Author: hinterthuer

Guest Post: In the Right Place All the Time – Greenhouse Gas Research and NTL-LTER

By Lori Balster. Originally published in Environmental Monitor, October 12, 2021 While researchers all over the globe have been studying greenhouse gases, there are still some areas in the field that have not received as much attention as they deserve. Emily Stanley, professor in the department of integrative biology at the University of Wisconsin and …

Langmuir Circulation: Explaining Lines of Bubbles on the Surface of A Lake

When you live in a state defined by lakes like we do here in Wisconsin, you often get a front-row view of just how dynamic and changing those bodies of water can be. Each day can look totally different from the next – we get the nearly Caribbean clarity of clear water phases, scummy green …

In Rare Dose of Good Climate News Study Finds That, No, Algae Blooms Aren’t Getting Worse Everywhere

As Earth’s average temperature rises, climate change impacts are being felt across the globe. Hurricanes and wildfires are bigger and more destructive. Extreme rain events are more common. Droughts last longer. But, surprisingly, one big problem with a climate connection isn’t getting universally worse. According to a scientific study published online October 5th in Frontiers …

Center for Limnology Joins New Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center

The  Department of the Interior today announced the location of the newest Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC), the ninth and final CASC in the national network dedicated to providing science to help managers of the country’s fish and wildlife resources adapt to climate change. The U.S. Geological Survey has finalized an agreement with a consortium …

Is Bigger Better? Study Confirms Larger Fish Are Tops in Estuary Food Webs

In the ecological sciences it is generally accepted that, the bigger an organism, the higher its position or “trophic level” in the food web. There are, of course, obvious exceptions – wolves and lions are dwarfed by most of their four hoofed prey – but, more often than not, the maxim holds true. The bigger …

Is Tiny Find in Lake Mendota a Silver Lining for a Declining Species?

Earlier this summer, Alice Ogden-Nussbaum was checking on a gill net she had set a day earlier in Lake Mendota’s deepest waters. As she rolled the curtain of net up out of the lake, a remarkable, silver-scaled find surfaced – one that made Alice reach for her phone and excitedly text a photo to her …

Blue waters – green beaches: benthic filamentous algae are an emerging threat to clear lakes worldwide

by Nadja Neumann, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Many of the world’s well-known clear lakes are deteriorating at an alarming rate: at the shore, where people want to play and swim, the lake bottom is covered with green carpets of algae. These are mass accumulations of filamentous algae that have recently appeared …

For UW-Madison Undergrad, a Crash Course in Fish Fieldwork Leads to a Passion for Freshwater Science

by Cassie Gauthier – When Kailee Berge arrived at Trout Lake Station at the beginning of this summer, she was nervous and a little overwhelmed about all of the new experiences. She grew up in the Milwaukee area and was pretty unfamiliar with the idea of spending free time out on lakes fishing, or swimming, …

Around the Clock Limnology – To Better Understand Our Lakes, Some Researchers Lose a Lot of Sleep

by Cassie Gauthier – Getting to see the sunrise over a lake as I nestle into my sweatshirt in the brisk morning air is one of my favorite things. Another is being in the middle of the lake on a boat as the stars shine brightly over my head. Before this week, I had never …

New Study: Precautionary Catch Limits on Forage Fish Unlikely to Benefit Predators

The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries — A newly released study finds that, for many predator species, extra-precautionary management of forage fish is unlikely to bring additional benefits. How to manage forage fish sustainably, both by themselves and for the rest of the ecosystem, has become a much-discussed topic in …