Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Collaborative Research: Subglacial Water Intrusion In Greenland, Gordon K. Oswald

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The project's goals are:

• To analyse radio echo sounding data acquired over the Greenland Ice Sheet by the University of Kansas / CReSIS team with the objective of discriminating between frozen and thawed conditions at the bed of the ice sheet.
• To provide maps of the bed state, with the aim of making them available via the National Snow and Ice Data Centre.
• To support ice sheet modelling activities by providing information on the bed state, thus related to the temperature at the bed and the rheological conditions at the bed.
• To make available to educational establishments information on the …

Collaborative Research: An Interdisciplinary Investigation Of Groundwater-Carbon Coupling In Large Peat Basins And Its Relation To Climate Change, Andrew S. Reeve

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The growth of northern peatlands during the Holocene created a globally important source and sink for greenhouse gases. The response of these large carbon reservoirs to Global Warming, however, remains uncertain. Different mathematical models predict that future warming could alter the carbon balance of peatlands by either increasing the rate of carbon sequestration or accelerating the emissions of greenhouse gases. However, these steady-state analytical models make unrealistic assumptions about natural peatlands, which are spatially and temporally variable ecosystems that are still accumulating carbon. This investigation will therefore develop a transient 3D numerical model that couples multiphase groundwater flow to solute …

The Maine Vernal Pool Mapping And Assessment Program: Engaging Municipal Officials And Private Landowners In Community-Based Citizen Science, Jessica Spelke Jansujwicz, Aram J K Calhoun, Robert J. Lileholm

Publications

The Vernal Pool Mapping and Assessment Program (VPMAP) was initiated in 2007 to create a vernal pool database as a planning tool to foster local compliance with new state vernal pool regulations. In the northeastern United States, vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that provide critical breeding habitat for a number of amphibians and invertebrates and provide important resting and foraging habitat for some rare and endangered state-listed species. Using participant observation, interviews, and focus groups, we examined the engagement of municipal officials and private landowners in VPMAP. Important outcomes of municipal and landowner engagement included mobilization of town support for …

University Of Maine 2012 Clery Fire Safety Report, University Of Maine, Department Of Environmental Health And Management

General University of Maine Publications

The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires that each campus report on fires at student housing facilities as well as publish a fire safety report which is to be available to the public after October 1 of every year. A copy of the annual report is available from the Safety and Environmental Management Department.

Strengthening Knowledge Co-Production Capacity: Examining Interest In Community-University Partnerships., Karen Hutchins, Laura Lindenfeld, Jessica Leahy, Linda Silka

Publications

Building successful, enduring research partnerships is essential for improving links between knowledge and action to address sustainability challenges. Communication research can play a critical role in fostering more effective research partnerships, especially those concerned with knowledge co-production processes. This article focuses on community-university research partnerships and factors that influence participation in the co-production process. We identify specific pathways for improving partnership development through a prospective analytical approach that examines community officials’ interest in partnering with university researchers. Using survey responses from a statewide sample of Maine municipal officials, we conduct a statistical analysis of community-university partnership potential to test a …

Addressing The Complexities Of Boundary Work In Sustainability Science Through Communication, Bridie Mcgreavy, Karen Hutchins, Hollie Smith, Laura Lindenfeld, Linda Silka

Publications

Sustainability science seeks to identify and implement workable solutions to complex problems. This transdisciplinary approach advances a commitment to work across boundaries that occur among individuals, disciplines, and institutions to build capacities for informed and innovative decision making in the face of uncertainty and change. The concept of boundary work and related discussions of boundary objects and organizations are important, expanding focal areas within sustainability science. While communication is described as central to boundary work, insights from the field of communication have largely yet to inform theorizing about boundaries within sustainability science. In this paper, we highlight three communication perspectives, …

Land Conservation In The Northeastern United States: An Assessment Of Historic Trends And Current Conditions, Robert J. Lilieholm, Spencer R. Meyer, Michelle L. Johnson, Christopher S. Cronan

Publications

This article discusses the evolution of land conservation efforts and outcomes in the Northeast, examine major drivers of landscape change, and review key conservation tools that have been used to protect public values at the local and landscape levels. We then assess the current status of land conservation, and draw lessons for other regions facing conservation challenges across mixed ownership landscapes under varying development and land-use pressures. Finally, we explore new and emerging trends in the factors driving land development and conservation activities in an effort to assess the challenges that lie ahead.

