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 …
Learn Your Lakes
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 …
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 …
Scientists Turn to Satellites to Study Lakes of Many Colors
by Hilary Dugan – Why are lakes blue? Or green? Or brown? The color of a lake reflects what’s in the water. Pure water appears blue, lakes with a lot of algae appear green, and …
Clear Water? Yes. Green Scum? Also yes. What’s Going on Out There?
by Jake Vander Zanden — You may have noticed that, In the last week or so, the Madison lakes have been crystal clear, with visibility of up to 30 feet recorded in Lake Mendota by …
Seeping Salt: Study Finds “Slow and Steady” Salinization of North American Lakes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Many North American lakes are getting saltier, thanks primarily to the road salt used to keep winter roads free of ice and snow. While this salt can keep precipitation from freezing …
Study Finds Link Between Climate Change and Longer “Dead Zones” in Lakes
A new study in the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences is linking climate change to yet another environmental impact – longer lasting “dead zones” In lakes. According to the study, warm summer weather is …
Study: Stories of Invasive Species Often Begin with Undetected “Sleeper Populations”
When an invasive species overruns an ecosystem, it is often assumed that the organism recently arrived at its new home and rapidly took over. But a report published in the journal, BioScience, says that many …
Video: Why We’re Spending Another Winter Snowplowing a Bog
This year marks the second season for our ambitious winter limnology experiment up in Vilas County. In case you missed our initial post about why in the world someone would spend all winter plowing a …
Annual PSA: To Keep Our Freshwater Fresh, We Must Be Smart About Winter Salt
Winter in the colder climes of North America means a lot of things – frozen lakes, white blankets of snow and, far too often, the crunch of salt crystals underfoot. While we use salt to …