Life Sciences Commons^™

New Office Supports Maine Climate Action, Parker Gassett, Ivan Fernandez

Maine Policy Review

Expanding and expediting access to climate change information can improve collective action outcomes. Accordingly, the Maine Climate Action Plan called for the creation of an information-coordinating hub, to enable effective and efficient use of climate information in Maine’s climate change response. To aid that need, the University of Maine created the Maine Climate Science Information Exchange (MCSIE) office as a gateway to information about climate-relevant research, the scientists conducting that research, and the most recent data and applied science efforts relating to Maine’s climate change strategies. The office was established in 2023, after a year of developing prototypes of the …

Remotely Sensed Assessment Of The Preferred Habitat Of Alexandrium Catenella In The Gulf Of Maine And The Bay Of Fundy, Andre F. Bucci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella are an annually recurring problem in the Gulf of Maine (GoM), resulting in risks to human health and substantial economic losses due to shellfish harvesting closures. The monitoring approaches in the region are restricted to real-time identification of the HABs events, when they are clearly underway and already causing deleterious effects to the environment. To fully function as an early warning system rather than an immediate response, monitoring strategies need to be focused on environmental conditions preceding A. catenella HABs. However, the current understanding of the preferred habitat for A. …

The Effects Of Rising Ambient Temperatures On Thermoregulation And Range Shifts Of Northern Flying Squirrels, Elise K. Gudde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change may potentially alter a species’ range distribution and thus the relationship between environmental temperatures and animal performance as a response to climate warming has become an important area of research. Two species of flying squirrel in North America, the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) have undergone northward range shifts, with climate warming being the suspected driver. Because they are nocturnal and tree nesting, flying squirrels may be particularly susceptible to warmer temperatures, as they will experience the highest daily ambient temperatures during their resting phase. I used G. sabrinus as a …

Farmer Engagement Through Mental Modeling: Opportunities For Climate Change Outreach, Ruth S, Clements

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change poses a challenge to farming systems worldwide. Effective adaptation and mitigation may be facilitated by outreach that is locally tailored and framed in terms of farmers’ perceptions and values. However, existing research suggests that farmers and those providing outreach may have different climate change perspectives, and there is little understanding of how farmers consider and prioritize climate change in relation to other aspects of their farming system. Furthermore, the diverse agricultural, economic, social, and environmental challenges farmers face require agricultural research and engagement efforts that can identify and adapt to farmers’ dynamic priorities and perceptions. Mental modeling is …

The Synergistic Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Co2 - Induced Ocean Acidification Reduce Cardiac Performance And Increase Disease Susceptibility In Subadult, Female American Lobsters Homarus Americanus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 (Decapoda: Astacidea: Nephropidae) From The Gulf Of Maine, Amalia M. Harrington, Robert Harrington, Heather J. Hamlin, Deborah A. Bouchard

Journal Articles

Increased greenhouse gas emissions have caused rapid ocean warming (OW) and reduced ocean pH via acidification (OA). Both OW and OA will likely impact marine crustaceans, but they are often examined in isolation. We conducted an environmental-stressor experiment to understand how exposure to current summer conditions (16 °C, pH 8.0), OW only (20 °C, pH 8.0), OA only (16 °C, pH 7.6), or both acidification and warming, OAW (20 °C, pH 7.6), differentially influence thermal physiology and immune response of female subadults of the American lobster, Homarus americanus H. Milne Edwards, 1837. Following a 42 d exposure, cardiac performance was …

Harold B. "Bud" Rollins (1 February 1939-9 January 2017), Daniel H. Sandweiss

Andean Past

This is an appreciation of the life and work of invertebrate paleontologist. Harold B. Rollins emphasizing his contributions to our understanding of ENSO.

Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes Scapularis) Distribution In Maine, Usa, As Related To Climate Change, White-Tailed Deer, And The Landscape, Susan P. Elias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged (deer) tick (Ixodes scapularis). Geographic invasion of I. scapularis in North America has been attributed to causes including 20th century reforestation and suburbanization, burgeoning populations of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) which is the primary reproductive host of I. scapularis, tick-associated non-native plant invasions, and climate change. Maine, USA, is a high Lyme disease incidence state, with a history of increasing I. scapularis abundance and northward range expansion. This thesis addresses the question: “To …

How Acidic Sediments And Seawater Affect Interactive Effects Of Predation On Survival, Growth, And Recruitment Of Wild And Cultured Soft-Shell Clams, Mya Arenaria L., Along A Tidal Gradient At Two Intertidal Sites In Eastern Maine, Brian F. Beal, William Otto

Miscellaneous Publications

No abstract provided.

