Transect Winter 2026 banner featuring a kelp sporophyte micrograph

Read about our interdisciplinary research into the impact of zooplankton on ocean health, plus how kelp forests are adapting to a changing Gulf of Maine.

Bigelow Laboratory campus in East Boothbay, Maine

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Bigelow Laboratory team members participate in Windjammer Days Parade in Boothbay Harbor, Maine

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Recent News

Bigelow Laboratory staff will attend the 2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting

Researchers Gather in Scotland for Ocean Sciences Meeting

01-21-2026

A large cohort of Bigelow Laboratory researchers and students are attending the Ocean Sciences Meeting next month to bring the institute’s discoveries and innovations to the international science community.

Senior Research Associate Sean Boyd and research intern Sadie Woodruff analyze samples in the lab collected from nearby reservoirs

Scientists Track Health of Local Drinking Water Supplies

01-07-2026

Bigelow Laboratory is working with the Boothbay Region Water District, providing the analytical capacity, expertise, and data needed for the community to track water quality health and preserve the region’s healthy watersheds.

Senior Research Scientist Doug Rasher dives to collect samples

Transect Magazine: Seeing the Forest for the Trees

12-30-2025

Senior Research Scientist Doug Rasher, and his Maine-eDNA program PhD students, have been working to illuminate how the critical and complex kelp forest ecosystem is adapting to a changing Gulf of Maine.

Transect Magazine: Charismatic Microfauna

12-26-2025

Zooplankton are more diverse, more captivating, and more critically important to ocean health than most realize. Researchers are working to unlock the big mysteries of these tiny animals, revealing their fate in a changing world.