Digital Commons Network^™

Interdisciplinary Research And Environmental Law, Caroline L. Noblet, Dave Owen

Publications

This Article considers the involvement of environmental law researchers in interdisciplinary research. Using a survey and a series of unstructured interviews, we explore environmental law professors’ level of interest in such research; the extent of their engagement in it; and the inducements and barriers they perceive to such research. We conclude that levels of engagement in such research are probably lower than they ought to be, and we therefore recommend steps that individuals and institutions could take to facilitate more and better interdisciplinary work. More generally, we conclude that some common critiques of interdisciplinary legal research rest on assumptions that …

Reminiscences Of A Stalwart Adversary, Robert L. Carneiro

Andean Past

No abstract provided.

Betty Meggers: Her Later Years, William I. Woods

Andean Past

No abstract provided.

Bibliography Of Works By And About Betty Jane Meggers

Andean Past

No abstract provided.

Maine Peace Action Committee Newsletter, October 2013, Maine Peace Action Committee

General University of Maine Publications

MPAC compiled a newsletter consisting of essays, articles, short stories, poems, recipes, political cartoons, and artwork.

Bayesian Analysis Of Data On Nest Success For Marsh Birds, Sean Hardy

Honors College

Bayesian methods are an increasingly popular form of statistical analysis which uses informative prior distributions to help calculate posterior distributions of models that represent different hypotheses. Frequentist methods are contrasting methods that are used more commonly and more well known, but have come under recent criticism. I examined data gathered by Ellen Robertson, who used information theoretic methods for a Masters’ Thesis in Ecology and Environmental Science at the University of Maine to analyze the daily survival probabilities of marsh birds with a Bayesian perspective in order to get a sense of the Bayesian analysis. Results were as expected; when …

Tb206: Biodiversity Of The Schoodic Peninsula: Results Of The Insect And Arachnid Bioblitzes At The Schoodic District Of Acadia National Park, Maine, Donald S. Chandler, David Manski, Charlene Donahue, Andrei Alyokhin

Technical Bulletins

Bioblitzes have become a popular approach to involve scientists and the public in studying biodiversity. They reinforce the idea that natural areas are resources of scientific and educational value and are a way of engaging the public in experiencing the natural world. A bioblitz is typically conducted over a 24-hour period in a targeted area, with the goal of documenting the presence of as many species as possible. Scientists and “weekend naturalists,” along with other individuals who enjoy being in the field, are asked to attend bioblitzes as volunteers to help in finding and identifying as many species as possible. …

Out-Of-Season Gamete Production In Strongylocentrotus Droebachiensis: Photoperiod And Temperature Manipulation, Nicholas Brown, Stephen Eddy, Nichole T. Kirchhoff

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Sea Slug—Algal Chloroplast Symbiosis: Towards An Integrated Understanding Of Long-Term Chloroplast Functioning In An Animal, Mary E. Rumpho

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Photosynthesis plays a fundamental role in understanding plant growth and productivity. The chloroplast, the organelle of photosynthesis, evolved following the endosymbiotic uptake of a cyanobacterium and massive gene transfer. As a result, the chloroplast is highly dependent upon nuclear genes to provide essential chloroplast proteins. A special form of endosymbiosis, kleptoplasty, has evolved in the marine mollusc Elysia chlorotica. This green, leaf-like animal carries out photosynthesis for its entire ten month life-cycle, as if it were a plant, by using chloroplasts it steals and retains from the alga Vaucheria litorea. It is highly likely that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has …

Northeast Algal Society 51st Annual Meeting, Maine Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Following Northeast Algal Symposium tradition, we celebrate all students of phycology and seek to foster understanding and appreciation for the multitude of algal research we collectively study. With nearly 70 combined talks and posters, along with a workshop and panel discussion, the schedule is packed with interesting presentations from locations near and far. The theme is “Getting the Message Out”: gathering resources, exploring techniques, and practicing how to deliver messages to broader audiences. Progam includes paper abstracts.

