The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research and the U. S. Geological Survey have sponsored a juried student poster exhibition at the Maine Water Conference since 2000. Winners receive a cash award and their names are engraved on a plaque housed in the Mitchell Center. 2004 featured separate undergraduate and graduate competitions.

Poster Chair:
Laura Wilson, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Laura Wilson is a native of Hampden, Maine. She received her B.S. in Water Resources Management from the University of New Hampshire in 1994, and since returning to Maine in 1996 has worked on such diverse projects as analysis of mercury at the University of Maine (UMaine), overboard discharge inspection for the Maine DEP, and laboratory analysis at the Mitchell Center, UMaine. Laura is currently a water quality professional at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and coordinates the Watershed Stewards Program. She recently completed her M.S. in Ecology and Environmental Science (Water Resources option) with the Mitchell Center, UMaine.
 

Undergraduate Award

Brian P. Foley and D. Whitney King
Department of Chemistry, Colby College, 5755 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, Maine 04901, 207/872-3314, dwking@colby

Production of significant HOOH concentrations in the deep waters of temperate lakes.
A continuous flow-injection based, chemiluminescence method was developed to measure HOOH in Fe(II)-rich freshwater lakes. Vertical profiles of HOOH concentrations in temperate, thermally stratified, lakes in central Maine exhibited a surface maximum of 600 nM and a deep maximum of 450 nM above the sediment-water interface. Diel cycling was observed for surface HOOH consistent with photochemical production and biologically mediated decay. The presence of high concentrations of HOOH in suboxic waters is consistent with dark, abiotic formation of HOOH from Fe(II) reduction of dissolved oxygen. The formation of HOOH in the deep water of lakes could have important implications for the redox equilibiria and kinetics of metals in the hypolimnion of many temperate lakes.
 

Graduate Award

Katie DeGoosh, Katherine Webster, and Cynthia Loftin
1. University of Maine, Department of Wildlife Ecology, 5755 Nutting Hall, Orono, ME 04469, 207/ 581-1340, katie.degoosh@umit.maine.edu
2. University of Maine, Department of Biology , 319B Murray HallOrono, ME 04469-5751
3. ME Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 5755 Nutting Hall, Orono, ME 04469

Using sub-fossil mandibles of Chaoborus americanus as a paleolimnological indicator of fishless ponds in Maine
Maine hosts thousands of lakes that provide a unique and precious resource. State agencies monitor and protect the waters, however many of Maine's lakes have not been surveyed for fish presence. Understanding historical fish distributions is important for proper management in the future. It is unclear how many lakes currently with fish were naturally fishless in the past. We are using the sub-fossil remains of the aquatic larvae of Chaoborus (Diptera) found in lake sediments to indicate the presence or absence of fish. The first phase of the project involves the creation of a calibration set to characterize the Chaoborus assemblage in a set of lakes for which the fish status (fishless or fish-full) is known. Second, we are verifying historical stocking records using dated (210Pb) lake cores. Cores sampled from the lake bottom maintain the chronological history of organisms in the water column. This history is preserved in stratified lake sediments. These cores are being processed for Chaoborus remains, and compared with our calibration set to assess current and historic fish presence. Finally, we will use this paleo-technique to test a GIS-based landscape model designed to predict the occurrence of fishless ponds in Maine. This research has many applications, serving as a tool to assess current and past fish presence, and as a guide for responsible recreational fisheries management and lake rehabilitation.