Bees Of Maine, With A State Species Checklist, Alison C. Dibble, Francis A. Drummond, Constance Stubbs, Michael Veit, John S. Ascher

Biology and Ecology Faculty Scholarship

We present a new county checklist developed from bee research in Maine since the 1800s. The list contains 278 bee species in 37 genera and 6 families, of which all but 8 are native, with ≥50 taxa each in Andrena and Lasioglossum. Data for 16 counties from publications, museum collections, and recent surveys varied in number of species from 8 (Androscoggin) to 197 (Hancock). Research since 1930 on Vaccinium angustifolium (Lowbush Blueberry) led to many records. Twenty-one species are considered unusual, including 3 first recorded in 2016: Epeoloides pilosulus, Melitta melittoides, and Holcopasites calliopsidis. Maine records …

Modeling Spatiotemporal Variability Of The Bioclimate Envelope Of Homarus Americanus In The Coastal Waters Of Maine And New Hampshire, Kisei Tananka, Yong Chen

Publications

A bioclimate envelope model was developed to evaluate the potential impacts of climate variability on American lobster (Homarus americanus). Bioclimate envelopes were defined by season-, sex-, and stage- specific Habitat Suitability Indices (HSI) based on (1) bottom temperature, (2) bottom salinity, and (3) depth. The species’ association to each of these three environmental attributes was expressed using Suitability Indices (SIs) calibrated by standardized lobster abundance derived from 14 years of fishery independent survey. A regional ocean model (Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model) was integrated with the HSI to hindcast spatiotemporal variability of bioclimate envelopes for American lobster in coastal waters of …

Promotingclimate Change Awareness And Adaptive Planning In Atlantic Fisheries Communities Using Dialogue-Based Participatory Vulnerability Analysis, Mapping, And Collaborative Systems Dynamic Modeling, Thomas Webler, Seth Tuler, Esperanza Stancioff, Elizabeth Fly

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The goals for the proposed project are twofold:

• First, the project will improve understandings of how a changing climate will affect fishing communities’ abilities to maintain marine fisheries and the local economies historically dependent upon them.

• Second, the project will investigate the role of a structured dialogue and participatory modeling process to support decision makers in fishing communities addressing consequences, vulnerabilities, and adaptive strategies in a context of climate stressors.

Forest - Atmosphere Interaction At Howland Forest, David Dail

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The overall goal of the proposed work is to understand the various (and interacting) impacts of a changing climate on carbon cycling at the Howland AmeriFlux site, representative of an important component of the North American boreal forest. Our focus is on quantitatively partitioning respiration into aboveground and belowground processes and into autotrophic and heterotrophic processes to better constrain carbon cycle models. Whole-ecosystem flux measurements generally do a poor job of separating photosynthetic uptake from respiration and cannot constrain (or assign) respiration to the different sources within an ecosystem. This partitioning is difficult, but we will take advantage of new …

Collaborative Research: Globec Pan-Regional Synthesis: End-To-End Energy Budgets In Us-Globec Regions, Andrew C. Thomas

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The research addresses the overarching question: are marine food webs leading to fisheries controlled from the top-down, the bottom up, or a combination of the two? To address this question we will (1) compare end-to-end energy budgets of the 4 US-GLOBEC study regions in the context of top-down v. bottom-up forcing, (2) assess the skills of the regional models in capturing basic material fluxes, (3) extract diagnostics from the regional models that will be used to evaluate the effects of climate change and fishing pressure across GLOBEC regions and (4) develop quantitative methods to compare the diagnostics. The major successes …

Fisheries Management In A Changing Climate: Lessons From The 2012 Ocean Heat Wave In The Northwest Atlantic., Katherine E. Mills, Andrew Pershing, Curtis J. Brown, Yong Chen, Fu-Sung Chiang, Daniel S. Holland, Sigrid Lehuta, Janet A. Nye, Jenny C. Sun, Andrew C. Thomas, Richard A. Wahle

Publications

No abstract provided.

