Limnologist Casts Human Factor into Lake Study

MADISON - For well more than 100 years, a succession of eminent biologists and ecologists have used Wisconsin lakes as their laboratory, dissecting their physical attributes as well as the complex interplay of the plants and animals that live in them. A lake, after all, is a busy place, filled with aquatic vegetation, mollusks, microbial communities of all kinds and, of course, fish and the stuff they eat.

In short, a lake is far more than just a wet spot on the landscape. And in Wisconsin, we have more than 15,000 lakes and there is no question they are a beloved natural resource woven into the cultural and social fabric of our state. Lakes are iconic, used to draw tourists and businesses and to promote our quality of life. They are economically vital, underpinning recreational, real estate and sporting industries, and in some places, they represent a way of life. Up north, for example, in an area bounded roughly by Tomahawk, Eagle River, Park Falls and the Michigan border, is one of the world's greatest concentrations of freshwater lakes.

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