Limnology By the Bright, Shining Light of the Moon
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Our summer scicomm intern is proving to be quite the night owl! Here’s her latest dispatch:
Video: Hands-On Science at Hasler Lab Open House!
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Alright, Madison-based fans of freshwater – it’s almost time for our annual Open House! Come one, come all to the shores of Lake Mendota for hands-on, interactive activities that will introduce you to basic concepts of limnology and the plants Read More …
What’s Behind This Extended Phase of Crazy-Clear Water in Lake Mendota?
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Last Friday, Center for Limnology lab technician, Petra Wakker, headed out to the middle of Lake Mendota to collect some routine data on conditions in the lake. As she unwound the rope holding limnology’s oldest tool, the Secchi disk, and Read More …
How We Use Our Land Shapes Streams’ Big Role in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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by Sam Blackburn – If you were to ask someone where climate change-causing greenhouse gases come from, they’d probably say cars, air travel, or manufacturing. Someone from Wisconsin might even say dairy farms. It’s unlikely, however, that anyone would point Read More …
Local adaptation can sustain walleye fisheries in the face of habitat loss
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Recent research by a team of scientists reveals that walleye decline in Mille Lacs is linked to loss of habitat and indicates that by adapting harvest policies to account for changing environmental conditions, walleye fisheries may Read More …
Day of the Badger: 3 Reasons to Support the Center for Limnology
Tomorrow, as you may have heard, is the first ever “Day of the Badger” a one-day UW-Madison fundraising spree and our little center is one of the participants. We’re raising money to increase our outreach efforts and our ability to Read More …
In Managing the World’s Fisheries, Scientists Angle for More Attention to “Fishing for Fun”
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MADISON – When we think about the world’s fisheries, the images that readily spring to mind are big ships hauling nets full of wriggling fish up from the depths of a lake or an ocean. What we don’t picture is Read More …
Someone Put the 25 Largest Lakes on Earth in One Map. So What, Exactly, is a Lake?
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A couple of days ago the picture above caught our attention on Twitter and we retweeted it. The folks at a website called the Visual Capitalist had used a nifty online tool called “Slap It On a Map!” to cram Read More …
Reddit Competes to Visualize Madison’s Prized Lake Mendota Ice Data
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by Eric Hamilton, University Communications – For 166 years, observers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin State Climatology Office have recorded a central aspect of life in the city — the dates when Lake Mendota freezes and thaws. Read More …
Freeze, Then Thaw, Then Freeze? Lake Ice A Result of More Than Just Cold Weather
On the morning of Wednesday, December 19th, I got off the bus at University Avenue and began my walk north on Park Street – under the pedestrian bridge proclaiming “University of Wisconsin – Madison,” past Bascom Hill and toward the Read More …
The Surprising Connection Between Water Levels in Lakes and Mercury in Fish
When water levels drop in a lake, so do mercury levels in fish. Photo: Dick Lathrop BOULDER JUNCTION, WI – A new study has found an unexpected connection between water Read More …
To Keep Our Freshwater Fresh, We Need to Be Smart About Salt
In the early morning hours this Saturday, I awoke to the first snowplow of the year scraping down my street. A few hours later, it took another Read More …
“David Buoy” Wraps Up 11th Year Monitoring Lake Mendota
CFL grad student, Emily Whitaker tows David Buoy toward shore. Photo: E. Whitaker Yesterday we caught a slight break in our string of cold, windy days and researchers here at the UW- Madison were able to head out onto Lake Read More …
UW-Madison Undergrads Cast a Wide Net to Catch Ecological Change on McDermott Lake