El Nin˜O Impact On Mollusk Biomineralization: Implications For Trace Element Proxy Reconstructions And The Paleo-Archeological Record, Alberto Pe´Rez-Huerta, Miguel F. Etayo-Cadavid, C Fred T. Andrus, Teresa E. Jeffries, Clifton Watkins, Shane C. Street, Daniel H. Sandweiss

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Marine macroinvertebrates are ideal sentinel organisms to monitor rapid environmental changes associated with climatic phenomena. These organisms build up protective exoskeletons incrementally by biologically-controlled mineralization, which is deeply rooted in long-term evolutionary processes. Recent studies relating potential rapid environmental fluctuations to climate change, such as ocean acidification, suggest modifications on carbonate biominerals of marine invertebrates. However, the influence of known, and recurrent, climatic events on these biological processes during active mineralization is still insufficiently understood. Analysis of Peruvian cockles from the 1982–83 large magnitude El Nin˜o event shows significant alterations of the chemico-structure of carbonate biominerals. Here, we show that …

The Cc-Bio Project: Studying The Effects Of Climate Change On Quebec Biodiversity, Dominique Berteaux, Sylvie Blois, Jean-François Angers, Joël Bonin, Nicolas Casajus, Marcel Darveau, François Fournier, Murray Humphries, Brian Mcgill, Jacques Larivée, Travis Logan, Patrick Nantel, Catherine Périé, Frédéric Poisson, David Rodrigue, Sébastien Rouleau, Rouleau Siron, Wilfred Thuiller, Luc Vescovi

Publications

Anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity is now critical for managing wild species and ecosystems. Climate change is a global driver and thus affects biodiversity globally. However, land-use planners and natural resource managers need regional or even local predictions. This provides scientists with formidable challenges given the poor documentation of biodiversity and its complex relationships with climate. We are approaching this problem in Quebec, Canada, through the CC-Bio Project (http://cc‑bio.uqar.ca/), using a boundary organization as a catalyst for team work involving climate modelers, biologists, naturalists, and biodiversity managers. In this paper we present the CC-Bio Project and its …

Collaborative Research: Abandoned Elephant Seal Colonies In Antarctica: Integration Of Genetic, Isotopic, And Geologic Approaches Toward Understanding Holocene Environmental Change, Brenda L. Hall

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

During previous NSF-sponsored research, the PI's discovered that southern elephant seal colonies once existed along the Victoria Land coast (VLC) of Antarctica, a region where they are no longer observed. Molted seal skin and hair occur along 300 km of coastline, more than 1000 km from any extant colony. The last record of a seal at a former colony site is at ~A.D. 1600. Because abandonment occurred prior to subantarctic sealing, disappearance of the VLC colony probably was due to environmental factors, possibly cooling and encroachment of land-fast, perennial sea ice that made access to haul-out sites difficult. The record …

U.S.-Korea Cooperative Research: Carbon Monoxide As A Substrate For Microbial Maintenance, Gary M. King

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Bacteria play an important role in the global budget of carbon monoxide (CO). Largely unknown bacterial populations in soils and the water column of aquatic systems oxidize hundreds of teragrams per year, or about 10%-20% of the estimated annual flux to the atmosphere. In spite of their biogeochemical significance, relatively little is known about the identity of CO-oxidizing populations active in situ, their phylogenic and physiological diversity or the importance of CO as substrate for their basic metabolic needs. of CO oxidizers. It is clear that CO at high concentrations (> 1000 ppm) can serve as a sole source of …

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 …

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 …

B846: Growing Season Parameter Reconstructions For New England Using Killing Frost Records, 1697-1947, William R. Baron, David C. Smith

Bulletins

In New England, killing frosts in the late spring and early fall mark the limits of the region's growing seasons. Over the years, farmers have tried to anticipate when to plant and when to harvest to safely prevent their crops from experiencing the harmful effects of freezing. As a hedge against failing memory, some farmers kept notes on when killing frosts occurred so that they could more readily calculate in the years to come when to sow and when to reap. Some of these notes have survived and are now preserved in archives and libraries across the region, or remain …

Explorations, Vol. 2, No. 2, Kathleen Lignell, Carole J. Bombard, David Dean, James A. Wilson, Robert S. Steneck, Les Watling, David K. Stevenson, Daniel F. Belknap, Joseph T. Kelley

Explorations — A Journal of Research

Cover: The painting reproduced on the cover is an oil on canvas entitled “Konrad Oberhuber’s Visit to Compass Harbor, Maine, ” by Michael Lewis, 1985. Lewis is Professor of Art at the University of Maine at Orono. ©Michael Lewis, 1985

