Obviously Lake Mendota is still frozen over here in the Spring of 2014. But, two years ago, Madison lakes had officially opened up (i.e. thawed) on March 10th and, by early April, we were writing what proved to be one of the most popular posts in CFL blog history. Since we’ve been dreaming of spring …
by Aaron Koning “At the next site we’ll have to be careful to avoid the elephants” warned my field assistant, Witu. His words would have struck me more soundly if I hadn’t come across the two Elaphas along the banks of the Ngao River while conducting snorkel surveys a day earlier. The two captive individuals …
Ted Bier, our senior research specialist for the Long-Term Ecological Research program, was recently photographed on Lake Monona holding this massive chunk of ice in front of the Madison skyline. That picture led to the following story on The Capital Times website: How thick is the ice on Madison’s lakes? Researcher Ted Bier almost didn’t …
Happy Fish Fry Day! Thanks to our invasive species specialist, Carol Warden, for pointing this amazing trailer from Freshwaters Illustrated out to us. Who knew that Southeastern U.S. rivers rival coral reefs for color? We can’t wait to see the whole video series.
Yesterday, we stumbled upon a beautiful post from “The Smaller Majority” blog about fairy shrimp, vernal pools, and the lengths organisms go to to survive in the ephemeral aquatic ecosystems that form when the winter snow pack melts. It’s an amazing piece full of stunning photography via Piotr Naskrecki, an entomologist, photographer and author based …
by Nora Casson What makes a group of limnologists head into the woods in the dead of winter? In the case of the students and post-docs in Emily Stanley’s lab, it was a need to embrace cabin fever, shut ourselves in and get a lot of work done. A few weeks ago, eight of us …
We’re sure you’ve already got it circled on the calendar but, just in case, May 24th is World Fish Migration Day. We here at the CFL are partnering with places like The Nature Conservancy and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium on some excellent freshwater fish-related outreach for the event (stay tuned!) and, during a recent brainstorming session, …
Okay, so the polar vortex is paying us a visit for the third time this winter and the ice on Lake Mendota is more than 2 feet thick, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start thinking about summer! It’s time to apply for some excellent summer research opportunities at our research site, Trout Lake Station. …
Sure it’s been a long winter, but we were surprised when all that lake ice recently got political here in Wisconsin. In January, State representative Mark Pocan told the legislature that, “Ice fishermen are already noticing fewer days they can be out on our ice covered lakes.” Perhaps because the statement was so counter to current …
Remember the polar vortex? It was just a vague memory before we stumbled across the following post from our archives. Perhaps we had blocked out memories of the winter of subzero temps cold enough to close down schools strictly on a windchill basis. But one thing is certain – it was a good year for …