Research Opportunities

One of the most important roles of the Schoodic Education and Research Center is to expand the scope and effectiveness of research within Acadia National Park and the National Park Service system. Acadia has an extensive history of natural and cultural resource research and currently supports an active and multidisciplinary program. The National Park Service offers a variety of research support opportunities, including: grant funding; reduced-cost housing and work space on an availability basis; and access to an extensive natural resource library, along with an on-line annotated natural resource bibliography, covering over 80 years of research efforts in Acadia National Park. For more information about research in the park, including an exciting new research fellowship program, visit the links below.

Research Activity | Info for Researchers | L.L.Bean Research Fellowship | BioBlitz | Research Catalog

Acadia National Park Research Activity
View current research activity in the park.

Searchable Park Access to Research Catchments (SPARC): Search and view information on previous park research projects and a bibliography of park-related journal articles, reports, and other materials. SPARC is a data access website developed by the University of Maine in partnership with the National Park Service to facilitate NPS data exchange. SPARC also has links to Acadia environmental data.

Information for Researchers
Conducting Research in Acadia National Park contains resources and guidance for potential investigators who wish to conduct research at Acadia National Park.

L.L.Bean Acadia Research Fellowship Grants
To facilitate and encourage scientific research in the park, L.L.Bean has generously donated $25,000 annually to establish the L.L.Bean Acadia Research Fellowship Program. A partnership of L.L.Bean, Friends of Acadia, Acadia Partners for Science and Learning, and the National Park Service at Acadia National Park, the program supports field research in the physical, biological, ecological, social, and cultural sciences. A minimum of five grants (up to $5,000 each) will be awarded annually to projects that address the park’s significant natural and/or cultural resources, the experiences of visitors and local residents who use the park, and the peoples who have lived in the Acadia region. The program will be administered by Acadia Partners for Science and Learning, based out of the Schoodic Education and Research Center campus.

Fellowships for the 2006 season were recently awarded from a highly competitive applicant pool of 23 proposals, cumulatively requesting more than $109,000. With an additional $10,000 in support this year from Acadia Partners for Science and Learning, seven projects were funded, with cumulative awards of $35,000. A summary of the seven funded proposals is available here.

For those interested in applying for funds for the 2007 season, there will be another call for proposals in late December 2006 or early January 2007. Contact Jim McKenna for additional information on the L.L. Bean Acadia Research Fellowship Program or to be added to an electronic notification list for next year's call. For a detailed description of the fellowship program, download the 2006 forms below. These forms are for your information only and will be revised for the next call for proposals.

• Application
  • Guidelines and Instructions - PDF format (650KB)
  • Cover Sheet - Word format or rich text format

BioBlitz
Acadia National Park has hosted a series of BioBlitzes to help document some of the lesser-known taxonomic groups within the park. These BioBlitzes focus on counting as many species from one taxonomic group as possible in a 24-hour time period. While BioBlitzes cannot provide a complete inventory, they can document species occurrence, provide estimates of species richness, and identify rare and unique species.

To date, BioBlitzes in the park have focused on beetles, moths and butterflies, and ants. A fly blitz is coming in 2006. Visit the pages below for results and images (where available).

Fly (Diptera) Blitz - 2006
Beetle (Coleoptera) Blitz - 2005
Moth and Butterfly (Lepidoptera) Blitz - 2004
Ant Blitz - 2003

Acadia National Park Research Opportunities Catalog
Acadia National Park has been the focus of many different research projects that have taught us a great deal about the park's natural and cultural resources. But what information is missing? What other questions should we be asking? Park staff is undertaking an effort beginning in spring 2006 to establish a Research Opportunities Catalog that will identify gaps in data to help guide future research efforts and highlight the unique research opportunities Acadia National Park has to offer investigators.

As a kickoff to the Research Opportunities Catalog project, SERC organized and hosted a series of five day-long scoping workshops in March, which brought together more than 50 invited subject matter experts from academia, conservation groups, NPS, and other state and federal agencies. These experts were asked to address a number of questions about current research efforts and needs in Acadia and the region, emerging issues Acadia should be preparing for, and research opportunities Acadia offers the scientific community.

For further information about the Research Opportunities Catalog or the workshops, including detailed workshop notes, visit the Acadia Partners website.