by Corinna Gries For hundreds of years people have collected data on lakes. Ice on and ice off dates are probably the oldest data, but water temperature, water clarity, animal and plant species and abundance have also been recorded for a long time. Scientists usually collect data to answer a specific question for which they …
UW undergrad, Emily Hilts, spent her summer getting to know Lake Mendota. While she didn’t fall head over heels for Madison’s lakes, she’s leaving on good terms. by Emily Hilts This morning, I moved my books and papers out of the desk I used at the Center for Limnology all summer, and took some time …
Louis Agassiz was an early prominent ichthyologist (someone who studies fish) at Harvard in the mid-1800s. When one of his graduate students, Samuel Scudder, showed up for his first day, Agassiz told him to take a preserved fish specimen and look at it – then left for several hours. Scudder ended up sitting and looking …
A recent study authored by our former postdoc and PhD student, Gretchen Hansen, reports that an intensive invasive-species trapping experiment had paid off for Sparkling Lake in northern Wisconsin. Not only did our researchers put a big dent in the rusty crayfish population but, four years later, they’re still being kept in check naturally. Click …
Last fall, as I moved in to a new house, I asked my parents (who are regular patrons of rummage sales) to look for a taxidermied fish. When they scrounged up a musky, with its mouth wide open to reveal pointy teeth, I was ecstatic. My roommates were less enthusiastic – one even claimed to …
The CFL’s Ellen Hamann, lab manager for Pete McIntyre’s lab, has been back in Africa this summer, helping continue research on Lake Tanganyika. She sent in this note from the field before returning to Madison for fall semester. By Ellen Hamann For the past 48 hours, Benja (Ben Kraemer from Pete McIntyre’s lab) and I …
Last week, like every week this summer, I was out on the water looking for stories about Madison’s lakes. But, this time, I had company. One of the cooler summer jobs at the Center for Limnology, is to be a member of “fish crew,” the team of students that spend the summer netting, IDing and …
Carol Warden, our aquatic invasive species specialist up at Trout Lake Station sent in this note about her work “up north” this summer. With summer well underway, aquatic invasive species (AIS) are once again a hot topic in the Northwoods. With things like rainbow smelt, Eurasian water milfoil and rusty crayfish moving in to Wisconsin’s …
by Aisha Liebenow Once I heard that I was going to be working for the CFL up north this summer, all I kept hearing about Trout Lake Station was what a great place it is to live and work. Now I can offer the same assessment – it has not only met, but far exceeded …
“NO WAY!” I yelled as I pulled up a rock from a creek bed, with a huge smile on my face. “Look! It’s a FRESHWATER SPONGE!” Chelsey Blanke, who was watching from the boat, just laughed. She volunteers for the Center for Limnology on Fridays, and has accompanied me for a couple of trips out …