Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Blue Resilience: Is There A Need For An Alaskan Coastal Career Development Framework?, Jared Fuller

All Theses And Dissertations

Youth career outmigration has increased in Alaska’s coastal communities in the last few decades. The ocean and ocean-adjacent industries that comprise the blue economy make up the majority of the employment options in places have experienced declines within these regions which has been attributed to the outward movement of young people. The dynamic history of Alaska has had specific impacts with regards to Alaskan coastal communities, their ocean-resource economies, and thus, the potential for young people to find career paths within them. Potential economic-resource vulnerabilities could be mapped along with the complex systems to help build resilience within those communities. …

Climate-Driven Stock Shifts And Expansions In The U.S. Northeast Shelf: Identifying Challenges, Opportunities, And Barriers Through Fishermen And Manager Perspectives, Sophie A. Swetz

All Theses And Dissertations

Climate-driven warming in the U.S. Northeast Shelf (NES) has led to changes in the spatial distributions of many marine resources. Shifts and expansions of commercially important fish stocks pose major challenges to fishermen and fisheries managers in this region. American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) is one of these impacted stocks and is projected to continue its shift towards more northern and offshore areas. Continued ocean warming could potentially reduce the GOM lobster stock by up to 60% over the next several decades. Given Maine’s reliance on its lobster fishery—which contributes over 80% of …

Age-Specific Differences In Fat Reserves And Migratory Passage Of Setophaga Striata (Blackpoll Warbler), Emily N. Filiberti, Noah G. Perlut

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Adequate fat reserves are vital for long non-stop transatlantic avian-migration movements, such as those made by Setophaga striata (Blackpoll Warbler). Over a 5-y period, we studied differences in preparedness (determined by presence of fat content and arrival time at stopover locations) between hatch-year (HY) and after hatch-year (AHY) Blackpoll Warblers at 3 stopover sites (Hancock and York counties in Maine, and Plymouth County in Massachusetts) covering 2.65° latitude along the Gulf of Maine. Migration timing varied across a latitudinal gradient and between age classes. In September, AHY Blackpoll Warblers were more abundant in the northern and central counties, but HY …

Sustaining The Saco Estuary: Final Report 2015, Christine B. Feurt Ph D, Pamela A. Morgan, Mark D. O. Adams, Anna L. Bass, Carrie J. Byron, Michael C. Daley, Michael O. Esty, Noah G. Perlut, Kayla Smith, Tyler Spillane, Michelle M. Steen-Adams, James Sulikowski, Stephan I. Zeeman, Jacob Aman, Michele Dionne, Jeremy Miller, Kristin Wilson

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

This study focuses on the Saco estuary, the tidal portion of the Saco River, which drains the largest watershed in southern Maine. With headwaters in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the watershed encompasses more than 4,400 km², and provides clean healthy drinking water to over 100,000 people living and working in communities in southern Maine.

When the study began in 2009, very little was known about the ecology of the Saco estuary. Researchers at the University of New England and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve employed the process of collaborative learning to bring together people who …

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. …

Distribution Of Foraging Shearwaters Relative To Inner Front Of Se Bering Sea, J. Jahncke, K. O. Coyle, Stephan I. Zeeman, N. B. Kachel, G. L. Hunt Jr.

Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We examined the hypothesis that short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris aggregate to forage at the inner front of the SE Bering Sea because of enhanced production there. We tested this hypothesis by comparing primary production, the distribution of euphausiids and the distribution of shearwaters relative to the front during late spring and late summer/early fall of 1997, 1998 and 1999. We found enhanced primary production at the front and offshore of the front during summer but not during spring. Primary production varied between seasons and years. Major differences were related to anomalous conditions in 1997 and 1998. The density of euphausiids …