The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) today announced $3 million in new PFAS Fund research grants to support Maine farms impacted by PFAS. While the vast majority of Maine farms are not impacted, DACF is currently working with 127 sites, ranging from small properties to large, diversified farms, to provide testing, financial assistance, research, and technical support that help farmers make informed decisions and continue operating safely.

Over the past five years, DACF has built robust programs of testing, expert guidance, and financial assistance to ensure safe food and continued farm operations on properties impacted by PFAS contamination. Most contamination stems from the historic use of wastewater sludge as an abundant, low-cost fertilizer, a practice banned in Maine in 2022. The presence of PFAS on agricultural land raises questions about how PFAS circulate through soil, water, plants, and animals; where PFAS accumulate within plants, animals, and animal products; and what management practices can be adopted to protect food safety and worker health. The PFAS Fund research grant program was established to help answer these questions.

DACF awarded a first round of research grants in Spring 2025 to fund projects investigating topics ranging from the use of biochar to immobilize PFAS to bioaccumulation and depuration in dairy sheep and understanding and managing the transfer of PFAS from soils to poultry and eggs.

 ā€œThese new grants expand and accelerate agricultural PFAS research,ā€ said DACF Commissioner Amanda Beal. ā€œThe results will help impacted farmers in Maine and across the country make informed decisions so they can continue to operate and thrive.ā€

For this round of applications, the PFAS Fund invited two categories of proposals: major grants focused on a broad set of research priorities to be carried out over two years, and targeted grants focused on narrower research questions that can be investigated over a shorter period. The Fund received a total of 31 grant applications requesting over $11 million. The application selection process was highly competitive. Each proposal was evaluated by a team of peer reviewers drawn from academia, State and Federal agencies, and the private sector.

The nine selected projects will focus on:

• Improving soil tests;
• Understanding plant, animal, and pollinator uptake of PFAS;
• Impact of PFAS on animal and pollinator health;
• Advancing predictive modeling of soil to livestock pathways;
• Whether plant uptake and PFAS leaching can be reduced through biochar;
• Possibilities for alternate crop production.

Full project descriptions are available at .

Major Grants, Round 2

Philip Fanning, 91±¬ĮĻ
PFAS Bioaccumulation in Floral Rewards: Evaluating the Consequences for Bee Pollinators and the Environment, $489,719

Investigating the consequences of PFAS for bees by evaluating the presence of PFAS in bee-collected pollen, identifying flowering plants associated with higher PFAS concentrations, and characterizing pollinator-specific responses to PFAS exposure.

Jessica Cristina Lemos Motta, 91±¬ĮĻ
Assessing the Effects of PFAS Contamination on Reproductive Function and Embryo Development in Livestock, $499,615

Studying how PFAS exposure affects female reproduction in sheep to help understand how PFAS disrupts fertility and embryo development in livestock.

Media contact: Jim Britt

As the May 1 college decision deadline approaches, students are showing increased interest in academic programs with clear career pathways.

At the 91±¬ĮĻ, that trend is evident across disciplines tied to growing sectors of the U.S. economy, including engineering, health care and biomedical sciences, business, natural resources and environmental sciences, agriculture and food systems, communication sciences and disorders, and biotechnology.

University data highlight several indicators of that demand:

• Mechanical engineering enrollment has increased by more than 30% over the past decade, with a 95% student satisfaction rate.
• The wildlife, fisheries and conservation biology program reports that 95% of graduates are employed or enrolled in graduate school, with 82% working in natural resource fields.
• The Maine Business School, which will enroll 330 first-year students, filled nearly half of those seats before April and reports a 94% positive outcome rate.
• In animal and veterinary sciences, about 20% of graduates continue to veterinary or medical school.
• Health-related fields tied to several majors are projected to see continued jobgrowth over the next decade.

Mechanical engineering

91±¬ĮĻā€™s mechanical engineering program, now the universityā€™s largest major, has expanded in response to national demand for engineers in industries including manufacturing, technology and transportation.

Enrollment has increased by more than 30% over the past decade. Graduates are recruited by employers such as Bath Iron Works, Pratt & Whitney, Northrop Grumman, Texas Instruments, GE and NASAā€™s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The curriculum progresses from foundational coursework in math and physics to advanced engineering applications, with an emphasis on analysis, design and problem-solving. Experiential learning is integrated throughout, with students participating in internships, co-ops and a yearlong senior capstone design sequence focused on design, prototyping and testing.

