy watersheds during the Fall while salmon
are spawning in local streams.
The program is always looking for volunteers with
many opportunities to help out (water quality, salmon biology, aquatic macroinvertebrates, riparian
ecology) from September to November.

Learn more about Salmon Watch and volunteer opportunities here: http://www.lbsw.org/

Imagination is more important than knowledge. --Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

-Next Door at OSUScience Pub

New Marine Studies Center

Science Pub Corvallis takes place on the second Monday of every month except July and
August. The next Science Pub will be September 12: The Oregon Flora Project: Bringing
plants to the people. 6:00-8:00 PM at the Old
World Deli in Corvallis.

OSU President Edward J. Ray has announced

that a new $50 million center for global marine
studies research and education will be built at
OSUs Hatfield Marine Science Center.
Learn more here

-The Back PageCartography--Arrr!

Another reason to love ESRI: it can be used to
predict modern-day pirate attacks.
Read more here.
Because of that pesky continental drift, government officials in Australia want to tinker with
their countrys latitude and longitude coordinates.

Sharks Need Better Theme Music

Sharks are not really the villains that movies
and nature documentaries make them out to
be.
Now, a new study shows that
the ominous music played as a
background to shark scenes in
nature documentaries can influence viewers perceptions
about sharks. Read more

Pollinator Buzz
Scientists curious about
the bee-havior that
keeps those hives humming along efficiently
have discovered exactly how the Queen Bee
keeps her workers fertility in check.

Short Shorts
Do you know what these food certification labels
actually mean? Take the quiz!
Whats that flower? New software, using a photo
from your Smartphone, may soon be able to tell
you the answer.

As worlds glaciers melt, scientists are storing

samples of ice from around the world in an underground ice library for future generations.
Thanks, everyone who sends in Shorts!

Are you a Science Expert?

Take the Science Pub quiz!

Just For Fun

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