News and Events | Friday Harbor Laboratories

Dec 27, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – January 2023

Most people are aware of the concept of invasive species – plants or animals that don’t “belong” in a given area and end up disrupting the local ecology in many ways.

Nov 23, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Ross Whippo is one of those FHL “addicts” who return as often as possible as they move through different career stages, with their scientific focus evolving through time. Ross could have written about his research efforts diving in kelp beds, but since we’ve had kelp-focused Tide Bites recently, we asked him to write instead about his seastar work.

Oct 26, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – November 2022

The San Juan Archipelago is blessed with diverse marine and terrestrial habitats and organisms, but most of the research conducted at the Friday Harbor Labs focuses on the wet and salty side.

Oct 1, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – October 2022

This month’s Tide Bite highlights another research effort that spans the divide between “basic” research into understanding the biology of a marine organism and “applied” research that helps us determine how best to ensure the long-term survival of that organism – in this case, bull kelp.

Aug 26, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – September 2022

Sharks, like few other organisms on earth, hold a broad and deep fascination for humans. In this month’s Tide Bite one of our current postdocs, Lauren Simonitis, describes her research into the (in)famous but remarkably under-studied sense of smell of sharks.

Jul 26, 2022 | People, Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – August 2022

Celebrating Two FHL Staff Teams
by Megan Dethier & Bernadette Holthuis
If you haven’t spent time at FHL you may not realize that it is a miniature university campus, with its own housing (dorms, cottages, and other units), full-service dining hall, library, and lecture spaces in addition to the lab buildings, research equipment, seawater system, and dock operations.

Jun 30, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – July 2022

The Tide Bite below beautifully illustrates a number of ‘essence of FHL’ phenomena. Cassandra tells us how she first came to the Labs and then returned repeatedly while rising through academia.

May 27, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – June 2022

While most research at FHL focuses appropriately on marine organisms and local field sites, the essay below illustrates how profoundly powerful it can be to do comparative biology – in this case, drawing connections between the development of crustaceans like barnacles and shrimp, and insects like fruit flies.

Apr 27, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – May 2022

The essay below shows that at FHL we ‘do’ birds, too! At least two of our classes each year spend some time studying seabirds or sea-associated birds, like the kingfishers described below.

Mar 30, 2022 | Publications, Tide Bite

Tide Bite – April 2022

In recent months we have had Tide Bites about boats, mud, oceanography, history, fog, octopus…but none can rival the cuteness of the little fish discussed in Ella’s essay below. Some of us see these animals as an example of Natural Selection having a sense of humor – a little round fish with a suit of armor, really?