Category: Uncategorized

Crystal Lake: Are Invasive Smelt on Their Way Out?

Back in 2009, a team of engineers and scientists affiliated with the Center for Limnology had a crazy idea – they wanted to see if they could manipulate an entire lake to kill off an invasive fish without harming the lake’s native fish. (The usual method for eradicating an invasive species is poisoning the entire …

CFL in Africa: Wrapping Up Another Season on Lake Tanganyika

School is back in session, and Ellen is safely back on the shores of Lake Mendota, but before we wrap up our summer series on her adventures researching Lake Tanganyika for Pete McIntyre’s lab, here’s a final dispatch from Africa… The Final Push It’s my last week on Lake Tanganyika for the year, and Ben …

Limno in the Lab: Measuring Tiny Helmets and Microscopic Tail Spines

Sure, we get to do some awesome fieldwork in the name of science,  but what we do with all those samples and data sets once we’re back in the lab is just as important.To give you a fuller sense of what it means to study limnology, we bring you a new series complementing our stories …

Another Summer Opening Our Doors

After last year’s big turn out for Trout Lake Station’s inaugural open house, we here at the Center for Limnology decided we were on to something. It seems that the people of Wisconsin are curious about what it is we do and want to know more about their lakes. So this summer we decided to …

CFL in Africa – Cooking Snails: Just Add Isotopes

This summer, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Limnology and Wright State University in Ohio, are on the shores of Africa’s Lake Tanganyika, the oldest and deepest of the African rift lakes. Understanding how “Lake T” works is imperative in order to protect its remarkable biodiversity ( there are more …

Limnology in Action: Taking Crayfish for a Walk

It is not every day that you get to take a crayfish for a walk on a leash. Well, unless you are part of Alex Latzka’s research team. “This is going to be the best field day of your life!” promised Emily Hilts, his incredibly enthusiastic undergraduate assistant. And so far, it was true. I …

CFL in Africa – Not Your “Typical” Day at the Lake

In the summer of 2012, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Limnology and Wright State University in Ohio, will call the shores of Africa’s Lake Tanganyika home. The oldest and deepest of the African rift lakes, Tanganyika is a natural wonder under severe threat. What’s more, it’s near-shore ecosystem contains …

Limnology in Action: Like Baking a Cake in a Lake

Besides the rowboat being pulled across a grid of buoys, the surface of Peter Lake is calm. But, just 5 meters below the surface, a full experiment is under way. “Annndddd…. There is C-13 spilling out down there!” shouts Grace Wilkinson. Looking into the water doesn’t do any good, the carbon-isotope tracer that Wilkinson and …

Trout Lake Station Crew 2012: Not afraid to get their hands dirty, or their shoes wet!

Meet our CFL-Trout Lake Station summer staff team. Summer outreach student, Ali Branscombe is out on the lake through August and will follow this intrepid crew as they conduct research ranging from studying long-term ecological data to finding ways to control the spread of aquatic invasive species. Join her in field adventures through the series Limnology in Action, and feel free to …

Limnology in Action: How to Turn a Lake Blue

Ryan Batt dips a bucket into the lake, and pulls up a quarter-gallon of… Gatorade? At the surface, Ward Lake is like any small bog: tall trees and sedges are reflected on the dark surface and beaver-gnawed branches stick out at odd angles.  Looking down into the water, the lake doesn’t seem that remarkable. But …