Wahle Laboratory UMaine

08/08/2022

After the first dive of the day, Curtis describes the different data the crew collected, including trap type, depth, tag number, percent of encrusting organisms on the trap’s top panel, and organisms found inside the trap. (Part 2/2)

08/08/2022

Last week Rick, Kristyn, and Curtis completed two research dives at the Thread of Life, near Christmas Cove, to continue their pilot survey of ghost traps. Ghost gear is abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear, such as lobster pots, fishing nets, and line.

The Thread of Life is a part of the fishing grounds of South Bristol and Pemaquid Harbor. It is also readily accessible to divers from a boat, making it a prime location to survey for ghost traps.

Check out these videos of our lab member, Curtis, describing the dive work in-depth! (Part 1/2)

07/06/2022

HAPPY WAHLE WEDNESDAY!🎉

Last Friday, our crew finished deploying another 120 lobster collectors Downeast. The great weather and sea conditions made for a successful and fun trip.☀️🌊

Special thanks to Jordan, Kristyn, Caitlin, and Emily for their hard work!

06/22/2022

Happy Wahle Wednesday! 🎉🎉

Meet our newest intern, Caitlin Haley! Caitlin is a senior at UMaine majoring in marine biology and minoring in climate science. She is particularly interested in marine ecology and how ecosystems are changing in response to climate change.

Her past field and lab experiences include tagging sharks and rays in Florida, working as a research assistant on the effects of seafood toxins with MITxWHOI grad students, and volunteering at a marine animal rehabilitation hospital in her hometown, Plymouth.

In addition, Caitlin’s favorite animal is a puffin and she loves cantaloupe.

Welcome to the Wahle crew, Caitlin! We are so happy to have you working with us this summer!

06/15/2022

HAPPY WAHLE WEDNESDAY!🥳🎉

We're so excited to share our 2022 field and lab work updates with you this summer!

Today marked another successful round of lobster collector deployments in Casco Bay. 120 collectors in total were randomly distributed across 3 depth strata and will be retrieved in the fall. This sampling approach helps us determine the impact of temperature gradients on seabed nursery potential for newly settled lobsters, as well as movements of older lobsters.

Special thanks to Curt Brown from Ready Seafood, Rick, Kristyn, Evie, and Curtis for their hard work getting these collectors deployed yesterday and today!

06/11/2022

Today was Rock Day for our lobster collectors to be deployed next week in Casco Bay. 120 all ready to go! Weekend work isn't so bad with a crew like this 👌

The deployment of these collectors aims to help evaluate the relationship between bottom temperature gradients and the depth-wise and alongshore distribution of newly settled and older juvenile lobster in the Gulf of Maine.

Special thanks to Ready Seafood for their continued support of this incredible project 🦞

📷 Photos taken by Curt Brown

06/02/2022

New Wahle Lab intern Caitlin Haley is already hard at work on her third day! 😎💪

01/31/2022

📣ATTENTION!📣

The Wahle Lab is hiring for TWO paid undergraduate research internships! If you're a budding scientist with a passion for the ocean and an interest in collaborative ecological research, come join us! You'll get to work with a pretty cool group of dedicated scientists and fishermen. Just sayin' 🙃🦞🌊

To apply and read more about these invaluable opportunities, click this link: https://dmc.umaine.edu/education/summer-internships/lobster-ecology-and-industry-internships/

Are you a former/current Wahle lab intern, volunteer, or student? Drop us a comment below about your experience! 👇

01/20/2022

Woo go Curtis! Wahle Lab represent! 🎉🦞👏

Undergraduate Curtis Morris conducted his marine science capstone with the Wahle Laboratory UMaine at the DMC. He used environmental DNA to determine what lobster larvae eat. This research is part of the Maine-eDNA project, an NSF funded project that involves students, scientists and community and industry partners statewide, including Maine EPSCoR Lobster Institute Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences Maine Department of Marine Resources

12/20/2021

Last week the Wahle Lab gathered to celebrate a successful year of research, and to wish Emily the best of luck as she begins an internship for the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA. We will miss you, Emily! 🐋

12/03/2021

Happy Friday! 🥳 🎉

Before Thanksgiving weekend, a few of our lab members presented their research at the virtual Regional Association for Research on the Gulf of Maine (RARGOM) Annual Science Meeting.

Three of us (Alex, Emily in the Wahle Lab at UMaine, and Molly Spencer of the University of Southern Maine) shared a combined oral presentation titled, “Larval lobster feeding rates, prey preferences, and potential food limitation mediated by a changing North Atlantic food web.” Two other members of the Wahle Lab delivered virtual posters: Evie shared a poster on the "Ontogeny of pursuit, handling, and ingestion of planktonic prey by larval American lobster." In addition, Kristyn presented her poster titled, "Science-industry collaboration builds trust while opening new windows on climate-related American lobster range shifts in the Gulf of Maine."

To listen to our lab members' presentations and view their posters, please visit the RARGOM webpage and watch the Day 3 Annual Science Meeting Video. Link: https://www.rargom.org/annual-science-meeting/

Have a great weekend!

RARGOM is dedicated to research, management and stewardship in the Gulf of Maine and its watershed. Get info on their annual science meeting here.

11/24/2021

Happy Wahle Wednesday! We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🦃🍂