Students may pursue concentrations such as aerospace engineering, along with minors or certificates in robotics, artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing. The program reports a 95% positive student sentiment rate.

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Wildlife, fisheries and conservation biology

The wildlife, fisheries and conservation biology program has more than doubled in enrollment over the past two decades, reflecting sustained interest in conservation and natural resource careers.

The curriculum emphasizes field-based learning. More than half of courses include outdoor labs, and students complete a required immersive field experience in Downeast Maine that is frequently cited as a defining part of their education. More than 80% of undergraduates report that fieldwork influenced their decision to enroll.

Students gain experience through field surveys, internships and research. About 70% complete field experiences, and more than half participate in faculty-led research. Faculty and students have also produced more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and secured nearly $16 million in research funding during the past five years.

Among graduates, 95% are employed or enrolled in graduate school, and 82% work in natural resource fields.

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Speech, pre-medical and biomedical sciences

91±¬ĮĻ is reporting increased interest in programs that prepare students for careers in health care, research and biotechnology, reflecting broader national workforce trends.

Fields such as speech-language pathology and audiology are projected to experience above-average job growth over the next decade, according to federal labor data. Demand is influenced by factors including an aging population and expanded access to care.

Programs in communication sciences and disorders, biology, biochemistry and microbiology provide preparation for graduate study and professional careers, including speech-language pathology as well as medical, dental and veterinary school.

Students frequently participate in faculty-led research, gaining experience that supports applications to graduate programs or entry into the workforce. Faculty say the programs emphasize both academic preparation and applied learning.

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Business

The Maine Business School is nearing capacity for its incoming class, reflecting strong student demand for business education.

The program will enroll 330 first-year students, and nearly half of those seats were filled before April. Administrators say the pace of enrollment indicates sustained interest throughout the admissions cycle.

Students are drawn to the flexibility of the degree, particularly the general business major, which allows exploration across disciplines before selecting a concentration. Finance and marketing remain among the most popular areas of study.

The school reported a 94% positive outcome rate for the Class of 2024, defined as graduates employed, enrolled in graduate school or participating in service programs within six months. Officials say the program is designed to prepare students for a range of careers across industries.

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Animal and veterinary sciences

Enrollment in 91±¬ĮĻā€™s animal and veterinary sciences program has increased since before the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting demand for careers in animal health, veterinary medicine and agriculture.

The program prepares students for careers in veterinary medicine, research and agriculture-related fields. About 20% of graduates continue to veterinary or medical school, while others enter the workforce directly.

Students gain hands-on experience at the universityā€™s J.F. Witter Teaching and Research Center, where they work with animals in applied settings and develop practical skills.

All students also participate in research with faculty on topics including animal health, environmental systems and disease. Faculty say the program is structured to support both exploration and career preparation as workforce demand continues to grow.

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Contact: David Nordman, david.nordman@maine.edu 

Discover campus and coastal life at the 91±¬ĮĻ through ā€œLife in the Pines,ā€ where real students share their experiences studying, exploring nature and embracing community on both the Orono and Machias campuses.

ā€œLife in the Pines,ā€ an unscripted video series sharing stories of students at the 91±¬ĮĻ and 91±¬ĮĻ at Machias, has launched its second season.

Each episode follows a student along their academic journey, whether it takes them to the coast, wild blueberry fields, medical research labs, K-12 classrooms, basketball courts or, literally, through the pines. Prioritizing authenticity, this series seeks to show what life is really like for students at both campuses. Visit to watch the full series.

