If you aren’t following our friends at The Fisheries Blog, you should be. They post all kinds of fascinating science on the fishes of the world – like this recent post from our former post doc, Solomon David. Enjoy! By Solomon David – (originally posted at The Fisheries Blog, January 21, 2019) Although dogs and …
When the tiny and invasive spiny water flea began appearing in University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers’ nets in 2009, scientists began to wonder how Lake Mendota, one of the most-studied lakes in the world, went from flea-free to infested seemingly overnight. Subsequent studies found the invader had persisted for years at low population densities that went …
Dense beds of Eurasian watermilfoil carpet the surface of Hancock Lake, a few miles east of Tomahawk, W.I., where undergraduate researchers Linden Taylor and Brigid Doyle have come to take samples of the invasive aquatic plant. The plant’s rapid spread has fascinated biologists and frustrated homeowners, who have seen it out-compete native plants, change freshwater …
By Ryan Smazal, Wisconsin Historical Society; and Sara Fox, University of Wisconsin-Extension As many might know, the Great Lakes house about a fifth of the freshwater supply for the entire world. A less commonly known fact is that the Great Lakes contain more than 700 shipwrecks. Among those shipwrecks live over 3,500 plant and animal …
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 calm and the lake was glassy. But some 250 feet off shore, a stretch of …
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, they help us better understand ourselves and how we work. Scientists are no strangers to …
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 has an idea for what to do after you’ve scraped the Madison lakes’ newest invader …
by Neil Coughlan and Andy Stevens Late one night, Andy Stevens, then a Center for Limnology graduate student, pulled a minnow trap out of the water off of the Hasler Lab pier in Lake Mendota. In the glare of his flashlight, Stevens could see the already familiar clusters of zebra mussels colonizing the wire mesh …
This is just a friendly PSA to let you know about an exciting opportunity to talk science tonight in both Madison and Minocqua. The CFL is helping host two science cafes where we leave the lecture behind, grab a drink and start a conversation. Details below: Invasives Attack! – Science on Tap-Madison – 7pm, Nomad …
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 with the reflective lenses sank eight meters (about 24 feet) and settled on top of …