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.

Us Ireland Partnership Program: Beacons: Biosafety For Environmental Contaminants Using Novel Sensors, Laurie B. Connell, Rosemary L. Smith, Gregory Doucette

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

BEACONS is a unique collaboration between the United States, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, that aims to develop a novel sample preparation device coupled to a portable sensor which will be capable of rapidly analyzing for the presence of major aquatic toxins and associated organisms in water samples. It harnesses the substantial complementary expertise of the international partners and their institutions to address a problem that has world-wide implications for human health and aquatic related industries. The results will be used for the generation of a commercially applicable prototype device that could have the potential to be applied …

Lake Site Assessments: Us Epa Time-New England Lakes, Sarah J. Nelson, Adam Baumann, Alesha Coffin, Ken Johnson, Catherine Schmitt, Kristin Strock

Forest Resources Faculty Scholarship

TIME (Temporally Integrated Monitoring of Ecosystems) is a statistically selected population of lakes in New Eng- land and the Hudson Valley (31 lakes) and the Adirondacks (43 lakes) that were selected from the original 1991 EMAP-SW (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program–Surface Waters) population with acid neutralizing capacity less than 100 meq/L (Young & Stoddard 1996). Samples are taken annually, during a summer base-flow ‘index period’. This sampling strategy is used to reduce hydrologic impact on water chemistry and hence provide an assessment of trends in chemistry with the least number of samples (e.g., Stoddard et al. 2003).

The EMAP program …

Fast Pyrolysis Of Muconic Acid And Formic Acid Salts, Laura Duran

Honors College

Lignocellulosic biomass is emerging as a sustainable resource for the production of alternative liquid fuels. As the need to lessen dependence on petroleum sources grows, lignocellulosic feedstocks are being investigated as a renewable, abundant source of energy. Chemical pulping processes include a high-lignin by-product, black liquor, which is already used for fuel in industry. Black liquor is burned to generate steam and electricity and to recover pulping chemicals. Currently, the thermochemical conversion of black liquor to liquid fuel is being researched at The University of Maine. In this black liquor research, an intermediate lignin-derived acid, muconic acid, and formic acid …

Investigating The Controls On Surface Snow Δ18o Values In The Coastal Northeast Pacific: Implications For Paleoclimate Interpretations, Matthew C. Koehler

Honors College

Stable water isotope ratios (18O and D) in snow pit (Juneau Icefield) and fresh snow (Eclipse Icefield) samples are included in a compilation of all available snow isotope data from coastal Alaska, and used to evaluate observed isotope shifts in regional paleoclimate records. I compiled existing isotope data in coastal Alaska (primarily the Saint Elias Range) in order to better understand the elevation dependence of stable atmospheric water isotope ratios in the region. The values that make up the compilation are reflective of multiple fractionation regimes associated with synoptic scale cyclonic events, described using the Cyclone-Water Isotope Model (Holdsworth and …

Sustainability Science: A Call To Collaborative Action, David D. Hart, Kathleen P. Bell

Publications

Sustainability science is an emerging field directed at advancing sustainable development. Informed by recent scholarship and institutional experiments, we identify key roles for economists and encourage their greater participation in this research. Our call to collaborative action comes from positive experiences with the Sustainability Solutions Initiative based at the University of Maine, where economists collaborate with other experts and diverse stakeholders on real-world problems involving interactions between natural and human systems. We articulate a mutually beneficial setting where economists’ methods, skills, and norms add value to the problem-focused, interdisciplinary research of sustainability science and where resources, opportunities, and challenges from …

Beginning With Habitat: Building A Regional Landscape Wayne, Maine Department Of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

Maine Town Documents

The data presented here represents a compilation of core Beginning with Habitat map products. Comprehensive field surveys do not exist for all areas in Maine, so some important habitats may not be mapped. Habitat features on this map are based on limited field surveys, aerial photo interpretation, and computer modeling. Habitat data is updated regularly . Map users should consult with the Beginning with Habitat program to verify that data illustrated on this map is still current prior to utilizing it for planning decisions.