Marine Ecology Of Gulf Of Maine Atlantic Salmon -- Summary Document From A 2008-2010 Series Of Workshops, Maine Sea Grant

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Present-day Atlantic salmon losses at sea are higher than documented prior to 1990 but scientists and managers are often overwhelmed at the scale of the issue and multiple unknowns. This is confounded by the small biomass of salmon in a large ecosystem-- a needle in a haystack.

Maine Sea Grant provided convening and facilitation services to a project sponsored by NOAA Fisheries to bring together marine scientists of multiple disciplines to discuss and develop:

1) testable hypotheses to advance our understanding of current low marine survival of Atlantic salmon and

2) management prescriptions to increase marine survival. A series of …

Umaine Today, University Of Maine, Division Of Marketing And Communications

UMaine Today

UMaine Today magazine, published twice a year by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications, showcases creativity and achievement at the University of Maine. The goal of the general-interest magazine is to demonstrate the university’s value and contributions to the state, and to advance institutional goals.

Book Reviews, Carol Tonner, Laura Cowan, Libby Bishof, Stanley R. Howe, David Richards, David C. Smith, Ed Churchill

Maine History

Reviews of the following books: The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for Forgotten Frontier by Colin Woodard; Writing on Stone: Scenes from a Maine Island Life by Christina Marsden Gillis; photographs by Peter Ralston and Forward by Philip Conkling; Owascoag, Black Poynt, Mayne: History of Black Point (Scarborough) Maine, ca. 1600-1800: A Narrative by Patricia Bowden Corey; Continental Liar from the State of Maine: James G. Blaine by Neil Rolde; "No Flies on Bill": The Story of an Uncontrollable Old Woman, My Grandmother, Ethel "Billie" Gammon by Darcy Wakefield; An Upriver Passamaquoddy by Allan J. Sockabasin; Rug Hooking …

Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function In The Gulf Of Maine: Pattern And Role Of Zooplankton And Pelagic Nekton, C. L. Johnson, Jeffrey Runge, K. A. Curtis, E. G. Durbin, J. A. Hare, Lewis Incze, J. S. Link, G. D. Melvin, T. D. O'Brien, L. Van Guelpen

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

This paper forms part of a broader overview of biodiversity of marine life in the Gulf of Maine area (GoMA), facilitated by the GoMA Census of Marine Life program. It synthesizes current data on species diversity of zooplankton and pelagic nekton, including compilation of observed species and descriptions of seasonal, regional and cross-shelf diversity patterns. Zooplankton diversity in the GoMA is characterized by spatial differences in community composition among the neritic environment, the coastal shelf, and deep offshore waters. Copepod diversity increased with depth on the Scotian Shelf. On the coastal shelf of the western Gulf of Maine, the number …

Forest Biomass Harvesting In The Northeast: A Special-Needs Operation?, Jeffrey Benjamin, Robert J. Lilieholm, Charles E. Coup

Publications

There is growing interest in harvesting forest biomass to meet the needs of bioenergy and bioproducts facilities in the Northeast. This interest is accompanied by increased concern over the potential impacts of biomass removals on forest ecosystems. Debates over biomass proposals have revealed a considerable level of confusion over the term biomass harvest, much of which stems from ambiguity surrounding the term forest biomass. Indeed, all forest material removed during harvest is forest biomass, yet many view only a small portion of this—typically low-value chipped material—as biomass. Since much of this material is destined for use as energy, we feel …

Monitoring Vegetation Change By Using Remote Sensing: An Examination Of Visitor-Induced Impact At Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Min Kook Kim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak along the eastern seaboard in the United States, is a major visitor destination at Acadia National Park. Managing vegetation impact on the summit of Cadillac Mountain is extremely challenging given the number of users and dispersed nature of visitor use at this fragile environmental setting. Since 2000, more intensive management strategies based on placing physical barriers to protect threatened vegetation and leave no trace signs have been employed to reduce vegetation impact and enhance vegetation recovery in the vicinity of the summit loop trail. A number of different change detection techniques and high resolution remote …

