Lectures at Eagle Hill

Lecture programs are free. They run for about an hour, including time for questions. Start times are noted in the calendar below.

They begin with a reception 45 minutes before the start of the lecture. This is a pleasant time to mingle with guests over complimentary wine. The lecture room has some café tables, each seating 4 guests.

Each lecture is followed by an optional family-style dinner in the old dining hall. This is a chance to mingle with resident guests at Eagle Hill who are participating in a seminar or workshop program. Reservations need to be made by 10AM of the program day. Dinner details and menus.

For dinner reservations ... 207-546-2821 Ext 4... joerg@eaglehill.us

Date/Time	Day	Title. Descriptions and bios at end of page.	Presenter

2024 Lectures — This calendar will be updated as lectures are planned.

June 5, 2024. 5PM	Wed	Seaweed Biodiversity in Maine, with an Update on an Upcoming Field Guide	Amanda Savoie
June 6, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Symbiosis in Lichens: an Evolutionary Love Story	Philip Bell-Doyon
June 13, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Using Lichens to Assess the Ecological Continuity of Forests	Steven Selva
June 20, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Maine Tardigrades and How they Survive Most Everything	Emma Perry
July 17, 2024. 5PM	Wed	Too Much of a Good Thing: Nitrogen Addition Decreases Organic Matter Decomposition and Increases Soil Carbon in a Temperate Deciduous Forest	Richard Bowden
July 18, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Edible and Medicinal Plants of Downeast Maine	Rick Van de Poll
July 24, 2024. 5PM	Wed	Cunard Steamships and the Quest for the Perfect Coal	Dennis P. Waters
July 25, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Fascinating New Insights Into the Biology of Spiders	Matthias Foellmer
August 1, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Foraging for Edible Mushrooms: Embracing Gilled Mushrooms	Greg Marley
August 15, 2024. 5PM	Thu	The Ferns of Colombia Project: Dialogues between Science and Art	Alejandra Vasco
August 22, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Project SNOWstorm: Tracking Snowy Owls during the Great Irruption of 2013-14, and Beyond	David Brinker
October 2, 2024. 5PM	Wed	An Appreciation of Mushrooms in Downeast Maine	David Porter
October 10, 2024. 5PM	Thu	Project Owlnet: Revolutionizing our Understanding of La Chouette	David Brinker

Program descriptions.

Seaweed Biodiversity in Maine; with an update on an upcoming Field Guide
June 5, 2024
Amanda will discuss common species found along the coast of Maine, how molecular techniques can be useful for identifying difficult species, the impact of invasive species and climate change on the seaweed flora, and give a short update to the Field Guide to the Seaweeds of Maine that she is working on with the Maine Natural History Observatory.
Dr. Amanda Savoie is a research scientist and phycologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada, as well as Director of the Museum’s Arctic research centre. Amanda studies biodiversity and biogeography of marine macroalgae in Canada, and uses molecular and traditional techniques to investigate taxonomically difficult species of red algae. As a native of Atlantic Canada, she is most familiar with (and fond of) the amazing seaweeds of the northeast coast.

Symbiosis in Lichens: an Evolutionary Love Story
June 6, 2024
Lichens are the archetypal symbiotic organisms. They represent an extremely successful fungal lifestyle that has evolved several times in which algae, bacteria, and fungi entangle to share benefits that they couldn't reach on their own. From historical perspectives to the most recent DNA-related developments, this talk is meant to raise awareness about the fascinating and everlasting mysteries of lichenization.
Philip Bell-Doyon is a final year PhD candidate in Biology at Laval University, Québec, Canada. He works on the biological and chemical diversity associated with intact boreal forest ecosystems. Philip focuses on lichen taxonomy and symbiosis and has published several papers in scientific journals and public media.

