In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was quite a bit of buzz about what came to be called the “anthropause” or the idea that, as humans sheltered in place, Nature got to …
Post Doc Research
A Tale of Two Fishes: Study Maps the Future of Trout Populations in Wisconsin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: [Madison, WI] – Climate change is being felt across the world in many different ways. Atlantic hurricanes intensify. Western droughts deepen. And, here in Wisconsin, the future of fishing gets more uncertain. …
The High Cost of Hydropower: Study Records Big Impacts from Brazil’s Belo Monte “Mega Dam”
The Belo Monte Dam, located in the Amazon Rainforest on Brazil’s Xingu River, is one of the largest hydroelectric facilities in the world. It is also likely the most studied, thanks to an ambitious research …
Nearly half of countries’ shared fish stocks are on the move due to climate change, prompting dispute concerns
Climate change will force 45 per cent of the fish stocks that cross through two or more exclusive economic zones to shift significantly from their historical habitats and migration paths by 2100, a challenge that …
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 …
Forget “Needle in a Haystack.” Try Finding an Invasive Species in a Lake
When the tiny and invasive spiny water flea began appearing in University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers’ nets in 2009, scientists began to wonder how Lake Mendota, one of the most-studied lakes in the world, went from …
Is Lake Monona A Sign That Lake Mendota’s Clear Water Phase Is On Its Way?
Earlier this week, Center for Limnology director, Jake Vander Zanden, noted a startling difference in Madison’s two largest lakes, Mendota and Monona. The waters of Lake Monona, near where he lives, were crystal clear, while …
Learning from Our Mistakes: A Silver-Lining Spin on the Science of Invasive Species
by Jake Walsh There is a fortunate silver-lining to those of us prone to making mistakes – they can be a powerful teaching tool. At a minimum, our mistakes teach us things we shouldn’t be …
Tiny Invasive Species Eats Enough to Devour an Entire City
by Jake Walsh We (or scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, at least) have known for years that the spiny water flea, a tiny, non-native zooplankton that has invaded Madison’s Lake Mendota, has a voracious …
North America’s Freshwater Lakes are Getting Saltier
by Kelly Tyrrell, UW-Madison Communications FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MADISON, WI – Road salt is making North America’s freshwater lakes saltier, according to a new study published today [April 10, 2017] in the Proceedings of …