University of Wisconsin–Madison

Month: March 2015

Researchers Get to the Bottom (& Beyond) of Lake Mendota Invasive Species

It looks like ice-off is only a couple days away on Madison’s lakes. Before we hit the completely open water season, though, here’s a look back at some semi-frozen fieldwork from early March. Graduate student, Jake Walsh, shares his experience coring Lake Mendota’s sediment layers… by Jake Walsh The past couple of Mondays I’ve been out …

Fish Fry Day: “FishWerks,” New App to Optimize Fish Barrier Removal

Pretend for a moment that you’re a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources scientist tasked with connecting migratory Great Lakes fish to upstream habitats. Let’s say the stream you’re working on has two dams and five impassable road crossings – all blocking fishes like walleye, sturgeon and suckers from getting upstream. Now imagine that you’ve only got enough …

New Map Offers Better Look at World’s Water-Logged Regions

Until recently, when ecologists wanted to study aquatic ecosystems at a large spatial scale, they had to rely on maps that weren’t exactly fine-tuned. In fact, these satellite-generated maps were assembled from plot points of 25 square kilometers. To get a sense of that scale, says Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, such a map would combine all of the …

Field Samples: Trying to Predict Ecosystem Changes Before They Occur

 Field Samples is a weekly Q&A asking researchers what they’ve been up to and what they’ve learned. Today, post-doctoral researcher, Eric Larson, from Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, talks about better managing our resources by trying to predict ecosystem changes before they occur. Who are you, where are you from, and how did you get here? I’m Eric Larson, a …

Guest Post: Are Science Blogs Passé? (No).

Here’s some great insight into both the health of science blogs on the Internet and the unfortunate lack of ecology-themed work over at The UnderStory, a blog by our friend, Katie Burke: by Katie Burke Last week, Dynamic Ecology blogger Jeremy Fox wrote a post about the state of science blogging and raised an interesting question: Despite a saturated blogs …

Fish Fry Day Video: Ice Fishing in Madison, Wisconsin

Andrew Stevens is a graduate student working on a master’s degree both with Pete McIntyre in Freshwater and Marine Sciences as well as the Water Resources Management Program here at UW-Madison. He’s also an avid ice angler and handy with a camera. We asked for a Fish Fry Day special – and Andy delivered. Enjoy! …

Field Samples: Studying Fish Migrations in Great Lakes Streams

Field Samples is a weekly Q&A asking researchers what they’ve been up to and what they’ve learned. Today, Lake Superior State University professor, Ashley Moerke, talks about her time on sabbatical studying Great Lakes fish migrations at the CFL.  Who are you, where are you from and how did you get here? My name is Ashley Moerke and …