Water is a common theme in scholarship across the UW–Madison campus, where more than 100 faculty and staff are involved in water-related research. But what, exactly, everyone is up to and how might they inform one another’s work? At Water@UW–Madison – A Wisconsin Idea Symposium, we will try to gather this water-rich research into a …
Down in the basement of the Water Sciences and Engineering Lab, right next door to us here at the Center for Limnology, sits an aquatic ecosystem with one crazy food web. In the experimental habitat, four different species of fishes – zebrafish, guppies, bluegill and fathead minnows – are feasting on a scientifically measured diet …
by Meredith Smalley Here at Trout Lake Station, the bog walk is a revered and cherished opportunity. Any chance to tromp around in our boots is a welcome break from the bogged-down schedule of daily routine. Beginning with a jaunt to Crystal Bog, I tagged along with a group of graduate students from UW–Madison as they …
Okay, so the polar vortex is paying us a visit for the third time this winter and the ice on Lake Mendota is more than 2 feet thick, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start thinking about summer! It’s time to apply for some excellent summer research opportunities at our research site, Trout Lake Station. …
Excuse us for tooting our own horn here, but the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters just announced the addition of seven distinguished people to its Wisconsin Academy Fellows roster. Our very own John Magnuson is one of them. According to the Wisconsin Academy, it’s fellows are individuals who have shown “extraordinary levels of …
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 …
Yesterday, we gathered at the upstairs windows here in the office and watched as spring thunderstorms blew in across Lake Medota and set a giant slab of ice drifting past Hasler Lab. The sheet of ice appeared to be roughly a quarter the size of the lake itself. If was truly astonishing, like observing some …
Large-river specialist fishes—from giant species like paddlefish and blue catfish, to tiny crystal darters and silver chub – are in danger. According to a new study, in the U.S. 60 out of 68 species, or 88% of fish species found exclusively in large-river ecosystems like the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers, are of state, federal or …