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Life Sciences

The University of Maine

Theses/Dissertations

2019

Growth

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Spruce Budworm Defoliation Dynamics And Its Influence On The Acadian Forest, Cen Chen Dec 2019

Spruce Budworm Defoliation Dynamics And Its Influence On The Acadian Forest, Cen Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spruce budworm (SBW; Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) is the primary forest defoliator in North America. SBW defoliation has affected tens of millions ha of forests during its periodic outbreaks and caused severe growth reduction and mortality of spruce-fir (Picea-Abies) species. Evaluating these damaging effects of SBW defoliation requires understandings of the variation and dynamics of defoliation, as well as trees' variable responses to defoliation in consideration of various tree- stand-, and site-level factors. In this dissertation, we developed statistical models to 1) evaluate influences of SBW defoliation on spruce-fir stand dynamics of annual volume net growth, mortality, …


Comparing Independent Approaches To Estimate Age At Size Of The Jonah Crab (Cancer Borealis): Corroborating Gastric Mill Band Counts As A Direct Aging Method, Carlton Huntsberger Aug 2019

Comparing Independent Approaches To Estimate Age At Size Of The Jonah Crab (Cancer Borealis): Corroborating Gastric Mill Band Counts As A Direct Aging Method, Carlton Huntsberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Knowing the age of an organism is essential in understanding the dynamics and management of wild populations. Age determination has been an especially long-standing challenge in the study of crustaceans, since they posed a unique challenge, shedding all calcified structures with each molt. The Jonah crab (Cancer borealis), is one of many commercially harvested crustaceans for which no absolute aging method has yet been established. It is an ecologically important species and a newly managed fishery in New England and Atlantic Canada. The recent increase of commercial fisheries for this species has highlighted the large data gap of …