Category: Uncategorized

Limno in the Lab – Scientists Sorting Snails

Field season is, of course, where the best photo ops and a lot of the fun of being a research scientist happens. If you’re a loyal reader of this blog, you’ll remember a handful of lively dispatches from the CFL’s Ellen Hamann as she worked this summer with the McIntyre lab on the Tanzania shoreline …

Wild Kingdom in Madtown: Tundra Swan Stopover

Last Sunday, CFL director, Steve Carpenter, happened to be out and about with his camera and spotting scope on the Lake Mendota shoreline. Out in the middle of the lake, where the ice edge met the open water, he spied a large gathering of migrating tundra swans. “There were several hundred of them in the …

Another Year, Another Late Freeze on Lake Mendota

The view from Hasler Lab on Monday was one of windswept waves crashing into the ice-covered rocks of Lake Mendota’s southern shoreline. Not even a rim of pancake ice to slow their roll. Today the lake is, well, a little calmer. But out in the middle of Madison’s main aquatic feature, the dark blue of …

2012 In Review – Electrofishing, Pike-Hunting and The Return of Phantom Midge

2012 was a great year to be a limnologist. Center for Limnology researchers got out in the field to conduct interesting experiments in beautiful settings, papers published by both faculty and students received all sorts of media attention, and, perhaps most important, the CFL band, Phantom Midge, once again rocked the Christmas party. As we …

Mapping Effort Charts Restoration Course for Great Lakes

MADISON – As the federal government builds on its $1 billion investment to clean up and restore the Great Lakes, an international research consortium has developed innovative new maps of both environmental threats and benefits to help guide cost-effective approaches to environmental remediation of the world’s largest fresh water resource. Writing this week (Dec. 17, …

Center for Limnology Annual Newsletter

‘Tis the Season for the Center for Limnology’s annual newsletter. For a good look at some of the things we got up to this year, as well as faculty milestones, alumni news and grad student profiles, you can find a PDF of the 2012 newsletter (as well as copies of past newsletters) right here. If …

“Water @ UW-Madison” Website Serves as Reservoir for University’s Water Research

MADISON – Water covers 70% of the earth’s surface, makes up the majority of our bodies, and its use, quality, and availability are some of the most critical issues facing our world today. Water is also a critical area of research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a fact that can sometimes be obscured, because water-related …

CFL in Africa – What Was Lost Now Is Found…

If you read our summer series “CFL in Africa,” then you know that field work on that far-flung continent is anything but routine.  For example, a bright orange buoy floating atop the water is a sure sign to passing fishermen or anyone else motoring by that there’s probably something worth some money on the other …

Wordless Wednesday – Take 8

This sign, posted above a “touch tank” at the Tennessee Aquarium instructs visitors on how to touch the fish without stressing them too much. The sturgeon at the aquarium are actually born in Wisconsin hatcheries and sent to Chattanooga to aid restoration efforts of sturgeon to the Tennessee River. We’ve awoken from our Thanksgiving stupor …

Wordless Wednesday – Take 7

Another week, another winner! Blog follower “Gator” heaves a last-second desperation shot at the buzzer and wins it all (note: “it” ain’t much!) with the caption: The Carp Curl Since the “fish weighs more than you do” jokes were flying during the taking of that shot, we had to give a nod to anything referencing …