School of Biology and Ecology

A core facility at The University of Maine, widely known for its accumulation of specimen that are decades older than the university and represent a great deal of the natural world, has recently changed locations on campus. Previously located in Hannibal Hamlin Hall, The University of Maine Herbarium can now be found in room two […]

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 2014-2015 John M. Rezendes Annual Ethics Essay Contest sponsored by The Honors College. Writers are encouraged to focus on this year’s topic, “The Ethics of Energy, Ecology and the Environment” Possible topics include the Ethics of Energy, Ecology, and the Environment and… Genetic Engineering Globalization Resource Distribution Fracking […]

Hurricane Sandy, the most deadly storm of the 2012 hurricane season, not only left a lingering path of destruction for our human populations…but also dramatically impacted tidal marsh habitats of birds along the east coastline. Brian Olsen, assistant professor of biology and ecology, has begun gauging restoration of these habitats that was devastated by the […]

Four faculty positions available in the emerging focus area of Changing Ecosystems and Climate: Impact on Animal, Plant, and Human Health

Seminars will occur Mondays from 12- 1 PM in 107 Norman Smith Hall Date Speaker Affiliation Title 1/19 No Seminar – – 1/26 Olaf Jensen Rutgers University “The River Wolf and the Blue Pearl: Conservation of Endangered Salmonids in Northern Mongolia.”   2/2 Bill Sutton Tennessee State University “Vulnerability Assessments of Amphibian and Reptile Hotspots.” […]

Researchers at the University of Maine, including one of Maine’s leading bird biologists Rebecca Holberton, are interested in a feathered friend that pays a short two week visit to Maine in July, August or September.  Semipalmated sandpipers do not pass through Maine for vacation, but use their short stay as a “rest stop” for their […]

Looking for experience in the field this summer? Summer Internships available for the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge!  Internships last 12-weeks (40 hr/week) beginning mid-May through September.  Starting dates are negotiable.  See descriptions below:   Natural Resource Management Botany Intern Description: Work with refuge staff on identifying and removing invasive plants and restoring shrub-land habitats […]

According to an article published in Science Online, titled “Lectures Aren’t Just Boring, They’re Ineffective, Too, Study Finds” active learning methods are significantly more successful compared to traditional stand-and-deliver lecture techniques. Michelle Smith, assistant professor of biology and research for the STEM Education Center at the University of Maine, coauthored the meta-analysis study that contributed […]

  Seminars will be held on Fridays at 3:10 pm in Murray Hall, Room 102 unless otherwise noted.  Light refreshments served at 3:00 pm.   Jan. 16:     Dr. Mindi Summers, University of Maine, “Untangling the evolutionary history of a marine symbiosis: Diversity and relationships among crinoids and myzostomes” Hosted by: Dr. Smith Jan. […]

School of Biology and Ecology Professor Brian McGill’s Ecology blog titled “Dynamic Ecology” has been ranked one of the most influential Science Blogs, according to a University of Michigan news release.  The survey was conducted by the science blog “From the Lab Bench, a blog about all things science,” and consisted of 600 respondents. McGill is […]

Dr. Michelle Smith, assistant professor of biology and researcher for the Maine Center for Research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education at the University of Maine, was recently featured in an article for the National Science Foundation.  The article, titled Rules of engagement: Transforming the teaching of college-level science, explained how Smith uses […]

The School of Biology and Ecology is pleased to welcome our new Director, Dr. Andrei Alyokhin.  Alyokhin, Professor of Applied Entomology, assumed his position at the beginning of this spring semester. Alyokhin received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1999, and has been a valued and committed member of the department since […]

The School of Biology & Ecology is pleased to welcome Dr. Kristy Townsend, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology.  Townsend arrived at the University of Maine at the beginning of November, but will not be teaching until the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year.  She will be spending the rest of this year setting up her laboratory and […]

Jacquelyn Gill, assistant professor of paleoecology and plant ecology, will be leading a research project in the Falkland Islands, a remote group of islands east of South America,  from Dec. 4-22.  Gill will be joined by two SBE graduate students- Kit Hamley and Dulcinea Groff.  The researchers will study the island’s environmental history throughout the […]

This past Friday, the School of Biology and Ecology welcomed Dr. Aniruddh Patel, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Tufts University, to give a talk as part of the SBE seminar series. The presentation, titled  “The evolutionary neuroscience of musical beat perception,” sparked the interest of many individuals across campus, drawing members from the Music, […]

Need another course for this spring semester? Take EES 397- Biophysical and Ecological Economics! Taught by Dr. Steve Coghlan, Associate Professor of Freshwater Fisheries Ecology, the course will be a three-credit lecture/discussion course that will provide students with the biophysical framework necessary for understanding how real economics operates as metabolic systems on planet Earth. The course […]

Hamish Greig, assistant professor of stream ecology, and Jacquelyn Gill, assistant professor of terrestrial paleoecology at the Climate Change Institute, have joined forces in order to study the impact that hemlock tree die-offs have on freshwater forest ecosystems.  The importance of this research is rooted in the great impact these trees have on the ecosystem.  […]

The study of evolution is not only the study of our past, but also the study of our future.  Dr. Michael Kinnison, an applied evolutionary biologist at the University of Maine, believes that many evolutionary principles and applications could provide potential solutions for many major challenges our world faces today. In a paper published in […]