University of Washington School of Oceanography researcher Curtis Deutsch is Dec. 10 lecturer at Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s Future of Oceans Series
Short of Breath: Marine Life in a Warming World
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — Curtis Deutsch, Ph.D., and a University of Washington Associate Professor at the School of Oceanography, College of the Environment, will be the featured speaker in the third installment of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s 2017-18 lecture series, “The Future of Oceans.”
Deutsch’s lecture, “Short of Breath: Marine Life in a Warming World,” will take place at The Commons at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Wash., on Sunday, Dec. 10, at 3:00 p.m.
“Oxygen has been critical for the evolution and maintenance of animal life on Earth,” said Deutsch, who received an Investigator Award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and is a Fellow of the Kavli Frontiers of Science. “Humans and other air breathers can take it for granted, but marine animals don’t have that luxury.”
Deutsch’s research models biological and environmental data to better understand the interactions between climate change and ecosystems. As natural cycles change over time, habitat is altered. This affects the way plants and animals function, potentially threatening their existence.
Deutsch has focused on the chemical makeup of ocean water and how it affects marine animals, plants and micro-organisms, including phytoplankton, the source of roughly 50 percent of the Earth’s oxygen. He also works with terrestrial ecologists to understand how climate influences the sensitivity of land plants and animals to the warming atmosphere.
“Ocean environments of low oxygen and poor habitability have waxed and waned throughout Earth’s history, and are poised to expand as humans warm the climate,” Deutsch said.
The PTMSC’s Future of Oceans lecture series, started in 2014, explores the frontiers of ocean research and emerging technologies while confronting the human capacity to understand and sustain healthy oceans. Each year hundreds of attendees are challenged and informed with thought-provoking presentations. To view the 2017-18 schedule of lectures, visit https://ptmsc.org/programs/learn/lecture-series.
For the latest information about the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, visit www.ptmsc.org and www.facebook.com/PortTownsendMarineScienceCenter. Also, look for #PTMSC and #SalishSea or @PTMarineScience on Twitter and Instagram.
About the Port Townsend Marine Science Center
Founded in 1982, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is a non-profit 501c3 educational organization whose mission is to inspire conservation of the Salish Sea. Now in its 35th year, the Center provides place-based, people powered, hands-on learning for all ages including youth camps, exhibits of marine flora and fauna, educational and historical displays, citizen science programs and community-based lecture series. Located at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Wash., the PTMSC offers two public exhibits: the Marine Exhibit and the Natural History Exhibit. For more information, including public hours, visit www.ptmsc.org.
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