Students to be featured this season include: 

• Alan Chausse, a forestry major who also plays in a band and rock climbs.
• Quincy Clifford, a business management major who has studied abroad in Costa Rica and played basketball with other students from around the globe.
• Jasper Makowski, a microbiology major, Honors College student, medical research lab student researcher and Circle K New England district governor.
• McKenna Chappell, a parks, recreation and tourism major who spends mornings creating art and afternoons teaching children about Maineā€™s outdoors.
• Nico Durkee, a studio art major in the marching band who plays with molten metal in the sculpture studio.Ā 
• Lauren Smack, a sociology major, singer and dancer whoā€™s made Orono her new home.Ā 
• Isabelle Puccio, a biomedical engineering major who conducts breast cancer research and searches for ways to combine music and science.
• Samantha Ney, an elementary education major who lives life on Marsh Island to the fullest, from walking the trails to cheering on the Black Bears.Ā 
• Jeffrey Nowack, who never thought he would be a drum major until he recently discovered his passion ā€” and possible career paths ā€” for music education.
• Joey Ferguson, an integrative biology major who conducts wild blueberry research and responds to marine mammal strandings in Downeast Maine.Ā 

Donā€™t miss this insiderā€™s look at 91±¬ĮĻ through the lens of a dynamic group of students living life in the pines.

Transcript:

I have friends that are going to school right now in Colorado and Nebraska and theyā€™re beautiful, but Maine is forged by nature and forged by the people that are here. I feel like itā€™s a flex.

On any given day, ā€œchemistry magicā€ is happening inside the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Spruce Budworm Processing Lab. Thatā€™s how scientific research assistant Tucker Wile described the work he does.

Wile started there as an undergraduate and said the experience began to legitimize his confidence as a scientist. Now he is one of three full-time staff who supervise undergraduate students as they help process samples of tree branches sent in from timber companies, the Maine Forest Service and landowners. They work with chemicals, fume hoods, microscopes and lab equipment like separating flasks and petri dishes.

And their work is integral to the health of Maineā€™s forests.

A recent $600,000 federal award from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture is going to help the lab better detect, track and respond to spruce budworm outbreaks by funding new equipment and a renovation of the lab space. The award is the result of Congressionally Directed Spending secured by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Angus King in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill. The investment comes at a moment of growing regional concern ā€” and growing recognition of the labā€™s leadership.

Earlier this month, the Maine Forest Products Council honored lab director Angela Mech with its 2025 Abby Holman Public Service Award, which recognizes individuals who show exceptional dedication to Maineā€™s forest products industry and to good government. 

As the organization noted, Mechā€™s leadership and research at 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Spruce Budworm Lab have been ā€œinvaluable in the early intervention effort to prevent a major outbreak in Maine,ā€ directly informing management practices across millions of acres of forestland.

Mech, who opened the lab in 2021, said the new federal funds will help meet both current and future needs of the stateā€™s heritage forest industry.

A from the Maine Forest Products Council and Maine Department of Economic and Community Development found the industry contributed $8.3 billion to the state economy in 2024 and supported 29,000 jobs across all 16 counties. 

Cyclical outbreaks

Spruce budworms, the most destructive native forest pest in North America, are always on the landscape. Periodically, they rapidly reproduce, causing population outbreaks, defoliating spruce and fir trees and creating major implications for Maineā€™s foresters, loggers and communities. Outbreaks kill trees, rendering the timber useless, increasing the risk of wildfire and causing a series of ecological effects.

Services from the lab now extend beyond Maine to New Hampshire, Vermont and even New York ā€” states that, like Maine, deal with cyclical outbreaks of spruce budworm. The last outbreak to affect Maine occurred in the 1970s and 80s, spanned 7 million acres and cost the forest industry hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a from 91±¬ĮĻ and the 91±¬ĮĻ at Fort Kent. 

Between 2023 and 2024, spruce budworm hotspots ā€” areas that are nearing outbreak levels ā€” jumped from 30,000 acres to 300,000. Data shows population outbreaks have been increasingly severe since the turn of the 20th century. 

ā€œThe reason why the outbreaks got worse is actually because of us,ā€ said Mech, associate professor of forest entomology. ā€œHumans changed the landscape when we cut down the old growth forests.ā€ 

What came up was a higher number fir tree stems compared to what was removed. ā€œFir is really the budwormā€™s favorite tree,ā€ Mech added. ā€œIt should have been named the fir budworm.ā€

Early intervention

Krysta West, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, said the forestry industry is transitioning to offer more diverse products, supported by wood product innovation research from 91±¬ĮĻ. But they need healthy forests to support these new products, such as wood-based insulation, packaging and siding, as well as to continue support for Maineā€™s existing manufacturers. 

