Ronald Thom

A marine science and coastal research scientist will be the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s third featured guest speaker during the next installment of the center’s Future of Oceans series.

Ronald Thom will host the center’s next lecture on Sunday, Jan. 10.

He is staff scientist emeritus at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Lab in Sequim. 

The free virtual lecture, titled “What eelgrass and other marine vegetation can tell us about the future of the ocean,” will take place at 3 p.m. via the Zoom videoconferencing application.

“Seagrasses and other coastal and estuarine plants are considered vital to our ecosystem, yet we have lost and damaged the vast majority of these habitats,” Thom said. “That said, there are science-based efforts to recover and restore these systems that are proving successful, which support the vision of a net improvement in ecosystem conditions.”

In addition to Sunday’s lecture, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is also offering a Deep Dive Conversation with Thom at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11. The conversation will be a limited attendance and costs $5 per person.

Thom’s research includes coastal ecosystem restoration; adaptive management of restored systems; benthic primary production; ecosystem monitoring; climate change and adaptation; carbon storage in restored coastal systems and ecology of fisheries resources. 

Thom has led, or shared leadership of, approximately 200 multidisciplinary projects and worked on ecological systems in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Alabama. In addition, Thom was invited to China and South Korea several times to collaborate with scientists there on estuarine restoration. 

He also served on the National Academy of Sciences committee that monitored the recovery of the Gulf Coast following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

Thom earned his bachelor of science degree in biological sciences at California State College in 1971, a master of science in marine algal ecology from California State University in 1976 and a Ph.D. in fisheries from the University of Washington in 1978. He is the immediate past president of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, served as a governor’s appointee to the Northwest Straits Commission for six years and presently is the Puget Sound Partnership senior science advisor.

Visit ptmsc.org/programs/learn/lecture-series for more details on how to access the Zoom meeting.