Life Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Biomass And Biofuels In Maine: Estimating Supplies For Expanding The Forest Products Industry, Jonathan Rubin, Kate Dickerson, Jacob Kavkewitz

Energy & the Environment

This paper estimates the renewable energy potential of Maine’s forest resources, and how much energy these resources could potentially provide the state. Using the most recent state-specific data available, and a methodology similar to the Billion Tons Report, we find that ethanol production from Maine’s forest residues could potentially provide 18% of Maine’s transportation (gasoline) fuels with a fermentation wood to ethanol process. Making Fischer-Tropsch diesel (F-T diesel) using forest residues can replace 39% of Maine’s petro-diesel consumption. Actual levels of biofuels that can be produced will depend on conversion factors and forestry residue removals that are subject to uncertainty.

The Lobster Bulletin, Fall 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Fall 2007 issue include:

• Lobster Institute Honors Long-Time Volunteers at its 20^th Anniversary Celebration
• Lobster Institute Unveils New Logo
• Twenty Years of Service
• Maine DMR Announces Online Licensing Services
• Research Report: New Designs for Juvenile Sampling Trap Studied
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates Its 20^th Anniversary: 1987-2007

Sger: Investigation Of Potential Co-Introduction Of Fucus Serratus And Littorina Littorea To North America In 1800s, Susan H. Brawley

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This research will apply new approaches and expertise to understanding the probable invasion of North American intertidal zones by the herbivorous snail Littorina littorea in the 1800s. The investigator developed the following hypothesis during her recent analyses of late 1700s to mid-1800s shipping records: Fucus serratus and Littorina littorea were co-introduced into North America from Britain via the dumping of intertidal rock ballast in ships arriving at Pictou Harbor during the massive emigration of nearly 40,000 Scots (and some Irish and English) in the late 1700s-mid-1800s. This hypothesis will be tested using innovative molecular techniques (i.e., assay of nuclear …

Maine Drug-Induced Deaths: A Brief White Paper Prepared For The Spf-Sig State Epidemiology Workgroup, August, 2007, Marcella H. Sorg

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

Drug death statistics for Cumberland County declined following an effort at public health information targeted at users/misusers. Specific education messages aimed at young adults, particularly males and 20-34 year olds will potentially reach the most at risk group. Messages regarding the dangers of diversion, recognition of snoring as a warning sign of respiratory distress, the benefits of placing users in the “recovery position to maximize airway access are being used in Cumberland and Kennebec Counties.

Education efforts targeted at health care providers who write narcotic prescriptions and the patients who receive them should be supported, particularly encouraging messages about the …

Microbial Observatories: Kilauea Volcano Observatory For Carbon Monoxide-Oxidizing Bacteria, Gary M. King

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Volcanic activity regularly creates new landforms from deposits of tephra, ash and lava. These initially sterile, pristine deposits undergo a range of physical, chemical and biological transformations that lead in some cases to diverse, complex ecosystems such as Hawaiian rainforests. Recent activity by the Kilauea volcano has created unique opportunities to understand the timing and controls of complex ecosystem development, and to analyze the roles of microbes as pioneering colonists that contribute to plant development and succession. The newly established Kilauea Volcano Microbial Observatory will compare the diversity and activity of carbon monoxide-oxidizing bacteria colonizing two different deposits currently 45 …

Establishing Research Competitiveness In Biophysical Sciences In Maine, Michael Eckardt, Rosemary Smith, Barbara Knowles, Michael Grunze, Deirdre Mageean, Scott Collins, Heather Almquist, Robert Friesel, Thomas Maciag

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The Maine EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement award is designed to enhance Maine's competitiveness in molecular biophysical sciences through a partnership between the University of Maine and Maine's non-profit research organizations. The proposed Biophysical Sciences Institute brings together University of Maine faculty in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and spatial engineering, with biomedical researchers at the Jackson Laboratory and Maine Medical Center Research Institute. Maine EPSCoR proposes to hire additional tenure-track faculty in the fields of biophysics and advanced optics, biochemistry, structural biology, applied mathematics, computer science, image analysis and visualization, and material science. The new and existing investigators will form research …

The Lobster Bulletin, Summer 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Summer 2007 issue include:

• Long Island Sound Lobstermen Establish Fund to Support the Lobster Institute
• Twenty Years of Service
• Lobster Institute to Benefit from a Bequest to Establish a Product Development Fund
• Alternative Lobster Bait Moves Out of the Lab and Into the Marketplace
• Research Report: Medicated Feed Trials Conducted
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates …

Collaborative Proposal: Form And Function Of Phytoplankton In Unsteady, Low Reynolds-Number Flows, Peter Jumars, Lee Karp-Boss

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Small-scale flow dynamics at low Reynolds numbers (Re) are important to phytoplankton cells in delivery of nutrients, sensory detection by and physical encounter with herbivores, accumulation of bacterial populations in the "phycosphere" or region immediately surrounding phytoplankton cells and coagulation of cells themselves as a mechanism terminating blooms. In nature most phytoplankton experience unsteady flows, i.e., velocities near the cells that vary with time due to the intermittency of turbulence and to discontinuous, spatially distributed pumping by herbivores. This unsteadiness has not previously been taken into account in models or measurements with plankton. Moreover, there have been decade- and century- …

Living Marine Invertebrates: An Interactive Cd-Rom, Leslie E. Watling, Kevin Eckelbarger

