Road Block: Study Maps Stream Barriers in Great Lakes Basin

Posted on May 14, 2013 by admin

Over the last several years, state agencies and environmental non-profit organizations have targeted dam removal as a way to quickly improve the health of aquatic ecosystems. Dams keep migratory fish from swimming upriver to spawn, block nutrients from flowing downstream, and change the entire hydrology of a watershed. From an ecosystem perspective, taking down a dam and returning a river to a more natural flow seems like a no-brainer.

Dam removal projects are costly and time-consuming. They may also be only part of the solution. Photo: Michigan Department of Natural Resources

But a new study says that most dam removal efforts are missing an important part of the picture – you can’t talk about river restoration without also talking about roads.

In the study, published in the May issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a team of researchers mapped out every obstacle, from large hydroelectric dams to tiny road culverts, in the entire Great Lakes drainage basin. What these maps show is that, while there are more than 7,000 dams on the rivers, creeks and streams flowing into the Great Lakes, there are 38 times that number of road crossings. Or 268,818, to be precise. Continue reading →

“Lean In” to Limnology: A History of Aquatic Ecologists

Posted on April 24, 2013 by admin

The WDNR Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Research team (Kelly Wagner, Michelle Nault, Ali Mikulyuk, and Martha Barton) with their awards. Photo: Ali Miklulyuk

Earlier this month, CFL graduate student and Wisconsin DNR research scientist, Alison (Ali) Mikulyuk received the 2013 Wisconsin Lake Stewardship Award along with her colleagues Martha Barton, Michelle Nault, & Kelly Wagner for their work with the WDNR‘s Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Research department. (In Wisconsin Lake circles, they’re affectionately known as the “Plant Divas.”)

Ali at work in a parsnip field. Photo courtesy: Ali Mikulyuk

We prefer the term “award winners” since it’s a known fact that we love to brag on our students at the CFL and think they’re pretty much going to save freshwater as we know it. Ali, however asked if we could instead point the spotlight on the long and storied history of other women in limnology.

We were more than happy to oblige – especially since there is such an awesome roster of amazing scientists to choose from. Ali wrote up the following three blurbs. We know it’s slanted toward dead American scientists and not at all comprehensive, but it’s a cool list nonetheless. We are more than happy to hear suggestions of other (preferably even living!) notable women limnologists, ecologists, hydrologists, etc. in the comments section! Continue reading →

A Look at Our Lakes on Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2013 by admin

Happy Earth Day!

Wisconsin, of course, is where it all began, thanks to former U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson’s vision. As we here at the blog mulled over an appropriate topic for an Earth Day post, we kept seeing local media coverage about Madison’s lakes. And that had us returning to one thought – April rains bring July pains.

Satellite view of phosphorous-driven algal blooms. Phosphorus carried into Lake Mendota via the Yahara River fertilizes algal growth. Photo: UW SSEC and WisconsinView

While the entire Midwest has been waiting for spring to finally fight off winter (sorry, Minnesotans) and get some of those May flowers out of the ground, our daily deluges also have a longer-lasting impact. We asked Center for Limnology director, Steve Carpenter to comment on this soggy spring and here was his reply: Continue reading →

Thinking “Big” May Not Be Best Approach to Saving Large-River Fish

Posted on April 8, 2013 by admin

This tiny paddlefish needs a large river to grow up big and strong – in some cases, upwards of 100 pounds. Photo: Brenda Pracheil

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 international conservation concern. The report is in the April issue of the journal, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment and was authored by Center for Limnology postdoctoral researcher, Brenda Pracheil, faculty member, Pete McIntyre, and Wisconsin DNR fish biologist, John Lyons (also a CFL alumnus).

What makes the findings especially worrying, is that conservation opportunities in America’s largest rivers are scarce. Continue reading →

Study Documents Round Goby’s Rapid Invasion of Wisconsin Streams

Posted on January 15, 2013 by admin

Round gobies are usually a mottled, beige/brown color, but males turn jet black during spawning. Photo credit: Matt Kornis

In 1990, a small stowaway was dumped from the ballast tank of an ocean-going freighter into the waters of the St. Clair River, joining more than 180 other non-native species in the Great Lakes. Two decades later, the round goby, an aggressive, voracious, bottom-dwelling fish has invaded all five Great Lakes and has had profound impacts on other fish populations. As is the case with most aquatic invasive species, the lakes were only the first stop of the goby invasion. Now new research out of the Center for Limnology (CFL) shows that the fish is rapidly spreading into Wisconsin streams.

Researchers studied sites throughout Wisconsin tributaries of Lake Michigan for the presence and abundance of round gobies and several native fishes.

Reporting in the February issue of the journal Diversity and Distributions, a team of CFL-affiliated researchers shows that, between 2007 and 2010, goby populations in already invaded streams increased more than ten-fold. And that’s just the average increase, says Matt Kornis, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. In some cases, the goby population boom was much more pronounced. Take, for example, the Ahnapee River in Door County, Wisconsin. “At one site we caught a single round goby in 2007,” Kornis recalls. “In 2010, using the same sample method, we caught upwards of 60.” Continue reading →

Center for Limnology Annual Newsletter

Posted on December 11, 2012 by admin

John Magnuson leads a “limno tour” of Lake Mendota during the 2012 Hasler Lab Open House.