Using Lichens to Assess the Ecological Continuity of Forests
June 13, 2024
As lichen species take up residence in a forest, each is looking for a specific microhabitat that suits its particular need for carbon and other nutrients, water, light, temperature, pH, etc. If its needs are satisfied, it becomes established and grows and reproduces. If its needs are not satisfied, it does not become established. As the forest ages, more and more of these microhabitats become available for lichen colonization and, as a result, more and more lichens find what they need and become established. This is a process that continues for generations of trees over hundreds and thousands of years. Forests with a long, uninterrupted continuity are associated with a higher diversity of species and certain lichen species are found only in older stands. It is a subset of these lichens found only in older stands that are being used as indicator species to assess the ecological continuity of forests in the Acadian Forest Ecoregion.
Dr. Steven Selva is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where he has been since 1976. Since the summer of 1986, Dr. Selva has been engaged in an ongoing research project in which lichens are being used to assess the continuity of forest ecosystems in the Acadian Forest of northeastern North America. He has written numerous articles on the subject, including several on the calicioid lichens and fungi and their role as old-growth forest indicator species.

Maine Tardigrades and How they Survive Most Everything
June 20, 2024
This lecture will describe tardigrades and give a brief overview of their biology and ecology before going into depth about their cryptobiosis. How do they survive such extreme conditions as vacuum, radiation,extreme heat, cold and pH etc.? Come and find out how they do this, and how we can learn from this extreme biology.
Emma Perry currently manages the Electron Microscope Laboratory at the University of Maine, after a twenty year career as a Professor of Marine Biology. She studied the marine and limno-terrestrial tardigrades of Maine with her students for several years. Working together they have described several new species and is working to document the tardigrades of Maine.

Too Much of a Good Thing: Nitrogen Addition Decreases Organic Matter Decomposition and Increases Soil Carbon in a Temperate Deciduous Forest
July 17, 2024
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition continues to be a stressor to forests in the US and globally. Long-term experimental studies reveal that important soil processes are altered, leading to changes in soil chemistry that can affect forest productivity.
Richard Bowden is a Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. He has a BA in biology and environmental studies from Northland College, an MS in aquatic ecology from Michigan Technological University, and a PhD from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He teaches and researches in the areas of campus sustainability and forest ecology, and is active in promoting sustainable forestry. In his spare time, he enjoys cross-country skiing, bicycling, kayaking, hiking, gardening, and putting wild game in his freezer.

Edible and Medicinal Plants of Downeast Maine
July 18, 2024
In spite of centuries of ancestral practices to collect wild edibles, the grocery store ends up being the most common source of food in our current society. This workshop is designed to recall some of the knowledge of bygone days, where sustenance and nutrition relied on familiarity, skill, and careful preparation. We will cover common edible and medicinal plants of Downeast Maine, plus some lichens and fungi that grow right in our backyards. This slide illustrated talk will include many of the common species for the area.
Rick Van de Poll is the principal of Ecosystem Management Consultants (EMC) of Sandwich, New Hampshire and is a Certified Wetland Scientist (#110) in the state of New Hampshire. Since 1988, Dr. Van de Poll has conducted wetland delineations and wetland assessments on over 350,000 acres in 102 towns. He is the past Chairman of the NH Joint Board of Natural Scientists, and has taught various wetland courses at the graduate, undergraduate, and high school level, including Wetlands Science and Policy, Wetlands Flora, and Wetlands Identification. He is the senior wetland scientist author of the ‘NH Method’ (www.nhmethod.org 2015, 3rd edition) and offers training workshops around the region with the other co-authors. He is a charter/life member of the NH Association of Wetland Scientists (now NHANRS), and was on the Board for 6 years as Education & Research Committee Chair and Vice-President. He currently sits as the Chair and NH Association of Conservation Commissions representative on the NHDES Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund’s Site Selection Committee.

Cunard Steamships and the Quest for the Perfect Coal
July 24, 2024
At the turn of the 20th century, North Atlantic steamships were prodigious consumers of coal, and not just any coal would do. Moving this precious fuel from the mountains of Appalachia to the docks of Manhattan was a huge undertaking, with great fortunes made and lost in mining and railroads. This presentation tells the story of the search for the perfect coal and how it powered the fleet of the fabled Cunard Line during the Gilded Age.
Dennis Waters is an author, scientist, and retired internet entrepreneur. His first book, Behavior and Culture in One Dimension, was published by Routledge in 2021. He is a Visiting Scientist at Rutgers University and for twelve years was Township Historian in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He is working on a new book on the Cunard Line during the Gilded Age, and this talk is based on a chapter from that book.

