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NEWPORT - A Washington zoologist who is a leader in the effort to find lasting solutions to conservation problems will speak at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport Oct. 14, kicking off a new lecture series aimed at exploring the cutting edge of marine research.

Julia Parrish, research assistant professor with the University of Washington Zoology Department, will discuss "From Fish to Birds: Circling Back on the Road to Conservation." Her presentation starts with a 10 a.m. lecture in the HMSC auditorium, and continues at 2 p.m. with an open forum in room RSF104.

The program is the first in the new Hatfield Marine Science Center Distinguished Marine Scientist Colloquia, a series intended to cover a wide array of current marine science topics. Each presentation will follow the same format: a 10 a.m. lecture followed by a 2 p.m. forum to encourage in-depth discussion of the given topic.

Parrish spent her early career investigating the costs and benefits of group membership to individuals within the group, principally in schools of fish and colonially nesting seabirds. In the process, she kept encountering ways in which human activities directly and indirectly affected the organisms she was trying to study.

Her recent work has been concerned with how to craft lasting conservation solutions in marine systems, and has included development of seabird citizen science, working with the commercial fishing community to reduce bycatch, and managing a multidisciplinary research program on coastal ecosystem health in Oregon and Washington.

Future speakers in the HMSC series include: Gabrielle Nevitt of the University of California-Davis (Nov. 23) who will speak on guideposts for navigation in fish, bird and lobsters; R.J. Beamish of the Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C. (Jan.14), discussing the impact of decadal changes in ocean environmental conditions and how they affect fish populations; and, on dates to be scheduled, Barbara Block of the Tuna Research and Conservation Center, Hopkins Marine Station; and Carl Walters of the University of British Columbia.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, EPA Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch, and Oregon Sea Grant.