University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: Wisconsin

Spend Your Summer Doing Freshwater Research, Art, Science Communication (Or All Three)!

Attention undergrads! It’s still February and there’s an ice storm in the forecast, which means it’s a great time to start thinking about how you’ll spend your summer. If a few months up in Wisconsin’s beautiful Northwoods at our research station on Trout Lake sounds good to you, or if you would rather stay here …

Who Will Invade Next? 5 Species That May Threaten Wisconsin Waters

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 …

Climate Change Hits Wisconsin. How Will the State Respond?

An important and informative news story just hit social media feeds this morning. In it, Steve Elbow, a journalist with The Capital Times, lays out all of the many ways that Wisconsin is experiencing climate change. And he details the state government’s effort to not only ignore the problem, but also scrub any previous climate …

Video: Searching for Spring’s Spawning Suckers

Happy Fish Fry Day! Just like many Wisconsin restaurants, we’ve got fish on the menu today. The special? Suckers with a side of steelhead. Watch as CFL graduate student, John Rodstrom, and post-doc, Allison Moody, search for suckers in a Lake Michigan tributary and talk about why free flowing water matters. Editor’s Note: This video …

Rare “Double Mirage” on Lake Mendota Explained

Back in December, some unique circumstances caused an odd stratification of temperatures above the still-open waters on Lake Mendota. With the water keeping air near its surface right around 32 Fahrenheit, but an Arctic blast bringing quite cold temperatures into town, conditions were ripe for a rare winter mirage. Luckily, a local lake-lover snapped some …

Fish Fry Day: Mapping the Movements of Migrating Fish

It’s a cold, overcast day at the end of March and Petrifying Springs Park is brown and leafless – still waiting on its spring greenery. Which means it’s a great day to find some fish here where Pike Creek flows into the Pike River. Specifically, John Rodstrom, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology, …

Fish Fry Day Redux: Video of Smallmouth Bass Begging for Samples

While you’d be right in accusing us of “mailing it in” in this week’s version of the “Fishes of Wisconsin” challenge, we’ll make it up to you by presenting not one, but two cool underwater videos of smallmouth bass doing their thing! First up, some smallies in an undisclosed lake in northern Wisconsin keep trying …

It’s Spring 2016! Help Us Monitor Mendota’s Clear-Water Phase

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 …