Marbled murrelet

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The marbled murrelet, an elusive seabird, may hold clues to environmental trends in Oregon forests and coastal waters.

At the Corvallis Science Pub on March 12, Jim Rivers, assistant professor in the College of Forestry, will discuss an ongoing Oregon State University research project to learn more about the behavior of this endangered species. Science Pub begins at 6 p.m. in the Old World Deli, 341 2nd St. in Corvallis and is free and open to the public. Starting in April, the audience at Science Pub will be limited, and attendees will need to preregister.

Unlike their close relatives, which include puffins and murres, the marbled murrelet is a bird of two worlds. It gets its food from the ocean but raises its young up to 50 miles inland in mature forests. Disturbance in either environment has the potential to impact the murrelet population.

“There aren’t many species like it,” said Rivers. “There’s no other bird that feeds in the ocean, flies so far inland to nest and then go back. That’s really unusual.”

Podcasts of previous Corvallis Science Pub events on topics such as the roadside geology of Oregon and the bond between people and dogs are available at http://communications.oregonstate.edu/podcast.

Sponsors of Science Pub include Terra magazine at OSU, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

College of Forestry

About the OSU College of Forestry: For a century, the College of Forestry has been a world class center of teaching, learning and research. It offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in sustaining ecosystems, managing forests and manufacturing wood products; conducts basic and applied research on the nature and use of forests; and operates more than 15,000 acres of college forests.

Story By: 

Nick Houtman, [email protected], 541-737-0783

Source: 

Jim Rivers, [email protected], 541-737-6581

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