Associated People Jacob Aman
I cannot believe it’s been six months since I left the Wells Reserve at the end of my MCC term. Last November, having spent the summer and fall gaining valuable field experience, I headed home to pursue my next career goal: admission to graduate school. It was a daunting but surprisingly natural transition, as my experiences at the Reserve prepared me well for this next phase.
In the summer of 2009, Marissa Hammond came to us as a wide-eyed UNE freshman with little experience in research science. She has since blossomed into a NOAA scholarship award winner who has been accepted into a highly respected graduate program in fisheries management and policy. Here is what she had to say about how the Wells Reserve played a part in that journey…
I am currently a senior at the University of New England, where I’m pursuing a degree in Marine Biology and Environmental Studies. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to intern at the Wells Reserve studying larval and juvenile fish in the Webhannet Estuary.
Associated People Jacob Aman
Goal
Determine the presence or absence of diadromous rainbow smelt and appropriate habitat within the restored area of Shoreys Brook
Project Period
March and April 2012
Associated People Jacob Aman Jeremy Miller Kate Reichert Tin Smith
On a classic October morning, a research team heads to the Eliot–South Berwick line, where a private landowner has opened his property for a Wells Reserve study of fish and fish habitat. Parking the pickup at the end of a long hayfield, the five gather up gear and step into a middle-aged pine-oak forest, then head downslope past ferns and toppled trees till the trail goes wet underfoot, the canopy breaks, and they stand at the edge of Shoreys Brook. This is headquarters for the next few hours. It is one of eight sites along the brook’s 4.3 miles being surveyed for resident and migratory fish, and their habitat, in advance of a planned dam removal downstream.
Associated People Jeremy Miller Hannah Wilhelm
Our larval fish monitoring involves netting critters measured in millimeters, preserving them, and inventorying them under a microscope. Here are a few portraits shared by Jeremy Miller from the 2008 surveys. Watch for a report from the Ocean Survey Vessel Bold, where Hannah Wilhelm is currently assisting with larval fish (and nutrient) sampling during a one-week mission in the Gulf of Maine.
Associated People Darcie Ritch
I am on board the EPA Ocean Survey Vessel BOLD, with the opportunity to do ichthyoplankton (larval fish) monitoring at sea to supplement the nearly weekly ichthyoplankton tows my fellow intern Amanda has been doing this summer at Wells Harbor. We are interested in comparing the types of larval fish that are present a little way out to sea with those present in the harbor. Darcie Ritch, another summer intern who is working on her master’s degree at Antioch New England, is hoping to use the larval fish data I’m helping to collect on this trip in her masters project. Here is one of the first creatures we caught, a tiny lobster.
The EPA’s OSV BOLD is dedicated to environmental research at sea. This specific trip goes from Boston to Casco Bay and back, and is focused on collecting water samples to help establish nutrient limits (the maximum quantities of nitrates and phosphates in the water that will still allow healthy animal and plant life and clean water for fishing, kayaking, and other uses) for coastal waters.
To learn more about the OSV BOLD, and to see more photos and some videos of research at sea, check out http://epa.gov/boldkids/!
Just one of many projects underway in the research department at the Wells Reserve this summer is the environmental monitoring of the Mousam and Kennebunk Rivers in support of an ongoing initiative, the Mousam & Kennebunk Rivers Alliance (MKRA).
Associated People Michele Dionne
Research Director Dr. Michele Dionne has scheduled an intense summer of field work for staff plus interns and volunteers. These are most of the projects under way this season:
Today's Portland Press Herald features Fluid Imaging Technologies, a Maine company whose unique instrument got an early test here at the Wells Reserve.
In the past couple of weeks, it's been hard not to notice the bright yellow plastic cards that have appeared in clumps of vegetation. Yesterday, I caught up with the guy who has been hanging and collecting them, field research entomologist Phil Stack. He filled me in; they are traps for catching fruit flies.
Associated People Jacob Aman Jeremy Miller Ashley Pinkham
Fishing has begun on the Saco River. On four dates in late June, researchers set fyke nets at eight sites along the river. They surveyed day and night and, except for one frightening microburst, had excellent conditions for field work. Hundreds of fish and shellfish were caught, identified, measured, and released. This project, focusing mainly on fish using the salt marsh, is part of a collaborative study with the University of New England that looks at the effects of upland land use on the river ecosystem.
MIMIC is a network of trained volunteers, scientists, and state and federal agency workers who monitor marine invasive species throughout the northeast United States. The collaborative provides an opportunity for the general public to actively participate in an invasive species early detection network, identify new invaders before they spread out of control, and help improve our understanding of the behavior of established invaders.
