Science magazine publishes feature on Calhoun, vernal pool conservation

Science magazine published a feature article on Aram Calhoun, a professor of wetland ecology at the University of Maine, and her efforts to protect vernal pools. Calhoun is leading an innovative effort to overcome two of the tougher challenges in conservation biology in the United States: protecting vernal pools that are critical to the survival of many amphibians and other organisms, and making conservation work on privately held lands, according to the article. She has helped recruit citizen scientists to collect key field data and has assembled teams of scientists, economists, town planners and developers to create economically viable plans for balancing conservation and development, the article states. Calhoun also worked with UMaine economist Kathleen Bell and others on basic and applied research projects.