Signature and Emerging Areas

Climate Change researcher wraps up summer project in Mongolia

University of Maine researcher Aaron Putnam has completed his 2016 summer search for climate clues in Mongolia. Kevin Stark, a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism who’s embedded with Putnam’s research team, entered his final post about the trek Aug. 3, at a science laboratory in Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. […]

Read more

Fishing dock

Ph.D. candidate examines effects of licensing on resilience of Maine’s fisheries

A recent study by University of Maine researchers examines the history of the licensing system for commercial fisheries in the state and how it has changed fishermen’s access to marine resources. The findings suggest the evolution of the regulations threatens the resilience of the social-ecological system in Maine’s fisheries and highlight the paradox of the […]

Read more

University of Maine to host second annual Aging Initiative Workshop

Major aging-related challenges in Maine and the state-based research being done to address them will be the focus of a panel discussion open to the public Aug. 22 as part of the second annual Aging Initiative Workshop at the University of Maine. Speaker of the House Mark Eves will provide opening remarks at 10 a.m. […]

Read more

Charlotte Quigley: Researching how water temperatures affect kelp growth

Read transcript Charlotte Quigley is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maine studying marine biology. Her research focuses on alaria (a type of sea vegetable) and how changing water temperatures affect its growth. By studying and testing its genetic structure, Quigley hopes to supply a sustainable, temperature tolerant crop for Maine’s aquaculture future.

Read more

Sargent Lake

The environmental legacy of acid rain

For Stephen Norton, lakes hold a treasure trove of precious scientific information. For the past 40 years, Norton, professor emeritus at the University of Maine, has studied lakes by evaluating sediment cores from around the world. Using the cores taken from the bottom of lakes, he is able to determine the age of the sediment […]

Read more

Beadwork done by Jennifer Neptune

‘Threads of Our Lives’ headed to American Folk Festival, Maine libraries

“Threads of Our Lives: Maine Folk Fiber Art,” featuring demonstrations and exhibition panels highlighting the diversity of the fiber arts statewide, will debut at the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Aug. 27–28, sponsored by the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine. The exhibit and more artist demonstrators, supported by a $1,400 grant from the […]

Read more

A whale swimming in the ocean

Ocean salt, temperature can barricade phytoplankton, impact food web

Subtle, fleeting differences in ocean salinity or temperature can act as physical barricades for phytoplankton, which results in a patchy distribution of the most important food resource in the ocean and may explain the large biodiversity in the sea, say University of Copenhagen and University of Maine researchers. Ocean currents transport phytoplankton, or microscopic algae, […]

Read more