ā€œIf left unchecked, the Spruce Budworm Taskforce estimates that an outbreak would have an annual impact of $794 million in lost contribution to Maineā€™s economy,ā€ West said. ā€œThe entire Early Intervention Strategy, designed to prevent the next outbreak and keep our forests healthy,  hinges on the monitoring services provided by 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Spruce Budworm Processing Lab.ā€

The Early Intervention Strategy aims to find population hotspots in their early stages and prevent damaging outbreaks. A across the Northeast region allow researchers to determine densities of spruce budworm and provide stakeholders with data to make informed management decisions. 

ā€œWhen we opened in 2021, we only had about 250 sites that we were processing in a year, and this year, weā€™re approaching probably 1,000, if not more,ā€ Mech said. ā€œWe have to have more of everything.ā€

To encourage more samples that help track the spread of spruce budworm, additional funding acquired earlier this year allowed the lab to process 700 sites for free as part of its monitoring program so that more stakeholders, including small woodlot owners, could participate.

ā€œWeā€™re recognizing that everybody needs to participate if weā€™re really going to see whatā€™s going on in the landscape,ā€ Mech said.

In addition to the spruce budworm, the Mech Forest Entomology Lab researches other pests that affect forests in the Northeast, including browntail moth and hemlock woolly adelgid.

Contact: Ashley Yates; ashley.depew@maine.edu

Angela Mech, associate professor of forest entomology at the 91±¬ĮĻ, received the Maine Forest Products Councilā€™s in recognition of her passion, loyalty and dedication to Maineā€™s forest products industry, government and economy.

As director of 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Spruce Budworm Processing Lab, Mech has led research to support the stateā€™s early intervention efforts and prevent a major outbreak in Maine. Her and the labā€™s work has provided land and business owners, and other stakeholders, with invaluable information to make informed management decisions regarding millions of acres of Maineā€™s forests.

ā€œMaine landowners are currently faced with a swiftly building spruce budworm outbreak that has the potential to devastate 6 million acres of forestland in Maine,ā€ said Alex Ingraham, vice president of the Maine Forest Products Council and chair of the Maine Budworm Response Coalition, who nominated Mech for the award. 

ā€œIf left to run its course, this outbreak is estimated to cost $794 million in lost timber and revenue per year. Fortunately, this time around, landowners are armed with a new tool called the Early Intervention Strategy. This strategy, designed by our neighbors in New Brunswick to alter outbreak dynamics, is critical because it supports healthy forests and the economy. The success of this entire effort hinges on the quality of our monitoring program, which is supported by the Maine Spruce Budworm [Processing] Lab at the 91±¬ĮĻ.ā€ 

While New England is well known for commodities such as maple syrup, wild blueberries and cranberries, its reputation for sweets extends to another crop: sweet corn. The 2023-24 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed the region produced just under 3 million tons of corn, of which Vermont contributed approximately half and Maine 500,000 tons. 

Corn growers in New England could face a new challenge in the coming years. from the 91±¬ĮĻ projected that a corn crop pest that is already present in the region may begin to have a more noticeable effect on crops as temperatures warm and winters become more mild. 

The corn flea beetle is a common pest in the Corn Belt ā€” the north-central Midwest region expanding through Ohio, Nebraska and Kansas ā€” that damages plant foliage and carries a bacteria that causes Stewartā€™s Wilt, a disease that impacts crop health and productivity.

Rachel Schattman, assistant professor of sustainable agriculture at 91±¬ĮĻ, led the study. Schattman and Scott Merrill, a systems ecologist at the University of Vermont, conducted their research by combining temperature forecasts with two existing agricultural models to show how changing climate could impact corn flea beetle infestations. 

Farmers and agriculture-adjacent professionals use models to predict the seasonal threat of Stewartā€™s Wilt, but current ones donā€™t take into account how climate is changing. Schattman and Merrill used data from , a forecast system based at Oregon State University, to integrate temperature projections into the existing models. Their research focused on three time periods: 1980-2011, 2049-2059 and 2089-2099. 

Schattman and Merrill analyzed temperature data through each model individually and then by taking averages of the two models combined. One of the agricultural models summates the mean temperatures of winter months, and the other calculates crop damage based on the temperatures of winter months. All three models showed that the corn flea beetle and threat of Stewartā€™s Wilt is likely to expand in the Northeast, increasing the probability of severe crop damage. 

