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Assessing The Threat Of Southern Pine Beetle To Pitch Pine In Acadia National Park, Caroline R. Kanaskie, Mark J. Ducey, Jeff R. Garnas

Faculty Publications

Many of the mountain summits of Acadia National Park (ACAD) are dominated by Pinus rigida (Pitch Pine). The ACAD Pitch Pine population is particularly valuable due to its position at the northernmost edge of the species’ range, its association with unique animal and plant communities, and its contribution to the aesthetics of the park. Pitch Pine is host to Dendroctonus frontalis (Southern Pine Beetle [SPB]). As the name suggests, SPB is native to the southeastern US, and can kill large numbers of healthy pines via mass-attack. With warming winters, SPB can establish and persist further north than ever before, presenting …

From A Shorter Winter Season To More Storm Damage: New Hampshire Outdoor Recreation Providers Feel Climate Impacts Far More Than Visitors, Maddie Smith, Michael D. Ferguson, Lauren A. Ferguson, Alexandra R. Contosta, Elizabeth Burakowski, Dovev Levine, Shannon Rogers

Carsey Publications

In this brief, the authors examine to what extent outdoor recreation providers and visitors in New Hampshire are impacted by annual climatic conditions representative of long-term trends, specifically, through the 2024–2028 New Hampshire Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). For the first time, the New Hampshire SCORP included an investigation of climate-related impacts on outdoor recreation from the perspective of both visitors and providers.

The findings of the study uncovered notable disparities in how New Hampshire’s outdoor recreation providers and visitors perceive climate conditions’ impact on outdoor recreation, particularly in the categories of “winter” and “extreme weather.” Understanding the perspectives …

Application Of Advanced Mathematical Approaches To The Interpretation Of Remote Sensing Observations Of The Surface Of Mars, John Randall Christian

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Spectroscopic imagers have been used to analyze the surface of Mars at varying spatial scales in several distinct modalities, each of which provides different information about surface geology and geochemistry. In this dissertation, we take a closer look at two such spectroscopic imagers: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) on board the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance. We apply new mathematical models to data collected by CRISM to infer physical properties from a complex (and therefore underutilized) portion of the spectrum, and to data collected …

Time Series Analysis Of Pseudo-Nitzschia Species Composition, Domoic Acid, And Environmental Conditions In The Gulf Of Maine From 2013-2020, Christina Chadwick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phytoplankton are abundant in both fresh and marine waters and can form harmful algal blooms (HABs) by producing potent toxins that have devastating effects on human, wildlife, and economic health. The HAB-forming diatom genus, Pseudo-nitzschia, occurs globally and approximately half of the 59 currently identified species can produce the neurotoxin, domoic acid (DA). DA accumulates in shellfish and finfish and can cause Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in humans and DA Poisoning (DAP) in several species of wildlife, resulting in severe neurological dysfunction and mortality. Along with these health threats, DA toxicity is a major economic threat for shellfish and fish …

Wildland Fire Disturbance - Recovery Dynamics In Upland Forests At Acadia National Park, Maine, Jessica E. Charpentier

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The overall goal of this study was to evaluate whether coastal Maine (USA) forests are resilient to changing climate and fire regimes. The occurrence of a catastrophic wildfire at Acadia National Park (ANP) in 1947 provided a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of wildfire on forest dynamics in upland communities of coastal spruce-fir and northern hardwood forests of the Maine coast. This study, conducted 68 years after the stand-replacing 1947 Bar Harbor Fire, builds on studies by W.A. Patterson conducted in 1980 and 1992-1994, 33 and 45-47 years after the fire. There were two lines of investigation in this …

Big Data: Computational Biology Opens A New Window On The World's Challenges For Colby Scientists, Kate Carlisle

Colby Magazine

"What makes us 'us' and not a plant? Not a bacteria, or a virus," asks Andrea Tilden, the J. Warren Merrill Associate Professor of Biology and a genomics expert. "Any one genome has six thousand novels worth of information. Computational biology is the tool we use to read them."

