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 …
by Sydney Widell – Holly Embke’s Subaru is nearly packed and, besides a few boxes, her desk is vacant. In a few hours, she’ll be leaving Trout Lake Station and driving home to Madison – another field season behind her and a summer’s worth of data to process. Which means that Holly’s job is just …
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 at the Nicolet Area Technical College, Vander Zanden illustrated the way warming lakes, among other …
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 of Lake Mendota, where he works, were green and murky. The two lakes are connected …
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, 824 watched a video about fish migrations as they waited in line for the 4-D …
When zebra mussels were finally found in Lake Mendota in the fall of 2015, most aquatic ecologists in Wisconsin had the same thought – “What took them so long?” These notorious little bivalves were firmly planted on the radar of resource managers and scientists, since they had already overrun the Great Lakes and had been moving into …
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 combined with average air temperatures that are just above freezing seem to offer a less-than-hospitable …
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 Lake Mendota, and it was big news. Today, zebra mussels carpet the rocky bottom of …
by Cheryl Reitan & Adam Hinterthuer Duluth, MN – In September of 2014, fifty-eight scientists gathered to discuss the most pressing research needs in the Great Lakes region. Even though the five lakes contain nearly one-fifth of all the world’s available fresh water and supply that water to more than 35 million people across two …
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 …