School of Biology and Ecology

UMaine researchers testing lobster shells to thwart potato soil pathogens

https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2022-12-12/a-fish-thats-swum-in-maine-ponds-since-the-ice-age-faces-an-uncertain-future  

New study to assess how biochar from Maine forest biomass can help wild blueberry farmers

PhD student Alessandro Mereghetti has been awarded an NSF Arctic DDRIG: Assessing the impacts of Pleistocene megaherbivores n vegetation stability and resilience in the Arctic ($56,118). This will support his upcoming fieldwork in Alaska, using ancient DNA to reconstruct the last 120,000 years around Squirrel Lake in the Kotzebue Sound region. Congratulations, Alessandro!

SBE/EES PhD students Kenzie Roeder and Eric Brown will be leading a moonlight walk at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, 1107 West Old Town Road, Gate 1, Old Town, to raise some funds and do some educational outreach on their thermography research. Join them this Thursday, Dec 8 at 6:30 pm. Adults $15, Youth and Students, $10. […]

Evan Warburton: A fun guy studying fungi

Ticks congregate in certain areas of Acadia National Park, UMaine study shows

UMaine club builds a rare plants garden at Murray Hall You can find more information about the garden on our website at https://sbe.umaine.edu/school/maine-rare-plants-garden/

New study shows springtails jump, dive and land with unexpected precision — and can teach robots to do the same

Maine’s trophy arctic char may hold a climate change key UMaine and University of New Hampshire researchers are looking at arctic char as a bellwether to how other cold-water fish will adapt amid climate change.  Read the full article here.

UMaine leads extensive review of Arctic freshwater response to climate change

The Bangor Daily News reported on a new study from the University of Maine that has found clusters of tick populations in Acadia National Park, which could help inform prevention strategies for tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease. Researchers found that tick density varies significantly across the park, but is particularly high in areas with deciduous forest cover […]

Read the PNAS paper, Directional takeoff, aerial righting, and adhesion landing of semiaquatic springtails, here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2211283119 Read the New York Times article, and watch some impressive videos here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/07/science/springtail-jumps.html And read the Science News story with video here: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/video-springtails-jumps-collembola

https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2022-11-03/in-the-face-of-climate-change-maines-wild-blueberry-growers-see-a-bit-of-hope 

Per Dr. Zhang, the paper, titled Xylem conduit deformation across vascular plants: an evolutionary spandrel or protective valve? is an important contribution to plant hydraulics and plant physiology. It will change our view on how plants transport water; most vascular plants transport water using soft tubings (conduits) in leaves rather than rigid pipes (as we previously thought).” […]

Gill earns an inaugural Excellence in Science Communication award from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Dr. Gill is one of four awardees in the mid-to-later career scientists category. This recognition comes with a $20,000 prize, as well as further networking and support for science communication efforts. National Academies of Science Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication

Informational Session on October 5, 5:30 PM, in Murray Hall at UMaine, room 106 Please contact mason.fredericks@maine.edu for more info.

It has been assumed that fungi are characterized by a haploid-dominant life cycle with a general absence of mitosis in the diploid stage (haplontic life cycles). However, this characterization is based largely on information for Dikarya, a group of fungi that contains mushrooms, lichens, molds, yeasts, and most described fungi. We now appreciate that most […]

Fanning awarded $3M from USDA for spotted-wing drosophila research