UW-Madison Science Expeditions

 

UW Sea Grant will be presenting a program to kick-off this weekend's event titled "Sea Lamprey, Sturgeon Sound and Shipwrecks: Success Stories From Wisconsin’s Sea Grant College". Wisconsin Sea Grant and UW-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center's Director James Hurley will begin by introducing the basics about Wisconsin Sea Grant College.  Then WI Sea Grant's Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist, Tim Campbell will talk about aquatic invasive species such as, round gobies, sea lamprey, and phragmites.  Next Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Ph.D. Candidate Chris Bocast will share his recordings of sturgeon “thunder.”   Chris has captured the subsonic sounds made by these large, prehistoric fish present in Great Lakes waters.  And finally, WI Sea Grant's Science Communicator, John Karl will talk and show video of the 51 Wisconsin shipwrecks that he has documented have been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

Quite an evening of science provided by UW-Madison Sea Grant and Aquatic Sciences Center!  The free event will begin at 7pm at the Genetics-Biotechnology Center , 425 Henry Mall, Room 1111.  Find a map to the location here.

Information on the entire schedule of events for UW-Madison Science Expeditions

Wisconsin Fish Identification

Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)

Carpsucker, Highfin (Carpiodes carpio)

Anglers and fish enthusiasts have a new tool to aid them in identifying the countless varieties of fish found in Wisconsin waters. UW Sea Grant’s IT and communications team   recently updated an online tool that offers a searchable database and identifies fish by name and appearance.  The tool builds on a previous version created by UW Sea Grant, the UW Center for Limnology and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Currently accessible on you desktop or tablet, a mobile version is in the works and should be available later this year.  Imagine pulling an unknown fish out of a Wisconsin lake and identifying it easily by consulting the images available on your smart phone.  The future is now folks.

The Wisconsin Fish Identification site can be found at www.seagrant.wisc.edu/fishid.

UW Digital Collections offers access to the full text of George C. Becker's book Fishes of Wisconsin here

Wisconsin Sea Grant's ever popular Great Lakes Fishes posters are available here.

Science Expeditions is Almost Here!

Are you getting geared up for UW's 10th annual Science Expeditions? We sure are! Head over to the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery on April 14, 2012 for hands on exhibits, exploration stations, and more, staffed by UW scientists, and see activities at other buildings via the free Science Expeditions Trolley.

Our own UW Sea Grant team will be at WID with an awesome functioning aquaponics display. Check out the Exploration Stations from 10-2 to see plants and fish growing together in one sustainable food production system. Visit their page for more information about Aquaponics: Fish For the Future!

Click here for further information about Science Expeditions, including a schedule of events and directions.

National Library Week Photo Contest

In honor of National Library Week last week, Wisconsin's Water Library hosted an all-staff photo contest. Submissions from various staff members were received and everyone was invited to a chocolate themed potluck in the library to vote on their favorite photos. Graduate student Robbie Greene's photo (right) took first place.
Greene also brought a water-themed chocolate treat (left) featuring gummy sea creatures for potluck goers. Participants enjoyed homemade brownies in addition to varieties of chocolate and cookies. We plan to make this an annual event.

Photo credits: Canoe by Robbie Green & Chocolate by Amy De Simone

No, not PCBs, PBDEs!

PBDEs is the quick way to refer to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, toxic compounds used in manufacturing as flame retardants. Common household items that are routinely flame retarded include mattresses, television sets and computers. Since PBDEs have been identified in nature, researchers in UW-Madison's Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology have been doing some interesting work to see what the implications may be, specifically on the Northern Leopard Frog. This UW Sea Grant video will give you a closer look.


Further information can be found in this Sea Grant news release.

Wisconsin Sea Grant 2012-14 Omnibus Funding

Per the UW Sea Grant website:
The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program is inviting proposals for its next two-year grant period which begins February 1, 2012. The process involves two steps: (1) prospective principal investigators must submit a preproposal by December 17, 2010; and (2) potential principal investigators whose preproposals are accepted will be invited to submit a full proposal, which will be due April 18, 2011. All Sea Grant project funds are awarded via a highly competitive process involving peer reviews and the recommendations of external advisory panels.

Submission of preproposals will be via iPROPOSE, a Web-based proposal submission site hosted by the University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center (administrative home of the Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute). The iPROPOSE site will be open for submission of preproposals on Tuesday, November 23, 2010.

Read all about the grant opportunities on the Sea Grant website.