Estimating Spatial Distribution Of American Lobster Homarus Americanus Using Habitat Variables, J. H. Chang, Yong Chen, D. Holland, J. Grabowski

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

The spatial distribution of the American lobster Homarus americanus is influenced by many factors, which are often difficult to quantify. We implemented a modeling approach for quantifying season-, size-, and sex-specific lobster spatial distribution in the Gulf of Maine with respect to environmental and spatial variables including bottom temperature, bottom salinity, latitude, longitude, depth, distance offshore, and 2 substratum features. Lobster distribution was strongly associated with temperature and depth, and differed seasonally by sex. In offshore waters in the fall, females were dominant at higher latitudes and males at lower latitudes. This segregation was not apparent in the spring although …

Regional Associations And A Ceramic Assemblage From The Fourteenth Century Llanos De Mojos, John H. Walker

Andean Past

No abstract provided.

Partners For Life: A Brittle Star And Its Octocoral Host, C. V. Mosher, Les Watling

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Throughout the New England and Corner Rise seamounts of the western North Atlantic Ocean, several ophiuroid species are conspicuously epizoic on octocorals. One species, Ophiocreas oedipus, was found only on the chrysogorgiid octocoral Metallogorgia melanotrichos. Colonies of M. melanotrichos were collected from 11 seamounts during expeditions in 2003, 2004, and 2005 at depths between 1300 and 2200 m. O. oedipus is obligately associated with M. melanotrichos, leading a solitary existence on all octocorals observed. Evidence suggests that a young brittle star settles directly on a young octocoral and the 2 species then grow, mature, and senesce together. The brittle star …

Ltreb: Forest Ecosystem Response To Changes In Atmospheric Chemistry And Climate At The Bear Brook Watershed In Maine (Bbwm), Ivan J. Fernandez, Stephen A. Norton, Lindsey Rustad

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) is a long-term paired, forested watershed research site with each watershed drained by a first order stream through a v-notch weir. One watershed (West Bear) has been treated bimonthly for 12 years with N and S by aerial helicopter applications, with the second watershed (East Bear) serving as the reference watershed. The objectives of this LTREB proposal are to:

1. Study the response of the calibrated East Bear Watershed to long-term patterns of ambient S, N, and base cation deposition. This will be accomplished by maintaining high quality deposition and stream export data …

Effects Of Fish Introductions On The Geographic Distribution And Native Invertebrate Biodiversity Of Naturally Fishless Lakes In Maine, Emily Gaenzle Schilling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread fish stocking has led to a worldwide decline in naturally fishless lakes and their associated communities. Little is known about the historical distribution or native communities of these freshwater ecosystems. The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a quantitative method to remotely detect naturally fishless lakes in Maine, 2) conduct a landscape-scale assessment of unique attributes of fishless lake macroinvertebrate communities, 3) identify macroinvertebrate bioindicators of fish absence, and 4) assess effects of introduced fish on native macroinvertebrates. I identified two physiographic types of naturally fishless lakes in Maine: kettle lakes in the eastern lowlands and foothills …

Umaine Today, University Of Maine, Division Of Marketing And Communications

UMaine Today

UMaine Today magazine, published twice a year by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications, showcases creativity and achievement at the University of Maine. The goal of the general-interest magazine is to demonstrate the university’s value and contributions to the state, and to advance institutional goals.

Minerva 2005, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the development of HON 170: Currents & Contexts; a discussion of the Honors College's "Last Lecture Series;" a reflection on the legacy of former Honors Program Director, Robert Thomson; and an article on the visual art found around the Honors College complex.

