During the winter, many Wisconsinites share in the joys of a frozen lake or other waterbody. Ice fishing, ice skating, skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling are all popular types of frozen fun. The Center for Limnology also deeply enjoys this season, continuing research under the ice and leading educational activities on top of it. Each February, …
by Adam Hinterthuer – It is surreal to be typing these words but – after 15 years – I am saying farewell to the Center for Limnology. In that time, I’ve had the great privilege to help share the stories about – and behind – the world-class science being done from this small, but mighty, …
A recently published video on YouTube chronicles the struggles of Ito, or the Sakhalin taimen. Like many tales of struggling species of fish, the Japanese rivers Ito call home have been reengineered by humans and warmed by climate change. CFL associate professor, Olaf Jensen, helped conduct surveys of this endangered species and one of Jensen’s …
Earlier this winter, Center for Limnology graduate student, Sophia Skoglund, stepped up to a scaled-down version of NASA’s “Hyperwall” presentation screen in a cavernous room of the New Orleans Convention Center. Skoglund was there to tell attendees of the American Geophysical Union’s annual conference about her work bringing satellite data down to earth – or, …
It’s official! Just as we were waking up from ringing in the New Year, the Wisconsin State Climatology Office declared January 1, 2026 as the date that Lake Mendota officially froze for the 2025/26 winter season. Here at the CFL it’s hard to feel like winter has truly begun until the last of Madison’s lakes …
Yesterday evening as sunset was casting a rosy pink band of light across the frozen surface of Lake Monona near Olbrich Park, two people skated across its newly frozen surface. This morning, a semi-frozen Lake Mendota offered flocks of Canada geese, mallards and mergansers rippling open waters to swim in punctuated by long stretches of …
Earlier this fall, we asked some of the Center for Limnology’s alumni from the last several years to send us updates on what they were working on these days. A couple of those updates ended up in our annual newsletter (which you can read here), but we got so many updates, we didn’t have room …
We hope everyone gets to spend this holiday surrounded by friends and family and enjoy good food and good company – preferably not too far from your favorite body of water. 2025 has been an unprecedentedly challenging year in a lot of ways, but we’re still finding things to be thankful for here at the …
by Adam Hinterthuer – Walleye are a culturally and economically important species of game fish across the Midwest, and a species that is struggling to adapt to warmer lakes. As scientists, fisheries managers, Tribes and anglers all work to protect walleye populations, a new study has taken the discussion into the weeds. Specifically, the study …
By Adam Hinterthuer – A new study has found that, when it comes to our freshwater fisheries, recreational anglers currently have a greater impact on fish populations than climate change. And that may be good news, says the study’s lead author, Luoliang Xu, because, faced with warming waters around the world, “local fishery management becomes …