UMSS22 Social Sciences<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n UMSS21 Biomedical Sciences<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n UMSS22 Physical and Mathematical Sciences<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n UMSS22 Engineering and Information Sciences<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n UMSS22 Interdisciplinary Sciences<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n UMSS22 Business, Education, and Art<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n UMSS22 Allied Health<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Natural Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n Submission Type: <\/b>Virtual Presentation<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Stephanie Hurd<\/span><\/p>\n Jessica Leahy<\/span><\/p>\n Laura Kenefic<\/span><\/p>\n Allison Gardner<\/span><\/p>\n Graduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Allison Gardner<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:<\/b> Timber harvesting is a property-scale forest management practice that involves the cutting and removal of trees. Our previous work has shown that forest structural characteristics that result from timber harvesting can reduce densities of nymphal blacklegged ticks, <\/span>Ixodes scapularis<\/span><\/i>, the vector of the Lyme disease bacterium, <\/span>Borrelia burgdorferi<\/span><\/i>. One potential mechanism driving this relationship may depend on the small mammals (e.g., white-footed mouse, <\/span>Peromyscus leucopus<\/span><\/i>; eastern chipmunk, <\/span>Tamias striatus<\/span><\/i>, etc.) that serve as hosts for the blacklegged tick and <\/span>B. burgdorferi<\/span><\/i>. Timber harvesting modifies wildlife habitat through changes in overstory cover and understory vegetation. This change potentially alters the abundance or behavior of these small mammals directly, or indirectly by changing predator activity and the resulting threat, or perceived threat, of predation. Altered small mammal foraging and\/or abundance could affect tick-host encounter rates, thereby affecting small mammals\u2019 tick burdens and, consequently, tick densities in the environment. No study has examined the mechanistic links among forest stand attributes that result from timber harvesting histories, small mammal behavior and population sizes, and blacklegged tick densities. This study uses a combination of techniques (i.e., live trapping, track plates, and foraging trays) that capture different aspects of small mammal population dynamics and behavior to (1) assess small mammal foraging and population sizes in forest stands with varied structural attributes; and (2) to compare the efficacy and correlation between these different sampling techniques to determine their ability to predict tick burdens.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Submission Type: <\/b>Poster<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Eleanor Glahn<\/span><\/p>\n Ian Bricknell<\/span><\/p>\n Graduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Ian Bricknell<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: <\/b>It is hypothesized that current velocity influences the settlement success of sea lice (<\/span>Lepeophtheirus salmonis<\/span><\/i>) on its preferred host, Atlantic salmon (<\/span>Salmo salar<\/span><\/i>), however this has not been demonstrated experimentally. The aims of this study were to determine the settlement success of sea lice in current speeds that are frequently encountered in net-pens. Gravid females were collected from naturally infected farmed fish from commercial salmon farms in Cobscook Bay Maine, USA. Egg strings were removed from females, hatched in vitro, and raised to the copepodid stage. Forty-three Atlantic salmon, mean weight 415g. were challenged with 100 copepodids per fish in 14 replicate experiments at a current velocity of 206 mm\/sec-1. Lice were counted when they had reached the chalimus stage approximately 7 days later. A settlement success rate of 0.28% (13 chalimus were found from the 4650 copepodids used), with a mean abundance of 0.30 lice\/fish and mean intensity of 1.08 lice\/fish. The data collected in this study will have significant implications for future research, including sea lice models of louse distribution and risk for industry, and the development of risk mitigation strategies for restoration of wild Atlantic salmon populations.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Submission Type:<\/b> Poster<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Carolyn Ziegra<\/span><\/p>\n Laura Kenefic\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jay Wason<\/span><\/p>\n Undergraduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Jay Wason<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: <\/b>Northern white-cedar (<\/span>Thuja occidentalis L<\/span><\/i>.) is among the least studied commercially important tree species in North America. Northern white-cedar experiences recruitment challenges in portions of its range. The goal of this study is to improve our understanding of the factors that influence the survival of northern white-cedar seedlings by assessing soil moisture, microtopographic position, canopy openness, and mortality throughout the growing season. 144 seedlings were planted across three sites in eastern Maine in partially harvested stands and unharvested control stands. Data was collected for each seedling during the 2021 growing season. Results of the study indicate that seedling survival is dependent upon higher levels of canopy openness and lower soil moisture. This data reinforce our understanding of the importance of mounds for cedar seedlings, as it suggests that mounds improve seedling survival by avoiding excess moisture in these seasonally flooded habitats. Management of lowland cedar stands to improve regeneration outcomes by opening the forest canopy should ensure preservation of microtopography for seedling survival.