The gulf oil spill, talks of coral bleaching, overfishing and other current events have been recent reminders of the importance of the oceans in our lives. As is often the case in many other environmental and oceanic initiatives, Cornell­ians work tirelessly to solve them, despite its inland location. The strength of Shoals Marine Laboratory can, in part, be attributed to its renowned facility on Appeldore Is­land, Maine. The lab is operated jointly by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire and run by Prof. Willy Bemis ’76, ecology and evolutionary biology.

The top of the food chain – reserved for the animal kingdom’s most ferocious hunters and most lethal killers - offers residency to an unlikely new predator:  gulls.