Terrie Klinger COE image

Terrie Klinger, Ph.D.

Director and Professor, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs

Stan and Alta Barer Professor of Sustainability Science in Honor of Dr. Edward L. Miles

Adjunct Professor, School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences

Research areas

Terrie Klinger is the Director of the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, Co-Director of the Washington Ocean Acidification Center, and holds the Stan and Alta Barer Endowed Professorship in Sustainability Science in Honor of Dr. Edward L. Miles. She is a marine ecologist focused on applying ecological theory to practical management solutions. She studies ecosystem-based approaches to managing natural resources in the ocean, the ecological effects of environmental stressors, such as ocean acidification and habitat loss, and how rocky intertidal communities respond to and recover from disturbance. She is the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation IGERT award– shorthand for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship – focusing on how oceans are changing worldwide and what that means to the human communities connected to them. The Pacific Northwest is her primary study area, including the Puget Sound, the San Juan Archipelago, and the outer coast of Washington, and she maintains a time-series of ecological data at a site in the Gulf of Alaska.  She has been recognized for her combination of marine science and public engagement with the UW’s Outstanding Service Award. She was named Naturalist of the Year by the Western Society of Naturalists and recently was honored with the Seattle Aquarium’s Conservation Research Award. Dr. Klinger received her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Dr. Klinger teaches:

  • SMEA 500: Introduction to the Human Dimensions of Global Change in the Marine Environment
  • SMEA 510: Topics in Marine Ecology
  • SMEA 550: Marine Social-Ecological Systems
  • SMEA 550: Marine Affairs issues in Puget Sound (Field Course)
  • SMEA 591: Marine Science in the Coastal Zone

Selected publications

2015      Klinger, T. The role of seaweeds in the modern ocean. Perspectives in Phycology, in press

2015       Gaylord B., Kroeker, KJ, Sunday JM, Anderson KM, Barry JP, Brown NE, Connell SD, Dupont S, Fabricius K, Hall-Spencer JM, Klinger T, Milazzo M, Munday PL, Russell B, Sanford E, Schreiber SJ, Thiyagarajan V, Vaughan M, Widdicombe S, Harley CDG. 2015. Ocean Acidification through the Lens of Ecological Theory. Ecology 96:3–15

2015      Wilson MW, Mugraurer R, Klinger T. Rethinking marine infrastructure policy and practice: Insights from three large-scale marina developments in Seattle. Marine Policy 53: 67–82

2013      Kelly R, Cooley S, Klinger T. Narratives Can Motivate Environmental Action: The Whiskey Creek Ocean Acidification Story as a Case Study. Ambio, DOI:10.1007/s13280-013-0442-2

2013      Wigand L, Klinger T, Logsdon M. Patterns in Groundfish Abundance along the Eastern Bering Sea Outer Continental Margin. ICES Journal of Marine Science 70: 1181-1197. doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fst054

2012       Feely RA, Klinger T, Newton J, Chadsey M. 2012. Scientific Summary of Ocean Acidification in Washington State Marine Waters. NOAA OAR Special Report. 157 pp.

2012      Harris K, Gende S, Logsdon M, Klinger, T. Spatial pattern analysis of cruise ship-humpback whale interactions in and near Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. Environmental Management 49: 44-54

2011      Klinger T, Fukuyama AK. Decadal-scale dynamics and response to pulse disturbance in the intertidal rockweed Fucus distichus. Marine Ecology 32: 313-319

2010       Hofmann G, Barry JP, Edmunds PJ, Gates RD, Hutchins DA, Klinger T, Sewell MA. Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Polar, Temperate and Tropical Calcifying Organisms. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 41:127-147

2008       Ruckelshaus M, Klinger T, Knowlton N, DeMaster D. Marine Ecosystem-Based Management in Practice: Scientific and Governance Challenges. BioScience 58: 53-63