The Wrack

It was a perfect day for mushrooming, foggy and damp, as Dr. Larry Millman led us slowly down the trail. Said one participant: "The walk was a revelation."

 

Its that time of year& fall is in the air and (if youre a brook trout) love is in the air too! October and November is prime spawning time for Eastern Brook Trout. Theyve been fattening up all summer on aquatic insects. Now the mature females have bellies full of eggs and are looking for a spots with cold, clear water and loose, clean gravel where they can make their nests, called redds.

WELLS, Maine, October 1, 2012  The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and Laudholm Trust have honored the late Dr. Michele Dionne, the reserves lead scientist and long-time research director, by placing her name on the research laboratory of the Maine Coastal Ecology Center at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm. The announcement was made by Laudholm Trustee Cynthia Daley and Reserve Director Paul Dest at a memorial service held at the reserve on September 23.

He was in Mather Auditorium to talk about Maine's pioneering amateur botanist, Catherine Furbish, but Dick Eaton hadn't even begun his remarks before Nancy Viehmann snuck into the room with a surprise cake. Dick was humbled by the public recognition of his 89th birthday, but quickly recovered. "I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to present to you today."

On Sunday morning, close to 150 friends, family, and colleagues of the late Michele Dionne gathered at the Maine Coastal Ecology Center to remember her life and to celebrate her influence on people, policy, conservation, and estuarine research. Wethe Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and Laudholm Trusttook the opportunity to honor this remarkable woman by renaming her home away from home the "Michele Dio…

The 10th annual Punkinfiddle festival and National Estuaries Day celebration went wonderfully from all reports we've received and if you were there we hope you had a great time, too (either way, let us know by commenting below).

Thanks once again to the Punkinfiddle committee, our fabulous volunteers, everyone who participated, and our generous sponsors  Maine magazine, Sevigney Lyons Insurance Agency, Pratt & Whitney, Kittery Trading Post, The Bank of Maine, Captain Lord Mansion, Purdy Powers & Company, Bergen & Parkinson, LLC, and Roger A. Auger & Associates / Ameriprise Financial.

Here are 18 photos that capture many of the happenings of the day&

Doing a butterfly sit instead of a bird walk.

On Sunday, August 26^th, I attended an afternoon concert at The Colony Hotel. One hundred fellow music lovers and I enjoyed a dozen classical piano duets by maestro Warren King and his college roommate, recording artist David Pihl. Ticket proceeds came to the Laudholm Trust  it was music played for the benefit of science. What better accompaniment to our special nature at the Reserve than the seashell symmetries of Bachs cantatas or the sunflower melodies of Mozart?

Jennifer Dijkstra was always going to be a scientist. As a child summering on Grand Manan, she clambered over the islands rocky shoreline grabbing fistfuls of seaweed and peering into shallow waters to spy on crabs and snails. This summer shes been doing the same thing, but with three degrees of separation (BS, MS, and PhD), she now calls her objects of interest Ascophyllum, Carcinus, and Littorina.

For many budding biologists, the journey from tide pool playground to salt marsh research transect stops short. For Dr. Dijkstra, research scientist at the Wells Reserve, the dream came true.

Since her arrival at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm in 2008, research scientist Dr. Jennifer Dijkstra has followed two main lines of inquiry. In addition to investigating seaweed, crab, and snail interactions in the salt marsh, she has also looked into how climate change may affect mercury accumulation in coastal food webs.

When Jenn started her post-doctoral fellowship, research director Michele Dionne asked her to work on mercury. "It was a little daunting," Jenn admits. "I had never worked on contaminants, and mercury is not a straightforward contaminant."