ā€œIn the future, we anticipate crop production to continue to get more challenging for a multitude of reasons, including disease and crop interaction,ā€ Schattman said. ā€œWe need all of the management tools that we can have available.ā€

Pesticides are the most popular way to treat corn flea beetle infestations, but the future is uncertain on whether regulations will make them inaccessible. Schattman said two general types of pesticides exist, ones that target specific pests and ones that expand to a range of pests. The latter, called broad spectrum pesticides, allow farmers to spray less and more effectively, but states are beginning to regulate or ban a class of them known as neonicotinoids, or neonics, because of concerns related to their effects on native insects and other animals.

ā€œThereā€™s been a lot of movement to try and make some pesticides, like neonics, unavailable to farmers in some states, which from an environmental perspective, is not that bad, but from a farming perspective, can be challenging,ā€ Schattman said. ā€œHowever, if pesticides are more tightly regulated, then farmers may be left with underdeveloped seed genetics and fewer spray options that work. That may make them more vulnerable to something like corn flea beetle.ā€

An alternative to using pesticides to protect crops from the corn flea beetle is to develop varieties of corn that are resistant to Stewartā€™s Wilt. Many experiments taking this approach ceased when pesticides, the more affordable and accessible option, became the common management approach. 

Schattman said developing resistant varieties takes time and money, and farmers have to advocate for the research to be done on their behalf. Having owned a farm for about a decade, Schattman understands firsthand the challenges that come with the occupation.

ā€œFarming is very vulnerable to everything that happens in the weather ā€” early frost, big storms, big rainfall, everything that can potentially tank your crop.ā€ Schattman said. ā€œIn any given year, farmers have to make decisions about economics and ecology, and the social and cultural aspects of their farm.ā€

Bill Tracy, an agroecologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provided guidance on the study, specifically in relation to the corn crop. 

Contact: Ashley Yates, ashley.depew@maine.edu

Ask anyone who frequents the forests of New England and they will likely speak of unwelcome companions ā€” ticks.

Blacklegged ticks are expanding their range and rising in numbers, infecting people with pathogens that cause conditions like Lyme disease and babesiosis. Climate change is frequently blamed, but researchers have noticed another man-made problem may be helping the pests spread. Invasive forest plants like buckthorn, honeysuckles and Japanese barberry create dense, damp thickets where surveys show ticks love to lurk. 

With a new opportunity to turn the tide on ticks in sight, three 91±¬ĮĻ researchers secured a from the National Science Foundation to test if controlling unwelcome forest plants also reduces densities of ticks, and how landowners can best apply and share that information. Graduate and undergraduate student researchers will be recruited to support the project. 

Landowners ā€” whether suburban homeowners or small woodland owners ā€” make choices about how to manage invasive plants and ticks, but typically address them separately. Forest ecosystems are complex and continually change, making the best strategies for managing these challenges feel elusive. To help landowners, the project will develop actionable recommendations on forest management as well as best practices for sharing that information, and establish a network for spreading these ideas. 

ā€œThis research uses the connection between human health and our environment to combat multiple issues simultaneously,ā€ said Allison Gardner, an associate professor and medical entomologist at 91±¬ĮĻ who is one of the projectā€™s principal investigators. ā€œBy developing actionable strategies to help landowners target invasive plants, we can also reduce habitats where ticks thrive and tick-borne diseases spread ā€” a win-win for people and the environment.ā€

The project unites Gardnerā€™s entomology expertise with social, behavioral and environmental scientists, enabling them to seamlessly translate field research into change in the forest. Other principal investigators include 91±¬ĮĻ professors Jessica Leahy, a human dimensions of natural resources scholar and forester, and Timothy Waring, an evolutionary and behavioral scientist; as well as William Landesman, an associate professor who studies microbiology and tick-borne pathogens, and Kristen Ross, a plant and restoration ecologist and assistant professor; both of Vermont State University.

ā€œOne problem is that itā€™s hard, even for scientists, to figure out the best approach. So thereā€™s no guarantee that landowners are going to learn effective solutions either. We will study how landowners learn forest management practices from one another with an eye to finding and spreading these win-win approaches,ā€ said Waring.

