News

1st,March,2010 Discover Magazine lists Michael Kinnison's publication in the top 100 for science stories of 2009 Discover Magazine's Jan/Feb 2010 issue lists the top 100 science stories of 2009. The #30 story was the research article: Darimont,C.T., S.M. Carlson, M.T. Kinnison, P.C. Paquet, T.E. Reimchen and C.C. Wilmers. 2009. Human predators outpace other agents of trait change in the wild. PNAS 106:952-954. In discussing the significance of the research, Discover states: "Humans are powerful agents of evolutionary change. Wild animals and plants that are hunted or harvested evolve three times as quickly as they would naturally..." [To read more in Discovery Magazine, see Full Story; For PDF of PNAS article, go to our Publications page.] Full Story

24th,February,2009 PNAS pub cited in Boston Globe on Feb 23, 2009. A Globe article titled Cod in the act of evolution interviewed Dr. Michael Kinnison, who states: "The argument that genetic evolution has nothing to do with changes in the wild fish populations flies in the face of the theory of evolution ... Consistently removing the largest individuals from a species should produce some effect." Full Story

13th,January,2009 New York Times reports on human actions affecting evolutionary rates - cites PNAS New York Times 1/13/09 Research Ties Human Acts to Harmful Rates of Species Evolution. Hunting, commercial fishing and some conservation regulations, like minimum size limits on fish, may all work against species health. ...Based on an analysis of earlier studies of 29 species — mostly fish, but also a few animals and plants like bighorn sheep and ginseng — researchers from several Canadian and American universities found that rates of evolutionary change were three times higher in species subject to “harvest selection” than in other species. Writing in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Darimont, Carlson, Kinnison, Paquet, Reimchen Wilmers. 2009. Human predators outpace other agents of trait change in the wild. PNAS 106:952-954), the researchers say the data they analyzed suggested that size at reproductive maturity in the species under pressure had shrunk in 30 years or so by 20 percent, and that organisms were reaching reproductive age about 25 percent sooner. ... Full Story

13th,January,2009 ESPN website picks up "Sturgeon Hunter" story from the Bangor Daily News BDN 8/2/08 Sturgeon Study Nears End of First Phase. Back in 2005, local angler Keith Bates gained a bit of local notice when he inadvertently hooked, landed and released a shortnose sturgeon while fishing for striped bass in the Penobscot River. ... Before Bates caught his fish in 2005, the last documented sturgeon in the river — a shortnose — was in the late 1970s. ... The researchers set up an array of buoys with radio receivers anchored at the bottom of the river. Each time a tagged sturgeon swam past, the fish was logged and recorded, along with the date and time. Some information on depth and water temperature can also be gained from the buoys. ... During his time working on the project, Fernandes admits that he' s become known for his association with one of the world' s least attractive fish. "People call me the Sturgeon Hunter". Full Story

13th,January,2009 The Bangor Daily News reports the beginning of phase two of the sturgeon project on the Penobscot. BDN 12/9/08 Secrets of the deep: New research finds Penobscot River sturgeon population burgeoning. ...Now, thanks to modern technology and a dedicated crew of University of Maine researchers, the peculiar habits of the shortnose sturgeon finally are coming to light. The key, researchers have learned, is having a hunch about where to look for this secretive fish and then the time, patience and equipment to find them. ... Dionne and his research colleagues were having few problems finding shortnoses one recent, frigid afternoon on the Penobscot south of Bangor. ...Rather than gill nets, however, the team was using sonar to nose around the muddy river bottom. ...dozens upon dozens of sturgeons — identifiable by the size of the white smudges on sonar — crowded together on the river bottom. Full Story

22nd,July,2008 Dr. Michael T. Kinnison cited by ScienceWatch.com In its July 2008 posting, ScienceWatch.com recognized Craig Stockwell of North Dakota State University, Andrew Hendry of McGill University and Michael Kinnison, for their paper on contemporary evolution and conservation biology (Stockwell, C.A., A.P. Hendry and M.T. Kinnison. 2003. Contemporary evolution meets conservation biology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 18:94-101). This paper is the highest cited core paper from 2002-08 in the area of "rapid climate change”, the fastest moving front within the field of plant and animal sciences. Full Story

11th,March,2008 Life Altering Michael Kinnison was interviewed for an article in the March/April 2008 issue of UMaine Today. He and two colleagues have gathered more than 3,000 estimates of physical and behavioral changes in wild animals. The result is proof that humans not only affect animals' evolutionary processes, but also cause their traits to change twice as fast. Full Story

11th,March,2008 Evolving Before our Eyes The January/February 2008 issue of UMaine Today features Dr. Kinnison and his research on Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Biologist Michael Kinnison studies contemporary evolution occurring at rates that would make Darwin dizzy. Full Story

19th,February,2008 The eco-evolution race Recent Article in UMaine Today: Insights (November/December 2007) on Dr. Michael Kinnison's current research relating to contemporary evolution. Full Story

28th,September,2006 Maine Scientists Catch Endangered Sturgeon (AP) University of Maine scientists have caught nearly a dozen endangered shortnose sturgeon in the Penobscot River in the past week, representing the first confirmed sightings of the fish in the river since 1978. Full Story

21st,September,2006 Evolutionary Tinkering Something has shifted recently in my image of future life on earth. It’s not that the dire predictions of global climate change and ecological collapse have changed all that much or seem any less convincing. But if I really imagine being there— the year 2306, say—I see something that my ecological education has not prepared me for. Full Story

21st,September,2006 Rare Fish Tagged and Tracked University of Maine researchers have placed acoustic tags inside five rare shortnose sturgeon on the Penobscot River in eastern Maine, and documented the presence of even more. Fish with the acoustic tags can now be tracked by both portable receivers and a series of moored receivers already operating on the river. The fish are the first recorded catch of shortnose sturgeon in the river since 1978. Full Story

20th,May,2004 Darwinian shift: survival of the smallest For endangered species, the implications of managing for as natural an evolutionary future as possible holds its own challenges. For example, selection pressures on a species can vary greatly along the length of a river and within its tributaries, says Michael Kinnison, a biologist at the University of Maine in Orono who has studied the intersection of ecology and contemporary evolution. Full Story

19th,May,2004 UMAINE UNDERGRAD FEATURED IN NATURAL NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE  Atlantic salmon research by Chris Holbrook, UMaine biology major, is featured in the spring issue of Natural New England Magazine. Holbrook is from Norway, Maine and is working in Professor Michael Kinnison's lab to analyze what young salmon in Down East Maine's Shorey Brook are eating. He is part of a team whose goal is to understand how stocked salmon interact with native fish. Holbrook intends to continue fisheries research in graduate school and hopes his efforts will contribute to restoring salmon to their native habitats. Full Story