Implications Of Spatial Autocorrelation And Dispersal For The Modeling Of Species Distributions, Volker Bahn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modeling the geographical distributions of wildlife species is important for ecology and conservation biology. Spatial autocorrelation in species distributions poses a problem for distribution modeling because it invalidates the assumption of independence among sample locations. I explored the prevalence and causes of spatial autocorrelation in data from the Breeding Bird Survey, covering the conterminous United States, using Regression Trees, Conditional Autoregressive Regressions (CAR), and the partitioning of variance. I also constructed a simulation model to investigate dispersal as a process contributing to spatial autocorrelation, and attempted to verify the connection between dispersal and spatial autocorrelation in species' distributions in empirical …

Climatic And Lithogenic Controls On Soil Organic Matter-Mineral Associations, Rota Wagai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interactions of organic matter (OM) with soil mineral phases strongly affect the storage and dynamics of soil OM as well as other ecosystem processes. This study examined aspects of organo-mineral associations in soils at different scales. First, I assessed the potential controls of climate and parent rock type on organo-mineral associations using two sets of undisturbed tropical forest soils developed on two contrasting rocks along an altitudinal gradient in Borneo, Southeast Asia. Density fractionations showed that OM stored in surface mineral soils partitioned towards plant detritus fraction under cooler climates on both rock types. Thus climate exerted stronger control on …

Modeling Bird Species Occurrence In Current And Future Landscapes, Stephen Nicholas Matthews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With mounting evidence that global temperatures have increased significantly over the last century and the projections of greater changes in climate by the end of this century, understanding the potential consequences of these changes for species is essential to conservation efforts. Here I evaluate the potential response of birds to projected climate change by using regression tree analysis to create models of species distributions under current conditions from Breeding Bird Survey data and then project these models onto General Circulation Model (GCM) scenarios of global climate change. Before modeling species responses to climate change, I selected seventeen bird species to …

Biodiversity And Ecosystem Informatics - Bdei - Planning Workshop On Biodiversity And Ecosystem Informatics For The Indian River Lagoon, Florida, Mohamad T. Musavi

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This proposal solicits funding to organize and conduct a planning workshop that will establish and facilitate research on the informatics needed to address complex issues of biodiversity and ecosystem processes within the Indian River Lagoon. This workshop will provide the opportunity and resources for collaboration and discussion among scientists from diverse fields of biodiversity, ecological sciences, remote sensing, geographic information systems, computer science and intelligent systems. The topics to be discussed will include investigation of novel computational intelligence techniques for modeling, prediction, analysis and database management of the disparate and complex data for the Indian River Lagoon. The explicit products …

Redescription Of Hyalella Azteca From Its Type Locality, Vera Cruz, Mexico (Amphipoda : Hyalellidae), E. R. Gonzalez, Les Watling

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Hyalella azteca is a species complex distributed in North, Central, and northern South America. The identity of the species has always been a problem, especially because the original description by Saussure (1858) from a "cistern" in Vera Cruz, Mexico, is poor, and the figures are not clear. Since then, mention of the type material or specimens from the type locality has not been made by investigators using the name H. azteca. Ecological and genetic information available today suggests that there are several species in the complex commonly referred to as H. azteca. The subtle morphological differences among the populations have …

Growth Increment Analysis Of Marine Bivalves From The North, Stephen D. Houk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aids in developing a sea surface temperature (SST) proxy with monthly temporal resolution using a combination of growth increment and stable isotope analyses of marine bivalves from the north coast of Peru. Faunal assemblages from the Siches and Ostra Base Camp archaeological sites contain shells of warm-tropical mollusks that currently live farther north in Ecuador. The presence of warm-tropical species in these sites and others as far south as 10"s latitude and dating prior to 5730 cal yr B.P. indicates a stable warm-water regime in the eastern tropical Pacific which subsequently changes to a modern temperate-water regime after …

Growth And Persistence Of Diverse Intertidal Crusts: Survival Of The Slow In A Fast-Paced World, M. N. Dethier, Robert Steneck

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Encrusting algae are conspicuous components of hard-substratum benthic communities in the photic zone despite being poor competitors and slow growers. Little is known about their growth rates or about mechanisms controlling key processes such as wound healing and surviving overgrowth. We manipulated 12 crustose species (including red and brown algae and a lichen) from the intertidal zone of Washington, USA, studying their varying responses to identical experimental conditions. Three of 8 crust species tested showed increased growth rates with size. Species healed from standardized wounds at different rates and using different mechanisms (e.g. lateral vs vertical regeneration) as seen in …