Faculty Research

Faculty Research
Coastal Studies Scholars
Doherty Marine Biology Post-Doctoral Scholar

Rusack and Phocas Family Research Awards

Spring 2009

Damon Gannon, Bowdoin Scientific Station and Nancy Olmstead, Department of Biology Behavior and ecological impacts of an island population of muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus)(Phocas Family Award)

Abstract:   Introduced herbivores may have dramatic effects on island ecosystems, especially plant communities.  Changes in plant community composition can have cascading effects on other aspects of the system, resulting in permanent changes in ecosystem function.  In addition, isolated populations present unique opportunities to study the evolution of novel behaviors, especially when the species is living in unusual habitats.  Muskrats are herbivorous rodents which specialize in wetland vegetation; they are present on the Bowdoin Scientific Station, and their effects on the island(s) are presently unquantified.  This project will focus on muskrat abundance, effects on vegetation, and habitat selection.

Guillermo Herrera, Department of Economics
Sustainable coastal development in Miches, Dominican Republic (Phocas Family Award)

Abstract:  (This project will be a collaboration) with faculty from Columbia University's Center for Environment, Economy, and Society on a sustainable development project in the municipality of Miches, in the Dominican Republic. This project will positively affect this community while providing a natural "laboratory" for better understanding the social, economic, and natural/environmental processes of sustainable development. (The project will entail)  travel to Miches twice, and New York once, over two years to meet collaborators, familiarize myself with the site and local institutions, and to formulate research questions which would form the basis for a longer-term, interdisciplinary funding proposal directed to an outside source.

Ed Laine, Department of Geology
Supporting an ECOHAB/NASA grant: Remote assessment of Algal Functional Groups in the Absense of Extreme Blooms: Application to Alexandrium fundyense in the Gulf of Maine (Rusack Award)

Funds are requested to travel (by vessel) on a weekly (April) and  twice weekly basis (May and June)  to the Bowdoin Buoy in Harpswell Sound to sample in support of a NASA funded research program that seeks to optimize, validate and test an existing ocean color functional group model to yield estimates of A. fundyense populations.  A. fundyense is the dinoflagellate species responsible for Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Gulf of Maine.

John Lichter, Department of Biology and Eileen Johnson, Environmental Studies Program   Developing a spatial database for the Androscoggin and Kennebec River watersheds (Phocas Family Award)

Abstract: While aiding dozens of student researchers and faculty members with their GIS research over several years, Eileen Johnson has accumulated a large quantity of spatial data relevant to coastal Maine and the Androscoggin and Kennebec watersheds.   This funding will provide Eileen the opportunity to synthesize and develop these spatial data into a database infrastructure that will be useful for future student and faculty research in a variety of disciplines.  Additionally, this work will aid a group of faculty from Bowdoin, Bates, and USM that is currently organizing a collaborative funding proposal to the National Science Foundation for coastal research. 

Jim Mullen, Department of Visual Art
Extended Images: Investigating the Depiction of Space in the Coastal Landscape (Rusack Award)

This project is an extrapolation of a body of work that I have building for the last few
years dealing with depictions of the coastal landscape. I have been able to more extensively examine the coastal environment, most recently in the suite of works that constituted my exhibition this spring in New York City. This project would seek to extend that investigation by more directly exploring ideas of the extended (or panorama) format.

Dan Thornhill, Department of Biology
Investigating the Nature of a Temperate Coral Symbiosis

Abstract:   Corals often form symbiotic relationships with photosynthetic algae known as Symbiodinium. These relationships typically benefit both partners and are critically important for the existence of coral reefs. Although most symbiotic corals are tropical, there is at least one symbiotic coral in Maine, Astrangia poculata. This unusual high-latitude coral symbiosis raises interesting questions as to whether the relationship is a mutualism beneficial to both partners or a parasitism where one partner (Symbiodinium) benefits at a cost to the other (the coral host). Here, I propose to investigate the nature of temperate coral symbiosis using Bowdoin College's Coastal Studies Center.

