Department News

Check out what the Faculty and Students have been up to over the past few years.

‘Our Maine’ explores human impact on state’s wild places (Calhoun/Hunter ’74)

October 23, 2023 – Ellsworth American
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Editors and a photographer teamed up to create “Our Maine: Exploring Its Rich Natural Heritage,” a book of essays by 33 contributors that paints a vivid portrait of Maine’s wild places and wild creatures, as well as of human impacts and the way the state’s heritage has changed.

The trees don’t care about us (Charney)

May 30,2023 – The Atlantic, by Alexandra Horowitz
Two new books scrutinize the natural world, and not for what it might offer us.
Silent observers of our lives, trees are on most peoples’ radar only at moments of transition or death: We mark springtime’s budding and autumn’s flamboyance, note somberly the tree felled by a storm or by the tiny, ravenous ash borer. Although emblematic of nature, they nevertheless are seen with the goggles of our human-centered vision, and thus barely seen at all.

S8E4: How can art help enrich our lives and solve everyday problems? (Roth)

March 16, 2023 – The Maine Question Podcast
Art — whether it’s created on a page or computer or in a studio or theater — can do more than showcase creativity for amusement and cultural enrichment. Art can help teach people about historical and contemporary societies, advance research, support economic development and combat daily and systemic issues.

Secret Life of S’mammals (Yen)

Mar 3, 2023 – Georgia Wildlife Federation
A conversation between two small mammal researchers: Dr. JT Pynne (Georgia Wildlife Federation) and Ivy Yen (PhD Student at the University of Maine).
Most plants grow from seeds, but how do those seeds get there? Seed dispersal is the method by which plants spread out their seeds to populate an area. Seed dispersal comes in many forms, from hitchhikers riding along pants legs to birds eating and passing seeds.

Study traces migration habits of woodcock (Blomberg/Roth)

February 28, 2023 – The Piscataquis Observer
The American Woodcock, whether you hunt them over a gun dog or simply observe their spiraling spring mating rituals, are a fascinating and unique migratory game bird.

Kaylee Hussey: Wiki-wonder

February 13, 2023 – UMaine News
Editor’s note: This story was updated Feb. 14, 2023
The assignment was simple: add information to the Wikipedia page of an invertebrate species, citing two peer-reviewed sources. Somehow, Kaylee Hussey misunderstood the task — and may have found a passion for science communication along the way.

New study shows trends of Lymphoproliferative disease among Maine wild turkeys (Blomberg/Gonnerman ’21)

December 14, 2022 – UMaine News
The potentially lethal Lymphoproliferative virus (LPDV) is becoming more prevalent among wild turkeys in the Northeast. With wild turkey populations growing, the risk of disease transmission between them, their domesticated counterparts and chickens may increase.

A Fish That’s Swum in Maine Ponds Since The Ice Age Faces An Uncertain Future (Murphy)

December 12, 2022 – Maine Public
It’s a brisk late-October morning, with a bright sun breaking through the fog clinging to the surface of Floods Pond, in Otis.

What Birds Can Tell Us About Conservation (Njuguna)

December 07, 2022 – The Nature Conservancy
A TNC volunteer and a Kenyan student are applying a novel approach to measuring river health.

updated 11/7/2024