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Holly Embke tosses a clover trap into McDermott Lake. Photo: Sydney Widell Over the course of the last four months, PhD student Holly Embke and her team of undergraduate researchers have systematically removed more than 80,000 bass and panfish from Read More …
How A 30-Year Rain Event Became a 100-Year Flood
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Lake Monona, Madison, WI. Photo: A. Hinterthuer In case you’ve somehow missed the news, let’s just say that it’s been wet in Wisconsin over the last week. Really, really wet. Here in Madison we’re still holding our breath, filling up Read More …
Record Rain in Madison is What Climate Change Looks Like – Especially in Midwest
It’s been more than 24 hours since a severe weather system stalled out over Dane County and dumped anywhere from 3.92 (Dane County Airport), to 11.63 (National Weather Service in Middleton) to an unconfirmed 15.33 inches of rain in Cross Read More …
Forensic Fishing: Using eDNA to Track Fish Populations
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Mike Spear heads onto Bearskin Lake looking for environmental DNA — or eDNA—the genetic material fish shed as they move around the lake. Photo: S. Widell by Sydney Widell – At the start of every fishing season, the Wisconsin Department of Read More …
The Mystery of the “Fairy Rings” on Howe Lake
What’s behind these curious fairy rings on Howe Lake? Photo: S. Knight Howe Lake is hard to get to. It lies at the end of a narrow, rutted-out dirt road, ten miles from the nearest town. And it’s not just Read More …
Florida’s Red Tide Shows Algae Blooms Aren’t Just a Wisconsin Problem
Pre-Dawn Fieldwork, Pancakes and Pixels: Study Aims to See the Forests and the Trees
This is Part 2 of a 3-Part series on an ambitious summer research project exploring how trees manage their water supplies and respond to drought. Part 1 is here and Part 3 is coming soon! by Sydney Widell – “The Read More …
Guest Post: Building a Better Water Quality Measurement Platform
by Meghan Chua With a background in engineering and environmental science, alumnus Paul Schramm had the perfect mix of skills to work on a water quality measurement project that brought new possibilities into the field of limnology. Schramm first started Read More …
How an Aquatic Invasion Transformed a Community’s Relationship with a Lake – and Each Other
by Sydney Widell As Dan Benson was enjoying the view of Upper Buckatabon Lake from his dock one morning, he noticed something in the water he’d never seen in the 20 years he’s lived on the water. The morning was Read More
Trout Lake Station’s 8th Annual Open House – August 3rd
BOULDER JUNCTION, WI – On Friday, August 3rd, the UW-Madison Center for Limnology will host its 8th annual Open House at Trout Lake Station, our research facility in Wisconsin’s beautiful Northwoods. Join us from 1 to 5 pm for a chance to Read More …
Forget “Needle in a Haystack,” Try Finding Littorella in a Lake
by Sydney Widell If you’ve never heard of Littorella, you are definitely not alone. Incredibly rare, this grassy aquatic plant only graces the beds of a few select lakes in Northern Wisconsin. Today, Susan Knight, expert botanist and Trout Lake Read More …
Diatoms Prove That Not All Algae is Ugly
Think algae are gross? A new website will make you take a closer look. Dedicated to Lake Mendota’s diatoms – single-celled members of the brown algae classification – the website serves as a field guide of sorts to the beautiful, Read More …
Massive Blue-Green Algae Bloom Stretches Across Lake Mendota
A couple of weeks ago, after yet another round of intense rain in the Madison area, we headed over to the website of the Wisconsin State Climatology office, curious if we were seeing more rain than normal. The answer was, Read More …
Running Diary of Flux Chambers, Mini Me and a Marathon Day in the Field
Necessity, of course, is the mother of invention. And scientific fieldwork is often the mother of necessity. Researchers are constantly having to invent new ways to collect data in challenging environments. What follows is a running diary of a marathon Read More …
What’s Tipping the Scales Toward More Bass, Fewer Walleye in Wisconsin Waters?
