University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: Grace Wilkinson

Summer Fellowship Recap: Emily Ledin

Back in April, 109 donors (and some generous matching grants) helped us raise $32,240 dollars during the UW-Madison’s annual “Day of the Badger” fundraising campaign. Every dollar went to our Student Support Fund and gave a group of amazing undergraduates summer fellowships. We wanted to share what your support meant to our students. Here’s what …

Unthreading the Mussel Mystery: Part 3

We’re back with CFL postdoc Tyler Butts and his team as they explore how invasive species interact with eutrophic lakes. As you may have noticed, they are a dedicated crew! by Madelyn Anderson – When I first met undergraduate invasive species technician Joey Munoz, he had a pile of live zebra mussels in front of him …

Small Ponds, Big Impacts: CFL Researchers Explore Urban Ponds to Better Understand Human Influence

by Madelyn Anderson – Fieldwork comes in many forms. Some researchers spend their days wading through Wisconsin’s wetlands, looking for bugs in local rivers, and boating through Lake Mendota, the birthplace of limnology in North America.  But other scientists are at work right in your own backyard or neighborhood park.  PhD candidate Jessica Briggs is …

Summer Snapshot: Studying Small Ponds’ Impact on Madison’s Biggest Lake

by Anna Mueller – A team at the Center for Limnology is spending the summer monitoring urban ponds in Middleton, a city of roughly 20,000 people nestled on the western end of Lake Mendota. Urban ponds are usually designed for one of two purposes – recreation, like fishing or kayaking and water retention, to slow …

Beyond The Bloom: Report Finds Some Surprising Fates in “Life Cycle” of Algal Toxins

Harmful algal blooms often seem to spring up out of nowhere, forcing public health officials scrambling to issue water quality advisories, while people headed out to recreate on a lake, river or reservoir are met with green water and beach closure signs. Then, just as quickly, a bloom can subside – leaving behind clear water …

CFL Grad Student Tyler Butts Wins Cushing Prize

Here at the CFL, we love bragging on our students, faculty and alumni, so we’re very excited to congratulate Tyler Butts on receiving the 2022 Cushing Prize for a paper published in the Journal of Plankton Research.  The annual prize honors the memory of David Cushing, founding editor of the Journal of Plankton Research and …

Explore Our Community’s Smaller Water Bodies at “Pond Exploration Days”

Anyone who lives in the Madison metropolitan area is familiar with Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, the two large bodies of water that frame the city skyline. But there are more modest freshwater systems that also define our landscape – the ponds scattered throughout urban parks and suburban neighborhoods.  While Lake Mendota is often described …

In Rare Dose of Good Climate News Study Finds That, No, Algae Blooms Aren’t Getting Worse Everywhere

As Earth’s average temperature rises, climate change impacts are being felt across the globe. Hurricanes and wildfires are bigger and more destructive. Extreme rain events are more common. Droughts last longer. But, surprisingly, one big problem with a climate connection isn’t getting universally worse. According to a scientific study published online October 5th in Frontiers …

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 …