‘Tis the Season for the Center for Limnology’s annual newsletter. For a good look at some of the things we got up to this year, as well as faculty milestones, alumni news and grad student profiles, you can find a PDF of the 2012 newsletter (as well as copies of past newsletters) right here.

If you’d like to be on the mailing list (we send both e-mails and old-school real-life paper copies to mailboxes), just send a request to be added to media@limnology.wisc.edu

LTER senior research specialist, Ted Bier, exhibits a bullhead caught in a Fyke net to a crowd of Hasler Lab visitors.

Enjoy!

http://limnology.wisc.edu/Limnology_News.php

“Water @ UW-Madison” Website Serves as Reservoir for University’s Water Research

Posted on December 5, 2012 by admin

The UW-Madison and its surrounding lakes are the source for some of the world’s preeminent water science, from ecology and chemistry, to policy and protection.

MADISON – Water covers 70% of the earth’s surface, makes up the majority of our bodies, and its use, quality, and availability are some of the most critical issues facing our world today.

Water is also a critical area of research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a fact that can sometimes be obscured, because water-related research is scattered across dozens of departments, colleges, centers, and institutes on campus.

Now, a website, called “Water @ UW-Madison” (www.water.wisc.edu) is bringing these streams of research together in one place. Continue reading →

Looking to The Skies to Save U.S. Fish

Posted on October 10, 2012 by admin

CFL post doc, Brenda Pracheil, shows off one of the fish that prompted her study in Fisheries magazine – Credit:Dan Kolterman, Florida Fish & Wildlife COnservation Commission

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher says states should be looking to the skies in order to save fish.

Brenda Pracheil, a postdoctoral fellow at the UW-Madison Center for Limnology, thinks it’s time for fish to garner the same protection afforded migratory birds. Migratory birds are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, and state collaboration and federal oversight span borders and encompass large conservation efforts in migratory flyways, especially for waterfowl.

But many freshwater fish migrate, too, says Pracheil. In fact, she notes, some work their way through thousands of miles of water and cross half a dozen state lines in the process. And that’s why, she argues, fish need “swimways.”

Ecosystems on the Brink – CFL in Scientific American

Posted on October 8, 2012 by admin

Credit: David Littswager via Scientific American

The October 2012 issue of Scientific American is out and it features a nice article on ecosystem regime shifts, CFL experimental workhorses Peter and Paul Lakes, and our director, Steve Carpenter.

Ecosystems on the Brink

by Carl Zimmer

Peter lake lies deep in a maple forest near the Wisconsin-Michigan border. One day in July 2008 a group of scientists and graduate students led by ecologist Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin–Madison arrived at the lake with some fish. One by one, they dropped 12 largemouth bass into the water. Then they headed for home, leaving behind sensors that could measure water clarity every five minutes, 24 hours a day.

The scientists repeated the same trip two more times in 2009. Each time they dropped 15 more bass into the water. Months passed. The lake cycled through the seasons. It froze over, thawed out and bloomed again with life. Then, in the summer of 2010, Peter Lake changed dramatically. Before the scientists started their experiment, the lake abounded in fathead minnows, pumpkinseeds and other small fish. Now, however, those once dominant predators were rare, for the most part eaten by the largemouth bass. The few survivors hid in the shallows. Water fleas and other tiny animals that the small fish once devoured were now free to flourish. And because these diminutive animals graze on algae, the lake water became clearer. Two years later the ecosystem remains in its altered state.

Keep reading here. (Link may require a subscription. If you’re coming from a UW-Madison computer, you can use institutional access)

Crystal Lake: Are Invasive Smelt on Their Way Out?

Posted on September 12, 2012 by admin

Team members move a GELI (attached to a red air hose) into the water so it can be towed to its spot in Crystal Lake by boat.

Back in 2009, a team of engineers and scientists affiliated with the Center for Limnology had a crazy idea – they wanted to see if they could manipulate an entire lake to kill off an invasive fish without harming the lake’s native fish. (The usual method for eradicating an invasive species is poisoning the entire lake, killing everything, and then re-stocking it with native fish).

Team members attach the rubber air bladder to the metal frame of the GELI.

The group spent a summer up at Trout Lake Station and built from scratch a contraption that looked like a giant trampoline. It was a rubber air bladder stretched around a metal frame and attached to an air hose. They called it a gradual entrainment lake inverter, or GELI, for short. Four summers later, their experiment may be paying off. The smelt in Crystal Lake are acting very strange without the cold bottom layer of water they used to enjoy. Perhaps this will be the summer of their discontent….

Read more about the Mixing Project from the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science online newsletter.

Zach Lawson displays a rainbow smelt, target of the group’s ambitious eradication effort.

Without any context, Zach Lawson’s current endeavor seems downright morbid.

Lawson has spent the past two and a half years working on a project that, should things go according to plan, will kill thousands upon thousands of fish in a northern Wisconsin lake.

“The idea is to extirpate the entire population,” he said.

Read the full story at the College of Letters & Science “News and Notes” page.

Or watch Zach discuss the latest update from the shores of Crystal Lake:

And, for a longer history of the entire mixing project, you can watch this:

Finally, a few shots of gulls picking agitated smelt off the surface of Crystal Lake. (Normally during the hot summer days, adult smelt congregate in the cold deeper waters of the lake).

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