Noah Perlut invited to be a panelist on ‘Maine Calling’ show on springtime
For plants and animals in Maine, spring is the beginning of a new year, a new cycle of life.
Noah Perlut, Ph.D., associate professor and chair in the Department of Environmental Studies, recently joined two other panelists on Maine Public’s “Maine Calling” for a discussion on springtime in Maine.
“Every time you're outside, whether it's day or night, there's something new to hear, see, smell or touch,” Perlut told host Jennifer Rooks. “That's why it's such an exciting time to be alive in this place.”
The program highlighted nature appreciation, science education and citizen science. It also explored how nature is changing in the face of climate change.
Perlut discussed a climate change project that he is working on with a student in Vermont, studying two species of songbirds in hayfields and pastures.
They are looking at 18 years’ worth of data to see how changes in weather affect the timing of the birds' reproduction.
Bobolinks spend winters in Argentina, while the Savanah sparrow spends them in the Carolinas.
“We want to understand the changes in weather they experience in the winter and how that correlates to the timing of when they start reproducing when they return to Vermont in the spring,” Perlut explained. “We're using past historical weather data and forecasting that for the next 80 years.”
The locations where the birds are nesting are managed by farmers. The management of that land is also affected by weather. Perlut and the student are looking into the impact of the weather on the farmers and the birds to see if there are any connections.