by Sydney Widell For walleye and other northern Wisconsin fish, a warming climate may mean smaller populations and shrinking ranges, said Center for Limnology Director, Jake Vander Zanden, in a lecture Wednesday. Addressing a crowd of homeowners and area fisherman Read More …
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 the waters along the shoreline Read More …
Checking in on Madison Lakes Ahead of the Fishing Opener
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of catching a walleye or musky or pretty much any fish in Wisconsin, you might want to thank someone from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). They’re the folks tasked with stocking our Read More …
Celebrating 50 Years of a UW-Madison, Shedd Aquarium Collaboration
On Saturday, April 21st, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium welcomed 9,256 visitors to its sprawling campus along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. 1225 of the youngest visitors grabbed “passports” to learn more about the migratory fishes on display for World Fish Migration Day. 4, Read More …
Celebrating World Fish Migration Day at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium
This Saturday, April 21st, is World Fish Migration Day – a day to celebrate the incredible journeys that fishes undertake each year to spawn and continue their species’ existence. World Fish Migration Day is “a one day global celebration to create awareness on Read More …
Study Confirms Walleye Populations Are In Decline
by Kat Kerlin (UC Davis) Walleye, an iconic native fish species in Wisconsin, the upper Midwest and Canada, are in decline in northern Wisconsin lakes, according to a study in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Species The study does not pinpoint Read More …
Ice Off and Carbon Fluxes: Springtime on Lake Mendota
by Angela Baldocchi Every spring, when I spot the first buds on a tree, I always think I might actually get to see them open if I pay close enough attention. But then – as if overnight – the leaves Read More …
‘Free-range scientist’ Steve Carpenter remains inspired, inspiring — even in retirement
(This article was originally published on news.wisc.edu) It’s been nearly six months since Steve Carpenter officially stepped down as director of the UW–Madison Center for Limnology. Yet, despite updating his resume with the title “free-range scientist,” he is still trying Read More …
Guest Post: How To Create A More Beautiful Earth
Ever since Hasler Lab Coordinator, Kelly O’Ferrell, launched our “Art @ Hasler” series, beautiful exhibitions of aquatic-themed art have graced our walls. The current series of photographs by Stuart Deets is especially profound, as is his essay on their creation Read More …
Storing Carbon and Slowing Floods in Your Own Backyard
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) MADISON – For many ecologists, fieldwork involves majestic mountains or rushing rivers or large tracts of wilderness. At the very least, it means exploring natural areas that aren’t defined by human development. But for Carly Ziter, a Read More …
Emily Stanley Named a 2018 Fellow by the Ecological Society of America
Pardon us while we brag a bit, but Center for Limnology professor, Emily Stanley, was just named a 2018 fellow by the Ecological Society of America and, well, we think that’s a pretty big deal! In an announcement about the Read More …
Do You Ever Wonder What Happens to Fish in a Frozen Lake?
by Mason Muerhoff, @UWMadScience It is winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The vicious cold has transformed the scattered blue lakes of the North Woods into white disks — barren wastelands of ice. The harsh winds rushing across the icy plains Read More …
Guest Post: Rural Communities in Thailand Conserve Vulnerable Fishes
CFL graduate student, Aaron Koning, spends a lot of time in Thailand, where he is studying fish conservation zones in rural communities to see if these efforts help protect fish biodiversity at a larger scale. His work caught the notice Read More …
Blog Redux: Can Rare Floods Bring the Colorado River Delta Back?
In a couple of weeks, your trusty blogger will be traipsing across the desert Southwest, helping lead a group of journalists on a “learning expedition” down the Colorado River. This Wednesday, Science on Tap-Minocqua will host a conversation about Aldo Read More …
Coming Soon: Science on Ice, Urban Foxes and Aldo Leopold’s Legacy
We’ve got a busy week ahead of sharing science to the wider world. Check out what’s on tap! Science on Ice at the Frozen Assets Festival – Saturday, February 3rd (11am to 3pm) Ever wonder what a limnologist does in Read More
Guest Post: How Do Fish Handle Cold Water?
Each winter people ask us what, exactly, is everything doing down under that ice? As those ice fishing shanties dotting the frozen surface of our lakes attest, fish are still active. So how, exactly, do fish get through winter? Brandon Read More …
Special Delivery: Shiny Piece of Scientific History Finds Its Way Home
At the end of last year, the Center for Limnology received a very special Christmas gift all the way from Corvallis, Oregon. To be more precise, our recently retired director, Steve Carpenter, got a package in the mail. Inside was Read More …
According to Science, We’re Losing Something Magical.
Two weeks ago, I walked down the hill from my house to do something I’d never done before. On the shoreline of Lake Monona, in the time it took my wife to get herself and our two daughters laced up, Read More …
Blame It On The Rain: Study Ties Nutrient Loading in Lakes to Extreme Precipitation Events
While April showers might bring May flowers, they also contribute to toxic bacteria blooms, dead zones and declining water quality in U.S. lakes, reservoirs and coastal waters, says a new study published online by the journal Limnology and Oceanography. In Read More …
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 doing. In the best cases, Read More …
Holidays Are Over, 2018 Has Begun and Lake Mendota is Frozen
Welcome back to our blog! We’ve got big plans in store for 2018, but first wanted to touch base on something that happened way back in 2017 – December 27th, to be exact. If you were in the Madison area Read More …
The 12 Blog Posts of Christmas: Happy Holidays from the CFL!