Fascinating New Insights Into the Biology of Spiders
July 25, 2024
This lecture will provide an overview of how recent technological advances, such as high-throughput sequencing, micro-computed tomography scanning, and computational analysis of big data sets, have led to new hypotheses about the evolution of spiders, their webs, and reproductive systems and strategies.
Dr. Matthias Foellmer is a professor of biology at Adelphi University on Long Island, NY. His education and professional career include a B.Sc. (Biology) from Free University Berlin, Germany, a Ph.D. (Biology) from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, a stay as Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Riverside, and faculty positions at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. He is broadly interested in evolutionary ecology, biodiversity, and applied ecology. His research focuses on the evolution of extreme sexual dimorphisms in orb-web spiders, including studies on the evolutionary significance of sexual cannibalism and male self-sacrificial behaviors. Recent work includes salt marsh ecology and investigating the impact of pesticide application, pollution and habitat degradation on salt marsh communities, especially with respect to spider and insect diversity on Long Island, NY.

Foraging for Edible Mushrooms: Embracing Gilled Mushrooms
August 1, 2024
Have you been impatient to expand the numbers and types of mushrooms you collect and use for food and health benefits? Are you held back by fear of sickening yourself or others? Many people are advised to avoid the mushrooms that have gills as a number of toxic species also have gills. Join mushrooming expert and author Greg Marley for a talk introducing a recommended second-level of mushrooms for foraging. The presentation will be based on high-quality photos of New England mushrooms and basic identification features. Marley will also add guidelines to follow and expanded resources. This talk best serves those with a bit knowledge and experience with mushrooms but will also be of interest to the beginner.
Greg A. Marley has been collecting, studying, eating, growing and teaching mushrooms for over 45 years. He spreads his love of mushrooms through walks, talks and classes held across the New England. Marley is the author of Mushrooms for Health; Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi, (Downeast Books, 2009) and the award-winning Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares; The Love Lore and Mystic of Mushrooms, (Chelsea Green, 2010). As a volunteer mushroom identification consultant to Poison Centers across New England, he provides expertise in mushroom poisoning cases. Greg is frequent lecturer to college groups and occasionally a mushrooming foray faculty member. When not mushrooming, Marley works as a mental health clinician specializing in suicide prevention. He resides with his family and gardens in Rockland Maine.

The Ferns of Colombia Project: Dialogues between Science and Art
August 15, 2024
Colombia has an extraordinary diversity of ferns—over 1,450 species, more than any other place in the Americas. The Ferns of Colombia project, supported by the National Science Foundation, aims to deepen our understanding of this incredible plant diversity. By integrating scientific research with creative outreach, the project fosters dialogues between science and art, aiming to both protect and celebrate our planet’s rich botanical heritage.
Dr. Alejandra Vasco studies the biology of ferns. Her main research interests are the taxonomy and systematics of the fern genus Elaphoglossum, and the development and evolution of leaves in ferns. Alejandra obtained her BSc from the University of Antioquia, in her native Colombia, and her PhD as part of the joint program between the City University of New York and the New York Botanical Garden. Currently, she is a researcher at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in the USA. She is a native of Medellin, Colombia, and has extensive experience with American tropical ferns.