Weather Variability And The Tourism Industry: A Panel Data Analysis, Carmela Coppola

Honors Projects in Economics

Increasing weather variability around the world has led to many researchers examining the impacts of weather variability on vulnerable industries. For example, the tourism industry can make up a large portion of an economy’s growth, with some of the most dependent countries relying on tourism for over 40% of GDP (World Travel & Tourism Council 2014). In an attempt to better understand the relationship between weather variability and the tourism industry at the country level, this study employs a series of fixed effects panel regression models to analyze the impact of rainfall and temperature on tourism levels and growth rates …

Getting That Sinking Feeling: Analysis And Impacts Of Sea Level Rise On Three National Parks Along The East Coast, Usa, Julia K. Deros, Amanda L. Thibault, Amy B. True

Student Publications

Due to global climate change, sea level rise (SLR) has become a threat for future generations, but the extent of this danger is unknown. To help understand the possible effects of SLR on the east coast of the United States, we studied three national parks: Acadia National Park (ACAD), Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) and Everglades National Park (EVER). We predicted that ACAD would be less affected by SLR than ASIS and EVER due to the construction of its beach profile. By measuring the beach profile, we found that Sand Beach in ACAD was reflective with an average slope of …

Methylmercury Bioaccumulation In Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma Maculatum) In Southern Ohio, Rachel Alex Walker

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Mercury (Hg) is a volatile element increasing in concentration in the environment as a result of anthropogenic emissions. Microorganisms can transform mercury into monomethylmercury (MMHg), the form of Hg that bioaccumulates, biomagnifies, and can harm humans and wildlife. Most studies of MMHg bioaccumulation in wildlife have focused on aquatic organisms due to consumption of fish being the primary route of human exposure to MMHg. However, organisms in terrestrial ecosystems also are exposed to MMHg that may impact ecosystem biodiversity, food-web dynamics, and organisms and ecosystem health. I investigated bioaccumulation and maternal transfer of MMHg in spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) captured …

Application Of A Bioenergetics Framework For Assessing Sub-Lethal Effects Of Pollutants In The Freshwater Mussel Elliptio Complanata, Christopher G. Goodchild

All Theses And Dissertations

Although biomarkers are frequently used to assess sublethal effects of contaminants, a lack of mechanistic linkages to higher-level effects limits the predictive power of biomarkers. Bioenergetics has been proposed as a framework for linking cellular effects to whole-animal effects. We investigated sublethal effects of exposure to wastewater treatment facility effluent in freshwater mussels in situ, thereby capturing ecologically relevant exposure conditions. Our study focused on the energetic biomarker AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), while also considering more traditional biomarkers like heat shock proteins (HSP70), and antioxidant enzymes (i.e., superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST)). We examined biomarkers at mRNA and protein levels. …

Shellfish Closure Trends Near Mt. Desert Island, Maine, Marianne Ferguson

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Shellfish are a popular commercial fishery harvest in Maine. However, they are susceptible to biotoxins transmitted by toxic phytoplankton, which can lead to paralytic or amnesic shellfish poisoning of the humans that consume them. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has a phytoplankton monitoring program in place to detect such biotoxins and to close areas of shellfish harvesting if need be. Since 2001, they have archived the data from every closure. One of Maines shellfish species, the Blue Mussel, is sensitive to environmental changes and is known as a bio-monitor of pollution. Therefore, a method will be developed to analyze …

An Algorithmic And Information-Theoretic Approach To Multimetric Index Construction, Donald R. Schoolmaster Jr., James B. Grace, E. William Schweiger, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Brian R. Mitchell, Kathryn M. Miller, Amanda M. Little

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The use of multimetric indices (MMIs), such as the widely used index of biological integrity (IBI), to measure, track, summarize and infer the overall impact of human disturbance on biological communities has been steadily growing in recent years. Initially, MMIs were developed for aquatic communities using preselected biological metrics as indicators of system integrity. As interest in these bioassessment tools has grown, so have the types of biological systems to which they are applied. For many ecosystem types the appropriate biological metrics to use as measures of biological integrity are not known a priori. As a result, a variety of …

Differential Response Of Amp Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) And Hsp70 To Temperature Stress In The Gastropod, Nucella Lapillus, Emily Zimmermann

All Theses And Dissertations

Populations of the gastropod Nucella lapillus are polymorphic for shell color, with light-colored shells predominating on warmer, wave-protected shores and dark-colored shells limited primarily to cooler, wave-exposed shores. During thermal stress, darker shells attain higher body temperatures than lighter shells. These results suggest that heat stress may determine field distribution patterns. However, there is currently little evidence of physiological consequences of thermal stress in these organisms. Following the guiding hypothesis that heat stress leads to cellular energy depletion, we explored whether the central energy regulator AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) is activated by heat stress. We compared this response in both …