Happy Holidays, blog readers! We hope you had a fun, productive and meaningful 2017. As we head off into our holiday break, here is a gift from us, a look at 12 blog posts from this year that were big Read More …
Climate Change Hits Wisconsin. How Will the State Respond?
An important and informative news story just hit social media feeds this morning. In it, Steve Elbow, a journalist with The Capital Times, lays out all of the many ways that Wisconsin is experiencing climate change. And he details the Read More …
Watch: Unbelievable Swarm of Spiny Water Fleas Invade Hasler Lab
Last Friday, my phone started “blowing up” with text messages about some sort of invasion at Hasler Lab and where, exactly, our new Go Pro camera could be found. Perhaps because I’ve recently binged-watched both seasons of Stranger Things, I Read More …
Calculators, Ditto Machines and a Ski Barge: Zoology in the Summer of ’71
Not so long ago (but long enough that we’re ashamed we haven’t gotten to this yet), former Center for Limnology grad student, Lorna Petty sent our director emeritus, John Magnuson a copy of the “Manual for the Laboratory for Limnology” Read More …
A Cocktail of Contaminants: Moving Away From Single Chemical Science
Efforts to relax environmental regulations and weaken wetland protections have been in the news a lot in Wisconsin recently, which made the post we just read from The Fisheries Blog even more relevant. What’s in our water? The answer is Read More …
Help Save Wildlife – Donate Zebra Mussels?
Do these cool fall temps have you thinking it’s time to pull in the pier? If so, be prepared to bring a whole lot of zebra mussels onto shore with it. But the Dane County Office of Lakes and Watersheds Read More …
Stares on the Stairs: Hasler Lab’s Rotating Art Exhibits
If you’ve ever visited our comfy confines here on the Lakeshore Path, you know that the inside of Hasler Lab is, well, of the white cinder-block school of interior design. But, thanks to Hasler Lab Coordinator, Kelly O’Ferrell, and a Read More …
It’s a Jungle Down There: Zebra Mussels Transforming Depths of Lake Mendota
by Mike Spear In September 2015, a single zebra mussel about the size of a fingernail sent alarm through the Center for Limnology. (CFL). It signaled the arrival of one of the world’s most notorious invasive species in our own Read More …
A Final Farewell to the Best Summer Job I’ve Ever Had
Goodbyes are hard, especially when it comes to saying them to people you’ve lived with and developed friendships with over the past two-and-a-half months. (Seriously, where did the time go?!) And so, I’d like to start off Read More …
Despite Changes in Climate, Land Use and Management Practices, Lakes Stay Surprisingly Static
Over the last few decades, change has defined our environment in the United States. Agriculture intensified. Urban areas sprawled. The climate warmed. Intense rainstorms became more common. But, says a new study, while those kinds of changes usually result in Read More …
Madison in Bloom: Blue-Green Algae Hits Lake Mendota
The Bloom Begins It was a hot, sunny day and Steve Carpenter couldn’t believe the view from his second-floor office on the shoreline of Lake Mendota. As far out as he could see from his perch in the Hasler Laboratory Read More …
Stuck Between a Hand Drill and a Hard Place
by Riley Steinbrenner It’s hard to believe it’s already been almost two weeks since I arrived at Trout Lake Station! After battling the big waves of Johnson Lake with Susan and Adam, I realized I never formally introduced myself. So… Read More …
Zebra Mussel Invasion in Full Swing in Lake Mendota
Somewhere along the way, someone lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Maybe they were blown off on a full-throttle boat ride. Or slipped from a shirt pocket while wrestling a fish on board. Whatever the cause, the sleek, black glasses Read More …
Hasler Lab Open House – Friday, June 23rd!