Cat Islands Project Update

On Wednesday, Dean Haen, the manager of the Port of Green Bay, and other key people involved in the Cat Islands project met with members of the public to discuss the Cat Island Chain Restoration Project in lower Green Bay. The meeting was to discuss a possible time-line of events and clear up questions in the community. Funding for 35% of the project, estimated to cost around $34.2 million, has been secured by Brown County, but the rest of the funding, slated to come from the federal government, has no set time of arrival. In a Green Bay Press Gazette release, Haen is quoted: "We could be doing something as early as April, or as late as 2013."

For the majority of Wednesday's meeting, presentations were heard from representatives from the port, the Corps of Engineers, the Wisconsin DNR and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Members of the public brought up a few questions referred to in the article Timeline unclear on Cat Island restoration in Green Bay. A DNR fisheries biologist present at the meeting explained the benefits the project should have on aquatic life in Green Bay.

For further information see the UW SeaGrant article on the Cat Island Chain Restoration.

Image from UW SeaGrant

Mayor of Bayfield Wins Award, Going Traveling

Mayor Larry J. MacDonald of Bayfield Wisconsin was recently awarded the Peter Wege Award for best sustainable practices for a Great Lakes City under 100,000. Mayor MacDonald is a member of the UW Sea Grant Advisory Council.

In addition to the award, MacDonald will attend an invitation-only, all-expense-paid coastal economics workshop in Charleston, S.C., sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), meant to help the NOAA Coastal Services Center identify what kind of information coastal managers need to make decisions later this month. And in October, the Embassy of Sweden has invited MacDonald, along with nine other U.S. mayors, to an all-expense-paid First European Green Capital Conference.

Congratulations, Mayor MacDonald!

City of Bayfield website.

Bayfield's eco-municipality initiative.

Recent AquaLog post about Mayor MacDonald.

photo courtesy of the city of Bayfield website

Why Worry About Asian Carp When There Are Quagga?

Dr. Charles Kerfoot, a researcher funded by NOAA and The National Science Foundation, isn't worried about Asian Carp. He says "by the time the carp get here, there won’t be anything left for them to eat," referring to the quagga activity that has been identified in Southern Lake Michigan.

These small European mollusks, about the size of a lima bean, have been discovered in abundance feeding on phytoplankton in Lake Michigan. A doughnut shaped collection of algae and other tiny plants was discovered in winter with the aid of NASA’s new Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS). Between 10,000 and 15,000 quagga mussels can inhabit one square meter in the soft lake bed and have been found in all of the Great Lakes. Consuming phytoplankton at a rate of five to seven times that of the production rate, the massive number of quagge are excreting enough to stimulate the growth of Cladophora algae (see the DNR article on it here). When the algae dies and decomposes, it eliminates oxygen from the surrounding waters increasing the likelihood of botulism. The predictable result from all this is a decline in lake species starting with smaller ones such as zooplankton, and then continuing on to chub and alewives, eventually leading to even the larger fish that inhabit Lake Michigan.

The Journal of Great Lakes Research has published the article on Kerfoot's research called "Approaching Storm: Disappearing Winter Bloom in Lake Michigan," which is available online, here. For an overview of the topic see the Michigan Tech News release, here.

Video of quagga mussels feeding by John Karl at UW Sea Grant.

UW Sea Grant Advisory Council Member Interviewed on "Rural Brain Drain"

Larry J. MacDonald, mayor of Bayfield, WI, a member of the UW Sea Grant Advisory Council, was recently interviewed for the Voices of Rural Wisconsin Project by PortalWisconsin.org. This nonprofit web site supports the state's culture, arts, humanities and history and was created by the Cultural Coalition of Wisconsin. This interview on rural leadership focuses on the phenomenon of "rural brain drain," which is the loss of the community's academically inclined youth who choose to leave the area to pursue higher education and seldom return. The interview is streamed in five parts here on portalwisconsin.org's website. MacDonald gives a descriptive background of the issue and hopeful suggestions on how to improve things. This is a common issue affecting many small towns in Wisconsin, and nationally.

Photo courtesy of City of Bayfield website.

Still doing your holiday shopping?

Staff at Wisconsin's Water Library are still looking for perfect gifts for friends and family and would like to suggest checking out the publications store at the Aquatic Sciences Center. There are some great gift ideas:

PEOPLE OF THE STURGEON: Through a fascinating collection of images, stories, and interviews, this book chronicles the history of this remarkable fish (which can live for a century and grow to 300 pounds) and the cultural traditions it has spawned. The authors introduce a colorful cast of characters, from conservationists to spear makers to decoy carvers--many with a good fish tale to tell.