Learning The Lay Of Their Land: Data Recording By Maine Land Trusts, Patrick John Roche

Honors Theses

Land trusts have led the recent, rapid expansion in private land conservation in the US. As they have grown, many questions have emerged as to the value of their conservation efforts, especially in the long-term. To address this data gap, studies have evaluated easement restrictions and the characteristics of land trust protected property. I take a novel approach by investigating the data that land trusts record about their protected properties and its impact on their capacity to protect conservation values. I surveyed 55 land trusts operating in Maine about data they record in baseline documentation reports. A majority (82%) had …

Fundulus As The Premier Teleost Model In Environmental Biology: Opportunities For New Insights Using Genomics, Karen G. Burnett, Lisa J. Bain, William S. Baldwin, Gloria V. Callard, Sarah Cohen, Richard T. Di Giulio, David H. Evans, Marta Gómez-Chiarri, Mark E. Hahn, Cindi A. Hoover, Sibel I. Karchner, Fumi Katoh, Deborah L. Maclatchy, William S. Marshall, Joel N. Meyer, Diane E. Nacci, Marjorie F. Oleksiak, Bernard B. Rees, Thomas D. Singer, John J. Stegeman, David W. Towle, Peter A. Van Veld, Wolfgang K. Vogelbein, Andrew Whitehead, Richard N. Winn, Douglas L. Crawford

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

A strong foundation of basic and applied research documents that the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus and related species are unique laboratory and field models for understanding how individuals and populations interact with their environment. In this paper we summarize an extensive body of work examining the adaptive responses of Fundulus species to environmental conditions, and describe how this research has contributed importantly to our understanding of physiology, gene regulation, toxicology, and ecological and evolutionary genetics of teleosts and other vertebrates. These explorations have reached a critical juncture at which advancement is hindered by the lack of genomic resources for these …

Cisplatin Interstrand Cross-Linking Of Defined Sequence Nucleosomal Dna, Erin Elizabeth Wilkes

Honors Theses

DNA interstrand cross-linking agents have been recognized for many years to be powerful antitumor chemotherapeutics. While the interactions between free DNA and many anticancer drugs have been explored extensively, there is less infonnation available about these interactions with nucleosomal DNA. Nitrogen mustards have been reported to exhibit relatively similar cross-linking sites and efficiencies of binding in free and nucleosomal DNA, but mitomycin C exhibits markedly reduced cross-linking near the center of nucleosomal DNA. This current study focuses on cisplatin interstrand cross-linking of the 154 base pair 55 rRNA gene fragment of Xenopus borealis reconstituted with histones from chicken erythrocytes. The …

Enclaves In The Cadillac Mountain Granite (Coastal Maine): Samples Of Hybrid Magma From The Base Of The Chamber, R. A. Wiebe, Diane R. Smith, M. Sturm, E. M. King, M. S. Seckler

Earth and Environmental Geosciences Faculty Research

The Cadillac Mountain intrusive complex is dominated by the Cadillac Mountain granite and a 2–3 km thick section of interlayered gabbroic, dioritic and granitic rocks which occurs near the base of the granite. The layered rocks record hundreds of injections of basaltic magma that ponded on the chamber floor and variably interacted with the overlying silicic magma. Magmatic enclaves, ranging in composition from 55 to 78 wt % SiO₂, are abundant in granite above the layered mafic rocks. The most mafic enclaves are highly enriched in incompatible elements and depleted in compatible elements. Their compositions can be best …

Trends In Abundance Of The Gulf Of Maine Population Of Harbor Porpoise, Paula Ann Olson

Marine Affairs Theses and Major Papers

Hundreds of harbor porpoise die each year as bycatch in the Gulf of Maine's sink gillnet fishery. In recent years, concern has arisen whether the Gulf of Maine population of harbor porpoise can sustain this level of bycatch. It is believed that the population may have declined, or is declining as a result of the incidental moralities. This paper reviews what is known about Gulf of Maine harbor porpoise demographics and how that information is incorporated into the management of the porpoise/fishery interaction. Included in this paper is a new study on the trend of relative abundance of harbor porpoise …

Tourmaline - A Prospecting Guide For Massive Base-Metal Sulfide Deposits In The Penobscot Bay Area, Maine, John F. Slack

Maine Collection

Tourmaline - A Prospecting Guide for Massive Base-Metal Sulfide Deposits in the Penobscot Bay Area, Maine

by John F. Slack, U.S. Geological Survey

Special Economic Studies Series No.8

Maine Geological Survey, Department of Conservation, Augusta, Maine (June, 1980).