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Invertebrates comprise 95% of all animal life on the Earth and dominate the world's oceans so some knowledge of their biology and ecology is fundamental to a student's understanding of the planet's ecosystems. Invertebrates are covered in many university-level courses ranging from traditional invertebrate zoology classes to those emphasizing general introductory biology, marine biology, oceanography, and biodiversity, to name a few. Invertebrates are represented by a dizzying array of body forms and morphological variations as well as complex feeding, locomotory, and other behaviors that are difficult to describe and illustrate. Virtually all textbooks represent invertebrates with line drawings and photographs …

Population Genetics Of Black Bear (Ursus Americanus), Amanda K. Thibodeau

Honors College

DNA analysis is a ubiquitous tool to identify variation within populations. By using microsatellites, highly variable genetic loci distributed throughout the entire nuclear genome, genetic characteristics can be identified in the population. Genetic variation in the black bear, Ursus americanus, was characterized through samples gathered from the Maine population. In total, five loci were characterized for analysis. In order to aid in wildlife forensic cases, I examined genetic variations in black bears. The range of observed heterozygosity for the population sample was 0.729-0.871; the number of alleles per locus ranged from 7 to 15. Sampling the population and determining the …

The Lobster Bulletin, Spring 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Spring 2007 issue include:

• 2007 Canadian/U.S. Lobstermen's Town Meeting
• Lobster Prices Elevated as Water Temperatures Remained Low
• Research Report: Tidal Lobster Pounds to be Tested as Lobster Rearing Facilities
• Research Report: Hatchery Project Also Underway in Cornwall, England
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates Its 20^th Anniversary: 1987-2007

The Dandy Scroll, Spring 2007, University Of Maine Pulp And Paper Foundation

General University of Maine Publications

The Spring 2007 issue of The Dandy Scroll newsletter produced by the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation.

Carbon Monoxide Based Ecological Interactions Between Legumes And Their Rhizobial Symbionts, Gary M. King

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Leguminous plants provide an important protein source for about one-third of the world's population. Nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots of these plants produce relative large amounts of carbon monoxide (CO). Although CO plays important and well-known roles in the chemistry of the troposphere and in cellular biology, the roles of CO in ecological interactions between legumes and their microbial symbionts are poorly known. Preliminary results suggest that use of CO by many legume symbionts (including strains of agriculturally important nitrogen-fixing bacteria) may promote their survival and viability in soils. Symbiont survival and viability in turn can affect plant performance and …

Research Experience For Undergraduates At The Darling Marine Center, University Of Maine, 2002-2005, Kevin Eckelbarger

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This award provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site that will host a total of seven students during eleven weeks of summer research. The REU program is based on the theory that mentoring and networking are the most effective methods for recruiting students into a profession and for training young researchers. Students will be working with researchers at the University of Maine's Darling Marine Center, located in Walpole, ME. Students will also participate in a series of seminars and workshops exploring issues related to hypothesis formation and testing, statistics, experimental design, scientific writing and data presentation, …

2006 Lowbush Blueberry Project Reports, Kristi Crowe, Alfred A. Bushway, Rodney J. Bushway, Vivian Ch Wu, Brian Perkins, Pam Small, Darrell Donahue, Frank Drummond, Judith Collins, Floyd Dowell, Dorothy J. Klimis-Zacas, Mary Ellen Camire, Gordon Starr, David E. Yarborough, S Hoffmann, Daniel J. Bell, Seanna L. Annis, Tamara Levitsky, Loretta Kreider, Kristen Mcgovern, K Frost, John M. Smagula, Qian Wang, Kerry Fl Guiseppe

Wild Blueberry Research Reports

The 2006 edition of the Lowbush Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include:

1. Evaluation of Emerging Disinfection Technologies for Wild Blueberry Processing

2. Incorporation of wild blueberry puree into a soy-based burger and its effect on sensory and chemical properties of the broiled burgers

3. Infestation Detection using NIRS

4. Mechanism of Action through which Wild Blueberries affect Arterial Functional Properties in Normotensive and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

5. Practical Microbial Control Approach for Wild Blueberries …

Ner: Exploratory Research On Developing A Nanoscale Sensing Device For Measuring The Supply Of Iron To Eukaryotic Phytoplankton In Natural Seawater, Mark L. Wells

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The long delay in recognizing the potentially key role of Fe in coastal marine systems has been in large part because of the complexity of microbial:Fe interactions in seawater. There still is no analytical method for determining biologically available Fe for either prokaryotic or eukaryotic phytoplankton. However, there is evidence that Fe availability to eukaryotic phytoplankton can be regulated by additions of the fungal siderophore desferrioxamine B (DFB) to coastal waters. The DFB-Fe complex not only is unavailable for uptake at significant rates, but also outcompetes the natural organic ligand classes in seawater for Fe. Measurement of DFB-Fe concentrations in …

The Lobster Bulletin, Winter 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Winter 2007 issue include:

• Helene & Frank Crohn Endow the Lobster Bulletin
• 2007 Canadian/U.S. Lobstermen's Town Meeting
• 2006 Friends of the Lobster Institute
• Research Report: AVC Lobster Science Centre Isolates Antimicrobial Peptides from Lobster Blood
• Research Report: Lobster Health Monitoring Project Initiated
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates Its 20^th Anniversary: 1987-2007