Happy Earth Day! Wisconsin, of course, is where it all began, thanks to former U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson’s vision. As we here at the blog mulled over an appropriate topic for an Earth Day post, …
Ecological Processes
Limnology in Thailand: Netting Samples (and Dinner) on the Chao Phraya River
While a lot of what we do at the Center for Limnology is all about Wisconsin waters, we’ve got some world-class research going on all over the world, from places like Tanzania and Thailland. Aaron …
Restore It And They Will…Spawn?
Last spring, we featured UW grad student, Dan Oele’s work on northern pike in Green Bay. Dan was trying to answer the question, “Do pike return to the waters where they first emerged from eggs …
Road Salt Turns Deep Water into “Low-Sodium Soup”
Before the ice melts off these lakes here in Madison (we will get ice-off this year, right???), we thought we’d share a report from our senior research technician, Ted Bier, who you may have seen …
The Impact of Ag: More Than Half of U.S. Rivers in ‘Poor’ Condition
Last Tuesday, the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency released the results of a comprehensive study that measured the vital signs of 1.2 million miles of American rivers and streams. The prognosis wasn’t great. Measuring things …
Freshwater Estuaries: Exploring an Unusual Ecosystem
The Saint Louis River Estuary is a rare type of freshwater ecosystem that receives significant amounts of water from both the incoming rivers and Lake Superior. While estuaries are common along coastlines where rivers empty …
April 9th Event – Our Freshwater Future: Peril and Promise
Only 2.5% of all the water on earth is freshwater. 70% of that freshwater is frozen into glaciers and snowpacks in mountainous regions, leaving a tiny fraction of all water on earth available for every …
Invasives Hitch Rides with Boaters, Not Birds
When it comes to moving in to Wisconsin lakes, aquatic invasive species have a preferred mode of transport – one that often involves an outboard motor. Scientists at the UW-Madison Center for Limnology and the …
In This City, Everything Ends Up in the Lakes
We don’t want to start a fuss over here at the CFL blog, but the unmistakable beeping of a big yellow machine hard at work drew our attention outside this afternoon. It turns out that …
Carving Ice and Catching Smelt: Winter Sampling on Crystal Lake
Last summer, scientists at the CFL launched an ambitious attempt to eradicate invasive rainbow smelt from Crystal Lake in northern Wisconsin. Last weekend, Zach Lawson and Page Mieritz went up north to sample for smelt …