Contents: Abstract / Introduction / Geologic Setting / Massive Sulfide Deposits / Tourmaline Occurrences / Tourmaline: A Guide to Ore / Acknowledgements / References Cited

Botanical And Ecological Aspects Of Coastal Raised Peatlands In Maine : And Their Relevance To The Critical Areas Program Of The State Planning Office, Ian A. Worley

Maine Collection

Botanical and Ecological Aspects of Coastal Raised Peatlands in Maine : and Their Relevance to the Critical Areas Program of the State Planning Office.

by Ian A. Worley

A Report Prepared for the Maine Critical Areas Program, State Planning Office, 184 State Street, Augusta, Maine 04333.

Planning Report No. 69 (January 1980)

Contents: Foreword / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Figures / List of Tables / Acknowledgements / Introduction / Natural History and Ecology of the Coastal Raised Peatlands / Selection of Coastal Peatlands Recommended for Evaluation by the Critical Areas Program / General Evaluation of Coastal …

Geological And Botanical Features Of Sand Beach Systems In Maine And Their Relevance To The Critical Areas Program Of The State Planning Office, Bruce W. Nelson, L. Kenneth Fink Jr.

Maine Collection

Geological and Botanical Features of Sand Beach Systems in Maine and Their Relevance to the Critical Areas Program of the State Planning Office

by Bruce W. Nelson and L. Kenneth Fink, Jr.

"A Report Prepared for the Maine Critical Areas Program, State Planning Office, Augusta, Maine 04330 - Planning Report Number 54 (14 March 1978)."

Contents: Abstract / Foreword / Acknowledgements / Geology, Distribution, and Geomorphology of Maine's Coastal Sandy Beaches and Dune Systems / Methods of Locating Sandy Beaches and Dunes / General Consideration in Developing Criteria for Inclusion in the List of Significant Coastal Sandy Beaches and Dunes …

Recent Shallowwater Ostracods From The Northern Atlantic Coast, Randy J. Mersky

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Inventory Of Lake Studies In Maine, Charles F. Wallace Jr., James M. Strunk

Maine Collection

Inventory of Lake Studies in Maine

By Charles F. Wallace, Jr. and James M. Strunk

State Planning Office, Water Resources Planning Division, July 1973.

"Printed under Appropriation Number 4248.5 and financially assisted by planning grants from the United States Water Resources Council Title III funds."

Contents: Introduction / Investigating Agencies / Federal Agencies / State Agencies / Regional Planning Commissions and Economic Development Districts / Maine Colleges and Universities / Private / Other Private / Other / Appendices

The Monadnock Volume 30, Number 1, December 1955, Clark University Geographical Society

The Monadnock (Clark Geographical Society)

Volume 30, Issue 1 of The Monadnock. The Monadnock was the alumni magazine of the Clark University Geographical Society (1927-1985) (2014-present).

State Geologist's Report On The Geology Of Maine 1930-1932, Joseph Conrad Twinem, Edward H. Perkins

Maine Collection

State Geologist's Report on the Geology of Maine 1930-1932

Joseph Conrad Twinem , State Geologist and Edward H. Perkins , Assistant Geologist

Second Series - Augusta 1932

Sections: Bibliography, Economic Geology, General Geology, Paleontology, Structural Geology

The Effect Of Soil Moisture On The Establishment Of Spruce Reproduction In British Columbia, Percy Munson Barr

Yale School of the Environment Bulletin Series

Most of the field work has been conducted at the Aleza Lake Forest Experiment Station, in the valley of the Upper Fraser River, near the city of Prince George [British Columbia].

I. A series of twelve permanent plots (numbers 1 to 12) was established for the purpose of studying the occurrence of natural reproduction on various types of seed bed, under different densities of overwood and on northern and southern aspects. 2. A second series of four plots (numbers 17 to 20) was laid out in logged-off land for the purpose of studying the survival and growth of advance reproduction …