MADISON – For more than 120 years, scientists at the UW–Madison’s Center for Limnology have studied the waters around Madison, the state and the world. They’ve helped build much of our knowledge about how freshwater ecosystems work and, on Friday, June 24th, they’re opening the doors to the lab for our 5th annual open house …
We here at the Center for Limnology are dedicated to outreach. The more everyone knows about our lakes, the better off we’ll all be. That’s why we love events like the Clean Lakes Alliance’s Frozen Assets Festival – when Lake Mendota becomes an outdoor classroom for people across the city. Over the weekend of February …
CFL graduate student, Colin Smith, produced and narrated this first video in our new “Limnology 101” series. Here he explains why lakes separate into warm, upper layers and cold, bottom layers. Check it out! Stay tuned for more “Limnology 101,” as we explain some of the basic physical and biological principles of the study of our inland …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (press contacts at bottom of story) MADISON — In the fall of 2009, a group of University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduates made a startling discovery in the waters off the campus shoreline. Spiny water fleas, a type of invasive zooplankton believed to be suited only to cooler lakes in more northern climates, turned …
On June 4th, after a week of clear-water conditions in Lake Mendota, some of us here at Hasler Lab decided that our window for swimming in clear water was closing. So we decided to take an up-close and personal reading of conditions. It turns out that our timing was perfect for a refreshing (read: cold) …
Last week on this blog, we wondered if Lake Mendota’s clear water phase was a thing of the past. You see, last year, the algae-eating native zooplankton, daphnia pulicaria were so diminished by predation from the invasive spiny water flea, that their numbers couldn’t grow large enough to keep algae from clouding our waters. Combined with …
Join us FRIDAY, JUNE 12th for the Hasler Lab Open House! If you’re in the Madison area, come on down for a “behind the scenes” event and spend a half hour or the whole …
Lake Monona is crystal clear, while Mendota stays murky and, on Wednesday, we asked you to help us monitor Lake Mendota as we wait to see if the native zooplankton, daphnia pulicaria, can rally and clear up the situation after being decimated by a tiny invasive predator called the spiny water flea. Read that previous …
Last year at this time, we asked you to help us monitor Lake Mendota, as we worried that we’d missed its “clear-water” window. We’re happy to report that, in 2016, we’re nearing a 6 meter Secchi depth and seeing lots of daphnia in our nets. Will this be a clear spring for Madison’s lakes? Stay …
It looks like ice-off is only a couple days away on Madison’s lakes. Before we hit the completely open water season, though, here’s a look back at some semi-frozen fieldwork from early March. Graduate student, Jake Walsh, shares his experience coring Lake Mendota’s sediment layers… by Jake Walsh The past couple of Mondays I’ve been out …