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Submission Type: <\/b>Poster<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Jordan Farnsworth<\/span><\/p>\n Seth Campbell<\/span><\/p>\n Emma Erwin<\/span><\/p>\n Devon Dunmire<\/span><\/p>\n Undergraduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Seth Campbell<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: <\/b>Water is crucial to the survival of life. Under this assumption, the presence of water could go hand-in hand with the presence of life elsewhere in our solar system or the universe. Some of the planetary bodies that currently harbor water or ice include Earth, Mars, and Europa, making them subjects of interest. To provide a stepping-stone for a proposed NASA mission to drill through ice and collect a water sample from Europa, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is proposing a drill test be completed on Taku Glacier of the Juneau Icefield, Alaska over an existing subglacial lake. Our goal was to provide details on a potential testing site for NASA JPL to test their drilling equipment in a place that serves as an analogue to <\/span> <\/p>\n Submission Type: <\/b>Virtual Presentation<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Emily Holt<\/span><\/p>\n Mikaila Mannello<\/span><\/p>\n Seth Campbell<\/span><\/p>\n Undergraduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Seth Campbell<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: <\/b>With over 60,000 glaciers in total, Alaska is a major contributor to the cryospheric system and global sea level rise, an effect which has become even more apparent as the region\u2019s glaciers continue to lose ice mass (Zemp et al., 2019). This flux of glacier meltwater has a significant impact on surrounding ecosystems including the Gulf of Alaska, which represents one of the most important marine ecosystems and fisheries from an economic perspective both within the U.S. and globally (O\u2019Neel et al., 2015). In the southeast region of Alaska, the Juneau Icefield (JIF) represents the longest studied glacier system in North America and the second longest studied system on the planet. This long-term record has revealed the advance of its largest ice mass, Taku Glacier, for the past 60 years. However, the Taku recently entered a retreat stage between 2016-2018, which includes surface lowering of 10 m between 2013-2018 (McNeil et al., 2020). Since Taku Glacier represents an index glacier used as an analog to the 60,000 other Alaska glaciers, understanding the cause of glacier surface lowering is critical for the broader understanding of other glaciated regions across Alaska. The current assumption is that surface lowering has been dominated by surface melt and associated firn thinning. As an intermediate stage from the metamorphism of snow to ice, firn represents a less dense and relatively thin but important region of most glaciers because of its ability to store or slow the rate of meltwater transfer from the surface to downstream ecosystems. The firn unit is heavily affected by factors such as surface melt, changes in accumulation and ablation rates, and warming effects. When firn thickness decreases, surface meltwater will form supraglacial streams that flow directly off the non-porous glacier ice surface, altering meltwater flux that is critical to the environment surrounding and downstream of the glacier system. However, this has not yet been confirmed by observations. We hypothesized that a major contributor to surface lowering was caused by firn thinning, which is in turn related to increased ice velocities or surface melt. Our proposal to confirm the cause of this surface lowering will be useful in developing reasonable estimates of regional firn thickness as well as thinning rates of firn over the past decade. In order to achieve this, spatial and temporal data on firn thickness across the JIF was collected and analyzed using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and compared to previous repeat datasets from 2012. The results of this project suggest a major impact on downstream ecosystems that rely on a steady meltwater flux, but are instead receiving damaging pulses of meltwater during associated melt events.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Submission Type: <\/b>Poster<\/span><\/p>\n Submission Category:<\/b> Natural Sciences<\/span><\/p>\n Author(s):<\/b><\/p>\n Sydney Jackson<\/span><\/p>\n Julia Sunnarborg<\/span><\/p>\n Christy Hudak<\/span><\/p>\n Lisa Sette<\/span><\/p>\n Kristina Cammen<\/span><\/p>\n Undergraduate Student Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty Mentor:<\/b> Kristina Cammen<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract: <\/b>As technology and science progresses, the methodology behind observing, monitoring, and sampling marine mammals advances as well. One such technique is environmental DNA or eDNA, which entails extracting organismal DNA from water samples without ever handling or disturbing the organism. It is a cost-efficient and non-invasive method that can be utilized in the sampling of seal haulout sites as is its purpose for this research. Another method, using the DNA analysis of seal fecal samples, is a less invasive method that can also be utilized to monitor and assess marine mammals. Through collecting both fecal and water samples from gray seal haulout sites in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, these two differing, but equally progressive methods can be compared to one another. The water samples collected from the seal haulout sites will be paired for DNA analysis with the fecal samples collected from the beaches where gray seals are hauled out in Cape Cod. DNA will then be extracted from both the water samples and fecal samples, followed by sequencing a portion of the gray seal mitochondrial control region in all the samples. This will allow for the comparison of the haplotypes detected in fecal samples to those detected in water samples as a comparison of these two non-invasive approaches for assessing marine mammal genetic diversity. This comparison aims to uphold the integrity of the eDNA process, as well as investigate and confirm how efficient both processes are in terms of non-invasiveness and assessing marine mammal genetic diversity.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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\n<\/span>Europa\u2019s supra, englacial, and subglacial terrain. We completed this effort during the summer of 2021 as part of this team project. The fieldwork included a ground-penetrating radar derived ice thickness survey in North Basin on the Juneau Icefield.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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