Impacts of Technology Adoption: Comparing Returns to the Farming Sector in Maine under Alternative Technology Regimes

This thesis tests if certain technology choices are associated with a reduction in the proportion of farming activities in the agro-food system in Maine. Goodman, Sorj, and Wilkinson define appropriationism as the replacement of farming sector activities by industrial inputs. Based on the concept of appropriationism, industrial fanning systems using large amounts of synthetic inputs contribute less to fanning than more agrarian systems, like organic fanning. Thus, returns to the farming sector should be greater for organic compared with conventional potato fanning in Maine since organic farming uses fewer industrial inputs. Goodman et. al. define substitutionism as the displacement of farming sector commodities and activities by industrial processes in the marketing sector. Based on the concept of substitutionism, returns to the farming sector should be greater for Lay's Classic®™ potato chips made from natural potatoes compared with Baked Lay's®™ potato crisps manufactured from processed dehydrated potatoes. Returns to the farming sector are defined as returns to the farmer or farm family from farming activities, returns to farm labor, and returns to farmers and farm labor producing inputs used on the farm. Results show absolute returns to the farming sector are less for organic compared to conventional tablestock potato farms in Maine. However as a proportion of farm revenues, large organic farms that market at least 25% of their produce to retail stores or directly to consumers do as well as conventional farms. When comparing returns as a proportion of consumer expenditures, these organic farms do better than conventional farms. Returns to the farming sector are less for organic because of yield penalties, cost of marketing services, and diseconomies of size for organic tablestock potato farms. Expanding acreage and reintegrating livestock with cropping systems may increase returns to the fanning sector. Organic farming demonstrates difficulties in providing marketing services at the farm level. Providing marketing services limits the ability to expand production to capture economies of size. Maine organic potato farmers emphasize non-monetary values such as supporting sustainable agriculture, self-sufficiency, the intrinsic value of work, and close community and family connections. Returns to the farming sector as a proportion of consumer expenditures are about three times greater for Lay's Classic®™ potato chips than for Baked Lay's®™ potato crisps, since the value that farmers receive for potatoes used to produce dehydrated potato flakes in one pound of crisps is about half of the value that farmers receive for potatoes used to make one pound of chips. However, this assumes farmers assign a cost to producing low-grade potatoes for dehydration proportionate to their value. Premium potatoes are used to produce potato chips. Low-grade potatoes are used to produce the dehydrated potato flakes used to make potato crisps. Returns to the farming sector are slightly greater for potato crisps if no costs are allocated to producing low-grade potatoes for dehydration. A shift in consumer preferences from potato chips to crisps may result in a geographical shift of potato production from Maine to the Pacific Northwest assuming no food-grade dehydration facilities are built in Maine.

Pond-Breeding Amphibian Species Distributions in a Beaver-Modified Landscape, Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine

In order to maintain pond-breeding amphibian species richness, it is important to understand how both natural and anthropogenic disturbances affect species assemblages and individual species distributions both at the scale of individual ponds and at a larger landscape scale. The goal of this project was to investigate what characteristics of ponds and the surrounding wetland landscape were most effective in predicting pond-breeding species richness and the individual occurrence of wood frog (Rana sylvatica), bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) and pickerel frog (Rana palustris) breeding sites in a beaver-modified landscape and how this landscape has changed over time. The wetland landscape of Acadia National Park was historically modified by the natural disturbance cycles of beaver (Castor cazadensis), and since their reintroduction to the island in 1921, beaver have played a large role in creating and maintaining palustrine wetlands. In 2000 and 2001, I studied pond-breeding amphibian assemblages at 71 palustrine wetlands in Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine. I determined breeding presence of 7 amphibian species and quantified 15 variables describing local pond conditions and characteristics of the wetland landscape. I developed a priori models to predict sites with high amphibian species and used model selection with Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to identify important variables. Single species models were also developed to predict wood frog, bullfrog and pickerel frogs breeding presence. The variables for wetland connectivity by stream corridors and the presence of beaver disturbance were the most effective variables to predict sites with high amphibian richness. Wood frog breeding was best predicted by local scale variables describing temporary, fishless wetlands and the absence of active beaver disturbance. Abandoned beaver sites provided wood frog breeding habitat (70%) in a similar proportion to that found in non beaver-influenced sites (79%). In contrast, bullfrog breeding presence was limited to active beaver wetlands with fish and permanent water, and 80% of breeding sites were large (≥2ha in size). Pickerel frog breeding site selection was predicted best by the connectivity of sites in the landscape by stream corridors. Models including the presence of beaver disturbance, greater wetland perimeter and greater depth were included in the confidence set of pickerel frog models but showed considerably less support. Analysis of historic aerial photographs showed an 89% increase in the total number of ponded wetlands available in the landscape between the years of 1944 and 1997. Beaver colonization generally converted forested wetlands and riparian areas to open water and emergent wetlands. Temporal colonization of beaver wetlands favored large sites low in the watersheds and sites that were impounded later were generally smaller, higher in the watershed, and more likely to be abandoned. These results suggest that beaver have not only increased the number of available breeding sites in the landscape for pond-breeding amphibians, but the resulting mosaic of active and abandoned beaver wetlands also provides suitable breeding habitat for species with differing habitat requirements.

A Study of Radon in Air and Water in Maine Schools

The transfer coefficient of radon from water to air was investigated in schools. Kitchens, bathrooms and locker rooms were studied for seven schools in Maine. Simulations were done in water-use rooms where radon in air detectors were in place. Quantities measured were radon in water (270-24500 F) and air (0-80 q), volume of water used, emissivities (0.01-0.99) and ventilation rates (0.012-0.066A). Variation throughout the room of the radon concentration was found. Values calculated for the transfer coefficient for kitchens and baths were ranged from 9.6 x to 2.0 x The transfer coefficient was calculated using these parameters and was also measured using concentrations of radon in water and air. This provides a means by which radon in air can be estimated using the transfer coefficient and the concentration in the water in other schools and it can be used to estimate the dose caused by radon released from water use. This project was partially funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (grant #X828l2 101-0) and by the State of Maine (grant #10A500178). These are the first measurements of this type to be done in schools in the United States.

