A new study says that, despite dozens of locks and dams and backwater habitats that slow it’s flow, the Upper Mississippi River isn’t good at retaining the nitrates that run into its waters from intensively farmed states like Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Published July 12th in Environmental Research Letters, the study finds that only12.5% of …
by Luke Loken Autumn is typically associated with fall colors, pumpkin spice lattes, and cool temperatures. However this year, much of the Midwest has been stuck in summer-like conditions. And these record temperatures come with unexpected consequences. Usually, as the air cools in autumn so do the surfaces of our lakes. When a lake’s surface …
A new study says that, despite dozens of locks and dams and backwater habitats that slow it’s flow, the Upper Mississippi River isn’t good at retaining the nitrates that run into its waters from intensively farmed states like Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Published July 12th in Environmental Research Letters, the study finds that just 12.5% …
Originally Published October, 2014 – Earlier this month, anyone down on the shores of Madison’s lakes may have noticed the water tinged the green hue of an algae bloom, something we normally associate with the warmer summer months. But a final fall bloom isn’t all that unusual – It just means that the lakes are, literally, …
Over the course of four Saturdays, from January 25th – February 15th, Center for Limnology graduate students are instructing a group of middle school students on the fundamentals of how limnologists do their research on frozen waters. The program is part of the larger University of Wisconsin’s Saturday Enrichment Program. Over the course …
Some Center for Limnology grad students recently returned from Georgia’s Sapelo Island. It’s part of the UW-Madison class, “Zoology 750: Problems in Oceanography.” All students have to create individual experiments for the trip. But only one required “The Crusher” CFL grad student, Alex Latzka, also shot some video of Samantha Oliver’s experiment and turned it …
Limnologists aren’t always out in boats on calm, sunny days. (But sometimes we are!) While fieldwork is an essential part of collecting data, it’s often not the only step needed to turn that information into something we can use to start answering research questions. Luke Loken is a Center for Limnology grad student in Emily …
The Saint Louis River Estuary is a rare type of freshwater ecosystem that receives significant amounts of water from both the incoming rivers and Lake Superior. While estuaries are common along coastlines where rivers empty into the big blue sea, it’s less common to find a river running into a large-enough body of freshwater like …