Associated People Megan Tyrrell Michele Dionne
Project Summary
Researchers manipulated densities of the invasive snail Littorina littorea at two sites, one in the Little River estuary and another in the Webhannet River estuary, to investigate the effect of grazing on plant production and sediment accumulation. They found that under more stressful conditions for saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) – poor drainage or greater flooding, for example – the impact of snail grazing on biomass becomes apparent: Where snails eat cordgrass faster than it can grow back, less cordgrass is available to capture sediment and the marsh surface does not build up as quickly. In contrast, the impact of snails is not significant under more favorable conditions for cordgrass.
A fiber optic microarray technology for the detection and enumeration of harmful algal bloom species
Project Description
Red tide — the proliferation of several toxic algal species — has been affecting fish and shellfish fisheries in Maine for decades. People who eat clams or other organisms exposed to toxic algal blooms can suffer from amnesic or paralytic shellfish poisoning, conditions with symptoms such as short term memory loss, vomiting, disorientation, paralysis, and sometimes death. Early detection of harmful algal blooms is critical for protecting fisheries, resources, and public health in Maine and worldwide.
Associated People Michele Dionne
Michele Dionne, Director of Research at the Reserve, has an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Celia Chen at Dartmouth College to study how mercury moves through the salt marsh system. When some of her lab crew headed out to catch Atlantic silversides to be tested for mercury content, we got some of these small fish instead, which we originally thought must be herring.
Associated People Michele Dionne Jeremy Miller Cayce Dalton Andrea Leonard Duarte
The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation biennial conference is taking place this week and Wells Reserve scientists are well represented on the agenda. Reserve staff are participating in these presentations and posters:
Associated People Michele Dionne Jeremy Miller Jennifer Dijkstra
Last Friday a science team marched to Wells Harbor and began a rapid assessment of marine invertebrates on and around the dock. The taxonomic specialists from MIT, Sea Grant, and the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program were joined by Reserve research director Michele Dionne and associate Jeremy Miller, who facilitated the Wells Harbor survey.
Sarah Eberhardt and Mike Haas have finished their stints as research associates at the Wells Reserve.
The Regional Association for Research on the Gulf of Maine today convened a workshop at the Wells Reserve to begin developing and assessing regional ecosystem indicators for the health of the Gulf. More than 60 scientists and managers will be considering these issues in the context of ecosystem based management:
- Aquatic Habitats
- Climate Change
- Coastal Development
- Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Contaminants and Pathogens
- Eutrophication
The workshop is coordinated by Dr. Ray Konisky, coordinator of the Ecosystem Indicator Partnership, a committee of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment.
Danger seeps from your garden.
Fertilizer causes tomatoes to ripen larger and plants to grow taller. But applying more than your plants need can have a devastating effect.
The rain washes your excess fertilizer, either manure or chemical, down the road and into the nearest water source. There, it mixes with water traveling from other gardens, farms, and power plants to create a stream of nitrogen and phosphorus. The stream pours directly into the marsh.
Every year, scientists come to Wells NERR to do scientific research in the marsh and woodland habitats. One of these researchers, Genevieve Bernatchez, has spent the last three summers at the Reserve, and was recently awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the NERR System. This fellowship will allow her to continue her work at the Reserve for up to three years.
Today, Genevieve was constructing 90 research cages made from PVC piping and mesh. If you visit the Reserve this week, you may see her sitting underneath a tree by the research lab making these cages. The cages will be deployed the first week in July on the mud flat of Little River as part of an experiment studying the effects of crabs on snail density and behavior.
Genevieve is pursuing a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology at Northeastern University by studying the ecological impacts of invasive marine species. Her work will contribute to an improved understanding of the workings of estuarine habitats.
Wednesday mornings throughout the summer, the Reserve will hold a bird banding demonstration in front of Laudholm Farmhouse. June Ficker began this program in 1988 at the Laudholm Trust office, which was housed at what is now Alheim Commons. Today an enthusiastic group of bird lovers gathered to watch the demonstration by June Ficker and others in hopes of learning more about birds and bird banding.
Associated People Michele Dionne Cayce Dalton
The Wells Reserve is collaborating with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to determine the extent of eutrophication in five northeastern reserves.
Associated People Megan Tyrrell
Here's a question:
Do artificial substrates favor non-indigenous fouling species over natives?
It is probably a rare coastal beachfront property owner who is not aware that beaches are dynamic systems that erode and accrete in response to storms, sediment supply, rising sea level, and the proximity of sea walls, jetties, and other forms of coastal "armor." Many beachfront owners are also aware that "natural" barrier beaches and their dune systems are able to persist in the face of sea level rise by transgressing, or migrating shoreward.
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