Articles include:
"The Gulf of Maine: A Sea Beside a Sea," by Kathleen Lignell

"The Gulf of Maine Littoral world of promise," by Carole J. Bombard for David Sanger

"Marine Worms Worth Fifteen Dollars Each?" by David Dean

"Free Trade, Not Trade War," by James A. Wilson

"Inner Space—The Gulf of Maine: its history and future for research," by Robert …

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project Environmental Impact Statement: Appendix F: Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis (Supplement 2), University Of Maine At Orono, Maine, Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, United States Army Engineer Division, New England Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The overall study area encompassed the St. John River and its major tributaries; including the Little and Big Black Rivers (and their tributaries); and all lands extending 3.2 km (2 mi) beyond the maximum elevation of thv predicted impoundment of the Dickey Dam (1,560 km ). Research was concentra-ted in a portion of this area roughly bounded on the north by Chimenticook Stream, on the east by the St. John River, on the west by the United States-Canadian border, and on the south by a line drawn east-west through Seven Islands (Figure 1.0-1). Intensive marten studies were restricted to townships …

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project At Dickey, Maine : Final Environmental Statement, New England Division, United States Army Engineer Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

This document contains those comments and responses on the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement. It is a continuation of Volume II published by the Corps in 1978. In addition, it contains reproductions of those letters of comment received on the March 1980 Draft Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan, and the responses to these comments.

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project At Dickey, Maine : Final Environmental Statement, Volume 1-4, U. S. Army Engineer Division, New England

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The proposed Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project in northern Maine is a multipurpose installation on the St.John River. The combination hydroelectric power and flood control project is located in Aroostook County, Maine, near the Canadian border. The two proposed earth fill dams located at Dickey are 10,200 feet in length with a maximum height of 335 feet. They would impound 7.7 million acre feet of water at a maximum pool elevation 910 feet mean sea level. A second earth filled dam located 11 miles downstream at Lincoln School would serve as a regulatory dam. It would be 2100 feet in lenqth, …

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project Environmental Impact Statement: Appendix K: Fish & Wildlife Mitigation Plan & Impacts (Revised), New England Division, United States Army Engineer Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The proposed plan is comprised of three major segments: terrestrial, fisheries and endangered species. Each segment is essentially a self-contained unit. All costs for the three segments including land acquisition, operation and maintenance and capital equipment, are to be charged to the project and allocated to the project purposes of hydroelectric generation and flood control.

Federal Water Pollution Control Act Section "404" Evaluation For Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes, New England Division, United States Army Engineer Division, United States Army Corps Of Engineers

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The purpose of this report is to relate various aspects of the proposed Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Hydroelectric Project to appropriate considerations defined by Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972.

Fish And Wildlife Mitigation Report : Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project, Maine, New England Division, Corps Of Engineers, U. S. Army Engineer Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The Dickey Lincoln School Lakes Project is a proposed multipurpose project located on the upper reaches of the St. John River in Aroostook County, Maine. Development would consist of two dams with associated reservoirs and hydroelectric generating facilities, five dikes and transmission lines. A more detailed description of the proposed project and its associated impacts is contained within the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed project.

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project Environmental Impact Statement: Appendix F: Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis (Supplement), New England Division, United States Army Engineer Division

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

Construction of the proposed Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project in Aroostook County, Maine will result in the isolation of an area of land due to the impoundment behind Dickey Dam. This land area is located between the United States - Canadian border, the Little Black River, the impoundment (elevation = 913 feet), the Big Black River, and the Shields Branch of the Big Black River, and comprises 183,768 acres of land. A previous report (ERT, 1977) determined the forest types within two miles of the impoundment but did not extend to the Canadian border. This report addresses the forest types

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project Environmental Impact Statement: Appendix G: Recreation Resources (Revised June 1978), U.S. Army, Corps Of Engineers, New England Division, Northern Maine Regional Planning Commission, Land Use Consultants, Inc.

Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project

The purpose of this report is to evaluate and describe the existing recreational use and resources of the project area and the encompassing study area and to project the future use of those resources both with and without the Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project. The primary impact area of the proposed project (project area) includes the St. John River watershed upstream of the proposed damsites to the confluence of Nine-mile Brook. The area is bounded by the watershed divide with the Allagash River on the east and the Canadian Border on the west. Major tributaries of the St. John affected by …