YOUTH ART T-SHIRTS: High quality, 100% cotton, T-shirts with a green theme - mercury pollution inspired the creation of hundreds of imaginative and vivid art work by students aged 10 to 18 from seven countries around the world. Eight designs are reproduced on T-shirts that were originally sold at an international mercury conference held in Madison in 2006

GREAT LAKES FISH POSTER: This colorful poster features beautiful and highly accurate illustrations of 35 native and exotic Great Lakes fishes by famed wildlife artist Joseph R. Tomelleri.

For more great gift ideas, check out the Pubs Store. And Happy Holidays!

Migratory Birds of the Great Lakes

Here is a beautiful and interesting way to learn about the incredible birds that live this region of the country. The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute created a Web site as a resource for people interested in birds and the Great Lakes.

Learn more about issues challenging Great Lakes migratory birds and related UW Sea Grant-funded activities. Funding provided by the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the State of Wisconsin.

Enjoy!

People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish

People of the Sturgeon is now available! The Aquatic Sciences Center (ASC)'s Kathleen Kline is co-author, along with UW Sea Grant specialist Fred Binkowski and Wisconsin DNR's Fred Bruch. Purchase your copy today!

Now available at ASC's publications store.

2009 Sea Grant Awards

Congratulations to Wisconsin Sea Grant specialist Victoria Harris! She recently received a Mid-Career Sea Grant Award. Harris has been a Wisconsin Sea Grant specialist of Water Quality & Habitat Restoration for 10 years. From her office on the UW-Green Bay campus, she serves the area around Green Bay, Lake Michigan, including Brown, Oconto, Marinette and Door counties. Vicky’s initiatives focus on contaminated sediment remediation of the Fox River and Green Bay, sustainable community development, nonpoint-source pollution prevention in the Fox-Wolf and Green Bay watersheds, coastal habitat protection and restoration, and ecosystem responses to water quality improvements. She holds B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

To learn more about Harris, go to http://seagrant.wisc.edu/ecosystems/.

To view all Sea Grant award winners, click on Sea Grant.

News from Wisconsin Sea Grant

Riding on the heels of its successful 2007 lecture series “Climate Change in the Great Lakes: Starting a Public Discussion,” Wisconsin Sea Grant has been awarded a $293,000 grant from the NOAA Climate Program Office Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP).

The two-year grant partners Wisconsin Sea Grant with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s Cooperative Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET) Program to develop centralized training for Sea Grant Extension agents and specialists to enable them to deliver consistent, science‐based messages regarding the likely effects of climate change in coastal areas.

Wisconsin Sea Grant and COMET will develop an interactive Web site to serve as a portal for the training course and permit NOAA and Sea Grant climate researchers to interact to bring up-to-date scientific information to coastal stakeholders. The resulting “wiki”—a collection of Web pages on climate-related topics that allows approved individuals to contribute or modify content—will help disseminate timely coastal climate information (climate change impacts, research results, reports, publications, etc.), and will continue to grow as new knowledge and information become available. The wiki will increase interaction between key NOAA scientists and coastal stakeholders through Sea Grant Extension and provide a forum for current climate science discussions.

To learn more, go to UW Sea Grant.

On the Lake Guardian with COSEE Great Lakes

The Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Great Lakes invites 4th-10th grade teachers and non-formal educators to participate in one of two week-long Shipboard and Shoreline Science workshops aboard the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 180-foot research vessel (R/V) Lake Guardian every year. Educators work beside scientists, participating in Great Lakes research and stopping in ports for additional science experiences. In addition to shipboard and shoreline science, participants will examine curricula and resources and explore classroom activities relating to the Great Lakes and oceans.

In July of 2009, a group of 15 teachers spent seven days with a team of Great Lakes scientists aboard the EPA's research vessel the Lake Guardian living the life of a researcher on Lake Superior. One of the teachers made a video documenting many parts of the expedition. To view this video, click here.

Ships ahoy

Boating season has begun here in Wisconsin. Wisconsin's Water Library would like to remind all you boatowners to be safe in Wisconsin's waters and please help keep them beautiful. Check out Wisconsin Marina Association for educational materials like the new Simple Solutions to Great Lakes Health Resource Guide including Great Lakes facts and responsible boating practices.

Our own University of Wisconsin Sea Grant is a partner with Wisconsin Marina Association. To get more information, go to Wisconsin Marina Association.