The five-year study will survey tick densities and test management techniques in Maine and Vermont. Researchers will also explore how landowners manage their woods for both ticks and invasive plants, and how they learn ā€” or fail to learn ā€” best practices from each other. They will then take what they learned and teach landowners grappling with the unwelcome duo best practices for simultaneously managing invasive plants and ticks. The project will foster further dissemination of this research by establishing a peer-to-peer outreach program called Forest Landowner Education & Research Network (Forest LEARN). Forest LEARN will equip landowners as ambassadors for science so they can share best practices for invasive plant and tick management with their neighbors and communities.

Private and public land managers who wish to contribute to the tick-forest research or join the LEARN network should email jessica.leahy@maine.edu. The Forest LEARN program will provide tailored training and resources to empower landowners to manage their woodlands more effectively and share strategies with their peers.

ā€œThis is more than a research project ā€” itā€™s a community effort to create healthier landscapes and protect Maineā€™s residents,ā€ said Leahy. ā€œBy collaborating with landowners and developing peer networks, weā€™re building the capacity for Maine to thrive in the face of emerging challenges.ā€

Contact: Erin Miller, erin.miller@maine.edu

If youā€™ve felt the familiar itch of browntail moth rash, seen the grayish-green needles of an infested hemlock or watched as woodpeckers bore into ash trees for a meal hidden beneath the surface, youā€™ve experienced the devastating effects of non-native pests. Browntail moth, hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer are only three of the many pests that have wreaked havoc on Maineā€™s public health, economy and ecological landscape. 

Angela Mech, assistant professor of entomology at the 91±¬ĮĻ, is an expert on forest insects, specifically the invasive ones.

ā€œWhen talking about non-native insects that invade North America, the first time something is detected, those of us who work in the field hold our breath, because we have no idea if itā€™s going to be the next emerald ash borer, the next browntail moth, the next really bad thing,ā€ Mech said.

Mech has been grappling with how to predict which of these invaders may cause the next ecological disaster since 2016, when she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington. ā€œWhy do some species do all these bad things? But the majority of them donā€™t?ā€ Mech said, posing the same question that brought the group together initially. 

That question inspired Mech and her collaborators to develop a tool to predict the risk a non-native insect may pose if introduced to a certain area. Its name is, fittingly, pest predictor. 

The is the result of seven years of work by Mech and across the United States, with funding from Davey Tree Expert Company, the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service. Davey Tree Expert Company also acts as host for the tool. It launched in fall 2023 and uses input data determined by hypotheses to predict the probability of a non-native insect becoming a high-impact pest. It is hosted by i-Tree, a peer-reviewed software suite from the Forest Service that provides urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools.

To create the tool, researchers compiled factors that may affect non-native insectsā€™ ability to reshape a forest. Traits of the insect, traits of the North American host trees, insect evolutionary history and tree evolutionary history were each evaluated and then combined into a single model that predicts the risk a given insect poses for each North American tree species.

ā€œWe had to collect all this data to test those hypotheses,ā€ Mech said. ā€œOur conclusion was that, like every recipe, there are multiple ingredients, and so there was no single answer. It was actually multiple things. Sometimes it does have to do with the host and then it also has to do with evolutionary history. Itā€™s about having these things lined up in the right way. Itā€™s the recipe for destruction.ā€

Nathan Havill, a research entomologist with the Forest Serviceā€™s Northern Research Station was one of many of the pest predictorā€™s key developers. Havill works in the agencyā€™s invasive species unit, concentrating on pests that impact trees and forest ecosystems. He focuses mainly on genetics and evolutionary biology, examining new pests to find out more about where they came from and their natural enemies that may have the potential to stem their spread. 

At present, Havill is gathering information about approximately 70 species of non-native insects. His intent is to input this information into the model, which can help determine if any have the potential to become high-impact pests.

ā€œOftentimes, when a non-native insect gets introduced and it rears its ugly head as a pest, itā€™s a scramble to figure out what it is and where it came from. During the time when weā€™re trying to figure out that basic information, the pest is killing trees,ā€ Havill said. ā€œIf we can focus our efforts on particular groups of insects and study those before they get here, then we can reduce some of our time trying to figure out those basic elements. Thatā€™s really the benefit that I see for this tool: being able to focus the research and make it more efficient to study those insects that have a higher probability of becoming mega invaders.ā€

Havill also noted that the use of a tool of this kind creates a more efficient and cost-effective workflow for eradicating pests once they arrive.