Spring 2008

Krista Van Vleet, Sociology and Anthropology, Beautiful but Deadly?: Representing the Island of Vieques in the Aftermath of U.S. Military Presence. $4,000 (Phocas Family Award) 

Pamela Ballinger, Sociology and Anthropology, (Re)Developing the Coast: Ownership, Access, and Sovereignty in Postsocialist Croatia. $4,000 (Phocas Family Award) 

Jonathan Allen, The State of Marine Ecology in Maine, $1,000 (Rusack Award)  

Spring 2007

Jonathan Allen and Lesley Brown Gordon, Biology, Maternal Investment, Invasion Success and Chemical Defenses in Marine Invertebrates. Amount: $7,000 (Phocas Family Award)

Amy Johnson, Biology, Temperature Effects of Growth Rates of Marine Animals During Global Warming. Amount: $4,000 (Phocas Family Award)

John Lichter and Sherri Cooper, Biology, Environmental History of the Kennebec Estuary (continued from Spring 2006). Amount: $7,000 (Rusack Award)

Barry Logan and Jaret Reblin, Biology, Effects of Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe on Host Water Relations in Coastal Red and White Spruce. Amount: $7,000 (Rusack Award)

Spring 2006

John Lichter, Biology, Environmental History of the Kennebec Estuary, Amount $7,000

Jonathan Allen, Biology, Testing rates of plantonic versus benthic predation in the field, Amount $1,800

Pamela Ballinger, Sociology and Anthropology, (Re)Developing the Coast: Ownership, Access, and Sovereignty in Postsocialist Croatia, Amount $4,000

Marney Pratt, Biology, Coping with Climate Change: How Temperature Affects Sea Stars on the Coast of Maine, Amount $3,530

Edward Laine,Geology, Bathymetry of Harpswell Sound Through Swath Mapping, $3,470

Spring 2005

Pamela Ballinger, Sociology and Anthropology, "(Re) Developing the Coast: Ownership, Access, and Sovereignty in Postcocialist Croatia" Amount $3,045.

Anne Hayden and Joe Bandy, Environmental Studies and Sociology and Anthropology, " A Preliminary analysis of changing attitudes towards the environmental and fisheries issues in the Gulf of Maine" Amount $5,500.

Peter Lea, Geology, John Lichter, Biology and Environmental Studies and Dharni Vasudevan, Chemistry and Environmental Studies, "Environmental Geochemistry of Coastal Sediments in the Merrymeeting Bay Watershed" Amount $8,255.

Anna Hepler, Visual Arts, "Drawing Water" Amount $1,030.

Leslie Shaw, Sociology and Anthropology, "Prehistoric Settlements and Resource Use in Northern Casco Bay" Amount $2,170.

Spring 2004

David Vail, Economics, "Models and Prototypes for Ecotourism Certification in Maine," Amount $2,966.

Lindsay Whitlow, Biology and Environmental Studies, "Integrating ecological and economic analyses of native ecosystems affected by invasive species: clam restoration efforts in Coastal Maine," Amount $1,337.

Amy Johnson and Marney Pratt, Biology, "Investigating metabolic scaling and physiological ecology of marine invertabrates," Amount $4,200.

Leslie Shaw, Sociology and Anthropology, "Merrymeeting Bay Archaeology Survey Project, Maine," Amount $760.

Spring 2003

James Mullen, Visual Arts, "The Landscape Synthesized," Amount $2,290.

Ed Laine, Geology, "Submarine Groundwater Discharge Beneath Quahog Bay," Amount $4,920.

Peter Lea, Geology, and John Lichter, Biology and Environmental Studies, "Sedimentary Record of Ecosystem Changes in Merrymeeting Bay," Amount $14,880.

Spring 2002

Lucy Barber, Art, "Observing Coastal Change, Representing Sense of Place," Amount $3,165.

Barry Logan and Jaret Reblin, Biology, "Physiological Effects and Distribution of Eastern Dwarf Mistletoe Parasitizing Coastal Red and White Spruce," Amount $5,135.

Amy Johnson, Biology, "Smart Biomaterials and Accelerating Urchin Growth," Amount $6,700.

Michael Kolster and James Mullen, Visual Arts, "Coastal Concerns/Characteristic Prospects," Amount $5,510.

John Lichter, Biology, "Long-term Studies in Forest Ecology at the Coastal Studies Center," Amount $6,700.

Spring 2001

Michael Kolster and James Mullen, Visual Arts, "Depicting the Maine Coast: Paintings and Photographs," Amount $7,667.

Carey Phillips, Biology, "Creating Accurate Survey Maps of the Coastal Studies Center," Amount $6,000.

Guillermo Herrera, Economics, "A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Study of Coastal Land Valuation and Patterns of Development," Amount $4,895.

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