Panorama of the Maine, and of the adjacent country from Mayence to Frankfort

Designed from nature by F. W. Delkeskamp. Engraved By John Clark

State rate -setting in conjunction with Medicare prospective payment: The effects of the Maine program

Maine implemented a hospital rate-setting program in 1984 at approximately the same time as Medicare started the Prospective Payment System (PPS). This study examines the effectiveness of the program in controlling cost over the period 1984-1989. Hospital costs in Maine are compared to costs in 36 non rate-setting states and 11 other rate-setting states. Changes in cost per equivalent admission, adjusted patient day, per capita, admissions, and length of stay are described and analyzed using multivariate techniques. A number of supply and demand variables which were expected to influence costs independently of rate-setting were controlled for in the study. Results indicate the program was effective in containing costs measured in terms of cost per adjusted patient day. However, this was not true for the other two cost variables. The average length of stay increased during the period in Maine hospitals indicating an association with rate-setting. Several supply variables, especially the number of beds per 1,000 population were strongly associated with the cost and use of hospitals. ^

Bryoliths constructed by bryozoans in symbiotic associations with hermit crabs, Golfe d'Arguin, Mauritania

The Golfe d'Arguin offshore of northern Mauritania hosts a rare modern analogue for heterozoan carbonate production in a tropical marine setting. Dominated by ocean upwelling and with additional fertilisation by iron-rich aeolian dust, this naturally eutrophic marine environment lacks typical photozoan communities. A highly productive, tropical cosmopolitan biota dominated by molluscs and suspension-feeders such as bryozoans and balanids characterises the carbonate-rich surface sediments. Overall biodiversity is relatively low and the species present are tolerant against the eutrophic and low-light conditions, the strong hydrodynamic regime governed by ocean upwelling, and the unstable, soft-bottom seafloor with few hard substrata. Here, we describe an ectosymbiosis between the hermit crab Pseudopagurus granulimanus (Miers, 1881) and monospecific assemblages of the encrusting cheilostome bryozoan Acanthodesia commensale (Kirkpatrick and Metzelaar, 1922) that cohabits vacant gastropod shells. Nucleating on an empty gastropod shell, the bryozoan colonies form multilamellar skeletal crusts that produce spherical encrustations and extend the living chamber of the hermit crab through helicospiral tubular growth. This non-obligate mutualistic symbiosis illustrates the adaptive capabilities and benefits from a close partnership in a complex marine environment, driven by trophic conditions, high water energies and instable substratum. Sectioned bryoliths show that between 49 and 97 % of the solid volume of the specimens consists of bryozoan skeleton.

Seawater carbonate chemistry and processes during experiments with crabs Chionoecetes tanneri and Cancer magister, 2007

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide could be curbed by large-scale sequestration of CO2 in the deep sea. Such a solution requires prior assessment of the impact of hypercapnic, acidic seawater on deep-sea fauna. Laboratory studies were conducted to assess the short-term hypercapnic tolerance of the deep-sea Tanner crab Chionoecetes tanneri, collected from 1000 m depth in Monterey Canyon off the coast of central California, USA. Hemolymph acid- base parameters were monitored over 24 h of exposure to seawater equilibrated with ~1% CO2 (seawater PCO2 ~6 torr or 0.8 kPa, pH 7.1), and compared with those of the shallow-living Dungeness crab Cancer magister. Short-term hypercapnia-induced acidosis in the hemolymph of Chionoecetes tanneri was almost uncompensated, with a net 24 h pH reduction of 0.32 units and a net bicarbonate accumulation of only 3 mM. Under simultaneous hypercapnia and hypoxia, short-term extracellular acidosis in Chionoecetes tanneri was completely uncompensated. In contrast, Cancer magister fully recovered its hemolymph pH over 24 h of hypercapnic exposure by net accumulation of 12 mM bicarbonate from the surrounding medium. The data support the hypothesis that deep-sea animals, which are adapted to a stable environment and exhibit reduced metabolic rates, lack the short-term acid-base regulatory capacity to cope with the acute hypercapnic stress that would accompany large-scale CO2 sequestration. Additionally, the data indicate that sequestration in oxygen-poor areas of the ocean would be even more detrimental to deep-sea fauna.

CO2-driven decrease in pH disrupts olfactory behaviour and increases individual variation in deep-sea hermit crabs

Deep-sea species are generally thought to be less tolerant of environmental variation than shallow-living species due to the relatively stable conditions in deep waters for most parameters (e.g. temperature, salinity, oxygen, and pH). To explore the potential for deep-sea hermit crabs (Pagurus tanneri) to acclimate to future ocean acidification, we compared their olfactory and metabolic performance under ambient (pH 7.6) and expected future (pH 7.1) conditions. After exposure to reduced pH waters, metabolic rates of hermit crabs increased transiently and olfactory behaviour was impaired, including antennular flicking and prey detection. Crabs exposed to low pH treatments exhibited higher individual variation for both the speed of antennular flicking and speed of prey detection, than observed in the control pH treatment, suggesting that phenotypic diversity could promote adaptation to future ocean acidification.

An ecological characterization of Coastal Maine (north and east of Cape Elizabeth) / Stewart I. Fefer and Patricia S. Schettig: principal investigators.

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An ecological characterization of Coastal Maine (north and east of Cape Elizabeth) / Stewart I. Fefer and Patricia S. Schettig: principal investigators.

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