Project SNOWstorm: Tracking Snowy Owls during the Great Irruption of 2013-14, and Beyond
August 22, 2024
The winter of 2013-14 saw the biggest invasion of Snowy Owls into the eastern U.S. in decades. By the first week of December, 2013, birders realized something extraordinary was underway. Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of Snowy Owls were flooding south into the United States. In some cases, birders found dozens—even hundreds—gathered in a single location. As the magnitude of the irruption became clear, veteran owl researchers mobilized a response, and Project SNOWstorm (SNOW is the four-letter code that banders and birders use for SNowy OWl) was born. Project SNOWstorm is an unprecedented highly collaborative research program that set out to gather information about these raptors using telemetry, banding, toxicology screening, DNA analysis, and more. The concept of Project SNOWstorm arose from the creative partnership of Dave Brinker, naturalist and author Scott Weidensaul, who directs the owl migration research program for the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Pennsylvania, Norman Smith of Massachusetts Audubon, who has been studying Snowy Owls for more than 30 years at Boston's Logan Airport and Steve Huy, a Frederick Maryland owl bander. The project is a collaborative effort of a diverse group of scientists and organizations who all rapidly mobilized to study this historic Snowy Owl irruption. The lead sponsor is Project Owlnet, a partnership founded in 1994 that now includes more than 120 independent owl migration researchers. Project SNOWstorm is an example of a growing number of citizen-science efforts energized by the rapid communication and coordination facilitated by the internet and social media. The researchers behind Project SNOWstorm are hopeful that this irruption will not only produce useful information about the behavior of Snowy Owls, but will ultimately better inform conservation efforts. Dave will present an overview of Project SNOWstorm and will share essential findings from the research
David Brinker is an ecologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Natural Heritage Program where he has worked on biodiversity conservation since 1989. He is the founder of Project Owlnet and co-founder of Project SNOWstorm, two highly successful cooperative efforts to study migrating and wintering owls using bird banding and radio telemetry. Since 1994, he has led the Central Appalachian Goshawk Study in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He holds a federal Master banding permit and has banded thousands of raptors and colonial nesting waterbirds since 1975. He has authored or co-authored papers on Northern Goshawk population change, Red-tailed Hawk migration, Northern Saw-whet ecology and movement, American Oystercatcher distribution, as well as on secretive marsh birds and colonial nesting waterbirds.

An Appreciation of Mushrooms in Downeast Maine
October 2, 2024
By any measure, interest in ‘all things fungal’ among the general public is mushrooming. We want to know more about where mushrooms come from and what they are doing out there. Our increased attention to wild foods is leading us into foraging for edible mushrooms but, at the same time, heightening our caution of poisonous ones. But for all lovers of natural beauty, it is of great pleasure that nature provides a limitless spectrum of colorful and unusual mushrooms to delight the eye and inspire the artist. In his talk, Porter will lead an illustrated foray through a jungle of mushroom diversity, touching on common edible species and those to avoid while describing how these organisms are critical to the proper functioning of our forest ecosystems.
David Porter lives in Brooklin, Maine. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, where for 38 years he carried out research and was an award-winning teacher offering a variety of undergraduate and graduate level mycology classes. Now retired, he is active in outreach programs with lectures, forays and identification services and occasional mycology classes at College of the Atlantic. He is editor of the Maine Mycological Association newsletter, Mainely Mushrooms.

Project Owlnet: Revolutionizing our Understanding of La Chouette
October 10, 2024
Once believed to be rare and non-migratory, Project Owlnet has inverted those natural history observations about La Chouette. Northern Saw-whet Owls are the most banded owl in North America and twice a year they move long distances from northern forest breeding grounds to winter as far south as Alabama and Florida and then back north. We'll review the history of the growth of Project Owlnet, present the natural history of this captivating diminutive owl and discuss the future of Project Owlnet and conservation of La Chouette.
David Brinker is an ecologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Natural Heritage Program where he has worked on biodiversity conservation since 1989. He is the founder of Project Owlnet and co-founder of Project SNOWstorm, two highly successful cooperative efforts to study migrating and wintering owls using bird banding and radio telemetry. Since 1994, he has led the Central Appalachian Goshawk Study in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He holds a federal Master banding permit and has banded thousands of raptors and colonial nesting waterbirds since 1975. He has authored or co-authored papers on Northern Goshawk population change, Red-tailed Hawk migration, Northern Saw-whet ecology and movement, American Oystercatcher distribution, as well as on secretive marsh birds and colonial nesting waterbirds.