Department News Archives
Check out what the faculty, staff, and students have been up to over the past few years.
November 25, 2024 – Phys.org The American woodcock, a plump harbinger of spring, is a well known shorebird found across eastern North America. The species is a popular game bird and has earned the admiration of hunters, birders and others through its spring display, whistling wings and unique quirks.
November 19, 2024 – by Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Bangor could get another mural next summer, this time featuring marine life found in the Penobscot River. Bangor Beautiful, a local nonprofit organization with the mission of improving the aesthetics of the city, asked city councilors permission to paint a mural on all four sides of the Kenduskeag Pump Station on the corner of Broad and Washington streets.
Record named executive director of UMS TRANSFORMS Student Success and Retention Initiatives
November 1, 2024 – 91 News A University of Maine wildlife faculty member will oversee the continued development and implementation of various programs that will help students throughout Maine’s public universities excel during and after their college careers.
October 18, 2024 – by Vivien Leigh, News Center Maine ORONO, Maine — Maine could be on pace to set another record-breaking year for cases of Lyme disease. There have been , according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The state record of 2,943 cases
August 23, 2024 – Maine Calling This show is a rebroadcast of an earlier show (original air date June 27, 2024); no calls will be taken. Maine is filled with nature lovers—but it takes an extra level of mindfulness to really pay close attention to nature. We’ll learn how to not only stop to smell the flowers—but to truly study them and focus with all of your senses on the natural world. And we’ll discuss how to capture nature’s wonders through photography, art, writing and other methods.
August 20, 2024 – Mount Desert Islander ACADIA NAT’L PARK — Fall can be a rainy time in Acadia, prompting toads, frogs and other amphibians to move about the landscape, including into roadways.
To See the Past and Predict the Future, Try ‘Reading’ a Landscape (Charney)
May 22, 2024 – NY Times
How well do you know your own backyard? Noah Charney thinks you should take another look.
March 18, 2024 – News Center Maine
Bear researchers are asking residents to secure trash and bird feeders while they study long-term climate impacts on the species.
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.
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.
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.
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 – 91 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.
updated 5/7/2025