Climate Change

AP reports on East Coast saltmarsh sparrow research

The Associated Press reported on a recent study on saltmarsh sparrows conducted by a team of researchers including Brian Olsen, a professor of biology and ecology at the University of Maine. Scientists from several universities and agencies say the saltmarsh sparrow is disappearing from the East Coast and could be headed for extinction in as […]

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Daily Bulldog reports on student’s research on spread of ticks, diseases

Daily Bulldog published a University of Maine news release about research being conducted by Susan Elias, a doctoral student at UMaine’s Climate Change Institute. Elias is studying deer ticks and their spread across Maine.  “Maine in 2014 had the highest incidence of Lyme disease of all the states in the country,” Elias said. The Midcoast […]

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White-tailed deer

Elias focuses on factors affecting spread of deer ticks, diseases

With the arrival of spring, many Mainers head outside to hike, mow lawns, picnic, and garden. But working and playing outdoors can bring people in contact with deer ticks and tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease. “Maine in 2014 had the highest incidence of Lyme disease of all the states in the country,” says Susan Elias, […]

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Saltmarsh sparrows

Olsen recommends local habitat protection to save saltmarsh sparrows

When Laura Garey wades into tidal marshes at sunrise to survey saltmarsh sparrows, the University of Maine graduate student also spies deflated balloons, trash and pollutants. These reservoirs at the intersection of land and sea also are increasingly being damaged by coastal development, sea-level rise and more frequent storm surges. All of which makes it […]

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Steneck quoted in Press Herald editorial on warming Atlantic, lobster industry

Robert Steneck, a marine biologist at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences, was quoted in the Portland Press Herald editorial, “Warming Atlantic bodes poorly for lobster industry.” Warming water temperatures have for decades been the primary factor in pushing the lobster population farther north, according to the article. Since 2004, the Gulf of […]

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Fishermen in La Paz, Mexico

Fishermen’s decisions shaped by both climate, community distinctions

An international research team led by Heather Leslie found fishermen’s decisions are shaped by differences in both natural and social environments. The team discovered the community with stronger fishing rights exerted more control over fishermen’s decisions than communities with weaker rights, and did so in a way consistent with the impacts of climate variability on […]

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UMaine Ph.D. candidate awarded Fulbright to Canada

Kimberley Rain Miner, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Earth and climate sciences at the University of Maine, has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to Canada in geosciences from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Miner, who is from Los Angeles, will be conducting research at University […]

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Weekly Packet covers Mayewski being honored in Vienna

The Weekly Packet reported the European Geosciences Union is honoring University of Maine explorer, scientist and author Paul Mayewski for his achievements in ice research and climatic change. In addition to his research, Mayewski, director of the UMAine Climate Change Institute, is receiving the 2016 Hans Oeschger Medal in Vienna, Austria, for serving as a […]

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AP previews Gill’s talk on looking to past to inform modern conservation

The Associated Press reported Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine, will speak April 19 at the Merryspring Nature Center in Camden about how scientists are looking to the past for clues about threats to modern biodiversity. The assistant professor in the School of Biology and Ecology and the Climate Change Institute will […]

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WABI interviews Putnam about ice age research, prestigious grant

WABI (Channel 5) interviewed Aaron Putnam, the George H. Denton Assistant Professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine, about his ice age research and being awarded one of most prestigious grants for an early-career scientist. In May, Putnam will take the reins of a $591,000 Faculty Early Career […]

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