Additional maps attached include:

Water Resources & Riparian Habitats
High Value Plant & Animal Habitats
Undeveloped …

Creating Opportunities For Improving Lake-Focused Stakeholder Engagement: Knowledge–Action Systems, Pro-Environment Behavior And Sustainable Lake Management, Kathleen P. Bell, Laura Lindenfeld, Ann E. Speers, Marrio F. Teisl, Jessica Leahy

Publications

Managers, policymakers, non-government organizations and community groups are increasingly relying on stakeholder participation to bolster lake management efforts. The growing portfolio of lake-focused stakeholder engagement cases offers valuable information about the efficacy of alternative stakeholder engagement strategies. While attention has been devoted to inventorying these instances, lesser emphasis has been given to evaluating the effectiveness of different participation and engagement approaches. There is arguably no panacea for involving stakeholders in lake and basin management. Lake management challenges in distinct natural and human systems necessitate diverse approaches for interacting with stakeholders. As calls for stakeholder participation increase and management budget constraints …

Tb207: A Manual For Remote Sensing Of Maine Lake Clarity, Ian M. Mccullough, Cynthia S. Loftin, Steven A. Sader

Technical Bulletins

The purpose of this manual is to support use of satellite-based remote sensing for statewide lake water-quality monitoring in Maine. The authors describe step-by-step methods that combine Landsat and MODIS satellite data with field-collected Secchi disk data for statewide assessment of lake water clarity. Landsat can be simul­taneously used to assess more than Maine 1,000 lakes ≥ 8 ha, whereas MODIS can be used to assess a maximum of 364 lakes ≥ 100 ha (250-m image resolution) or 83 lakes ≥ 400 ha (500-m image resolution). Although the methods were specifically developed for Maine, other states or non-Maine agen­cies may …

Agent-Based Modeling Of Harvest Decisions By Small Scale Forest Landowners In Maine, Usa, Jessica Leahy, Erika Reeves, Kathleen Bell, Crista L. Straub, Jeremy Wilson

Publications

Small-scale forests are an excellent example of coupled social-ecological systems, which involve human and biophysical subsystems with complex two-way feedback interactions. The multifaceted nature of landowner decisions drives a significant need to better understand decision-making processes, reactions to policy, and combined impacts on ecosystems in a comprehensive manner. Small-scale forests require an integrated approach to modeling the social and biophysical components comprehensively. Agent-based modeling involves modeling individualistic behavior and interpreting patterns that emerge. The interaction between agents and their environments makes this a valuable tool to assess repeated decisions of individual landowners responding to changing environmental conditions. Agent-based models can …

The Ocean Economy Of The United States: Measurement, Distribution, & Trends, Charles S. Colgan

Publications

Coastal managers are frequently required to consider the economic implications of their decisions, but economic data needed to support decisions is frequently lacking. This paper discusses the creation of a national data set that measures economic activity related to the oceans and Great Lakes of the U.S. Measures include employment, wages, establishments, and output. The data is derived from existing data maintained by the federal government to assure temporal and spatial consistency of measurement. The data set defines the “ocean economy” through a combination of industry and geographic location features to measure 21 separate industries in 6 sectors, at the …

State Of Maine's Beaches In 2013, Peter A. Slovinsky, Stephen M. Dickson, Rachel E. Dye

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The 2013 State of Maine’s Beaches Report is the 4th report in a consecutive series of reports coinciding with the Maine Beaches Conference from 2007, 2009, and 2011. The purpose of the report is to summarize major observed morphologic characteristics and changes of Maine beaches that are monitored as part of the State of Maine Beach Profiling Project (SMBPP, Maine Sea Grant Extension, 2003). The SMBPP utilizes trained volunteers to collect monthly beach profiles which start at a known point or benchmark (usually in the frontal dune or in a seawall) and continue shore-perpendicular to roughly the low water line. …

Signs Of The Seasons Program Species In Focus: Monarchs And Milkweed, An Ecological Relationship Threatened By Climate Change, Beth Bisson, Esperanza Stancioff

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Over the past two decades, researchers have observed declines in populations of both monarch butterflies (over 70% in some areas) and milkweed. Climate-related factors contributing to these declines include increasing frequency of intense winter storms and near freezing temperatures in monarch overwintering areas in Mexico, and severe droughts in the southwestern and southeastern United States, which affect both species. If these trends continue, they could create a mismatch in time or space between monarch breeding cycles along their northward migration (April to August) and the growth and survival of milkweed plants eaten by monarch caterpillars.