ā€œOftentimes weā€™re caught by surprise, and by the time we realize that an invasive insect is a serious pest, itā€™s spread so much that eradication is really difficult. If we can recognize and understand what the pests are earlier, and be able to identify them and find them earlier, then we can potentially eradicate them before they spread and become pervasive pests,ā€ Havill said.

Mech and Havill both see this tool as a proactive solution to the reactive work they both do daily. With the toolā€™s ability to help predict the next ecological disaster, their next step is to spread the word and connect with researchers worldwide to determine how it can make an impact in their own countries. 

Contact: Shelby Hartin, shelby.hartin@maine.edu

, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology

School of Biology and Ecology

How I got here:

I grew up on a small dairy farm in Tipperary, Ireland. Living on a farm is what I credit for my interest in becoming a scientist. I completed my Bachelor of Environmental Science degree at University College Cork. I went on to do a Master of Science in Environmental Science focusing on freshwater ecology at the University College Dublin. I remained at University College Dublin as a Walsh Fellow to complete a PhD in Environmental Biology focusing on Entomology. My PhD was co-sponsored by the University College Dublin and Teagasc (Irelandā€™s Extension Service). My PhD focused on defoliating beetles on biomass crops in Ireland, with one target species being a pest in cut foliage crops.

After completing my Ph.D., I immigrated to the United States in 2015. I joined the Isaacā€™s lab at Michigan State University and was a postdoctoral research associate from 2016 to 2019. Then, I joined the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s School of Biology and Ecology faculty in 2020 as an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology.

Current role within MAFES:

My current research with the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station (MAFES) focuses on the sustainable management of insect pests in Maine lowbush blueberries. The overarching goal of this research is to help Maineā€™s wild blueberry grower manage any pests in an economically viable and environmentally sustainable way and ensure that we maintain healthy populations of beneficial insects such as pollinators.

Outside of research, I teach Integrated Pest Management and Introduction to Insect Identification in the School of Biology and Ecology. Additionally, for our service mission, I work closely with multiple different entities, such as the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s Cooperative Extension, to deliver research outputs to Maineā€™s 512 wild blueberry growers, who farm 46,370 acres, and others, such as the public, especially on bees including interactions with beekeepers, schools, and individuals.

Key research goals of my lab:

Here in the MAFES, I aim to conduct current research in my lab group that focuses on the ecology and behavior of insects in agricultural systems. The key goals of my research group are the study of 1) insects that are significant agricultural pests, 2) their associated natural enemies within agricultural systems and in the surrounding landscapes, 3) the evaluation and optimization of pest management programs, and 4) the development of sustainable, alternative management tactics towards the goal of conservation of biological control and pollinators.

One such pest is the invasive vinegar fly, Spotted-wing Drosophila. Since its initial detection in Maineā€™s wild blueberry fields in 2012, Spotted-wing Drosophila has become an economic pest for wild blueberry growers. While the adult population’s timing and severity varies annually, it increases growers’ costs in some years. Starting in 2020, research activities in my lab focused on continuing projects to generate data on the biology and management of Spotted-wing Drosophila in wild blueberries. These activities were primarily funded by the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and multiple grants financed by the USDAā€™ National Institute of Food & Agriculture programs.

My team has been focused on new variations of classical biological control options for Spotted-wing Drosophila, utilizing the Samba wasp. The Samba wasp, which is smaller than a grain of rice, is a larval parasitoid; the adult female can detect larvae of the flies under the fruit’s skin and inject its eggs into them. In the past two years, my lab has released thousands of these tiny USDA-approved parasitoid wasps at sites across Maine in the hope that they will eventually reduce populations and growers’ costs.

The Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station has published .

Authors

Description

This manual provides basic information for identifying and evaluating important health problems of eastern white pine in New England. The health problems include:

• White pine weevil
• White pine blister rust
• Caliciopsis canker
• White pine bast scale
• White pine needle damage
• Red rot or Red-ring rot

In addition to providing descriptions of symptoms, signs, and risk factors, recommendations for white pine silviculture are described for managing stands for low densities and crop trees.