Mayfly. Bladderwort. Freshwater Drum. No, these aren’t names of some obscure band headed to town, they’re the names of some of the many plants, animals and insects that call Madison’s lakes home. And, on Friday, June 23rd – from 2 to 6pm – visitors will get a chance to meet them! Read More …
Thinking Big About Invasive Species: Q&A with Jake Vander Zanden
A recent study in the journal, Ecosystems, says that, when it comes to invasive species, it’s time to think bigger. While the movement of species from their native ranges to exotic lands is a major component of global ecosystem change, Read More …
Blog Redux: Secchi Disk Celebrates 150 Years of Clarity
Tomorrow will mark the one hundred and fifty-second birthday of the Secchi disk. We dusted off this post from two years ago to tell you all about our favorite scientific instrument. Enjoy! (Originally published April 20, 2015) – A time-honored Read More …
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 the National Academy of Sciences. Read More …
When It Comes to Biological Extremes, Expect the Unexpected
MADISON – Human beings are familiar with the idea of extreme events. Meteorologists keep us up to date on hurricanes, floods and high temperatures. Economists watch the stock market for signs of crashes or rallies. We spend a lot of time trying to better predict these events, yet are often surprised when they occur.
But, says a new study in the journal Limnology & Oceanography Letters, when it comes to biology’s extremes, it’s not enough to just expect the unexpected. We need to be ready for the unprecedented as well Read More …
What Lies Beneath: Sudden Invasion of a Wisconsin Lake Wasn’t So Sudden After All
In the fall of 2009, a tiny aquatic creature known as the spiny water flea showed up in a lake where it had never before been seen. At first, students in the UW-Madison undergraduate limnology class didn’t know what they had found. But professor Jake Vander Zanden did. Read More …
Lake Mendota’s Spring Thaw Ties for 2nd Earliest on Record
Steve Carpenter On “Fake Facts,” Trust in Science and Hope For the Future
The following “Know Your Madisonian” profile ran in today in the Wisconsin State Journal
by Karen Rivedal, Wisconsin State Journal
As an antidote to a proliferation of “fake facts,” Stephen Carpenter offers repeatable, observable, measurable science that is provably fact-filled. Continue reading –>
Blog Redux: What Less Lake Ice Means for Ecology, Economy and Ourselves
NOTE: This post originally ran on January 17, 2012. In the four of the five years since this post, Lake Mendota has frozen over well after its “median” freeze date, and in three of the five years it has thawed Read More …
Fish Fry Day: Western Mosquitofish and the Danger of Good Intentions
It’s Fish Fry Day and fish is on the menu! We’re working our way across the “Fishes of Wisconsin” poster finding morsels of info for every species of fishes found in Wisconsin. Today’s special: the Western Mosquitofish. Take a moment Read More …
What Two Frozen Lakes Taught Me About Perception Versus Data
Today, I woke up at my favorite place on earth – Ten Mile Lake, in Hackensack, Minnesota. On the coldest day of the winter thus far, the frozen lake is so bright, so sparkly, it is almost hard to look at. And when you are from a place where 30 below is often the actual temperature (NOT the wind chill), you rely less on the calendar to define the seasons and more on observations of specific events that are tied to the climate. Read More …
Bass Set to Win, Walleye Lose Under Warming Projections
Following up on our call for political officials in Wisconsin to start taking climate change seriously, here is a post originally published in September of 2016 about one of the potential impacts global warming will have on Wisconsin and Midwest lakes. Read More …
Purging DNR’s Website Doesn’t Change Climate Facts
Last week, we shared our resolution to stand up for science in 2017, after the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources changed their website to reflect an incorrect and politically motivated stance on climate change. Yesterday CFL director, Steve Carpenter, and Read More …
Rare “Double Mirage” on Lake Mendota Explained
Back in December, some unique circumstances caused an odd stratification of temperatures above the still-open waters on Lake Mendota. With the water keeping air near its surface right around 32 Fahrenheit, but an Arctic blast bringing quite cold temperatures into Read More …
Fish Fry Day: Biology and Neutrons Collide to Unlock Secrets of Fish Ear Bones
by Sean Simoneau, Oak Ridge National Laboratory simoneausm@ornl.gov December 20, 2016—Scientific discovery can come from anywhere, but few researchers can say the answers to their questions would come from the pea-sized bones in the head of a six-foot-long, 200-pound prehistoric Read More
A Resolution for 2017: Speak Out for Science
Happy New Year! We here at the CFL hope you had a fantastic holiday season and are rested and recharged for 2017. We’re excited to see what the year will bring but, before we start posting awesome articles about amazing Read More …