Mercury In Wisconsin Waters

Air Date:
Heard On The Larry Meiller Show

The Great Lakes are significant international water resources, and they’re the victims of mercury contamination. Find out how significant this problem is, what effects it has, and what is being done about it.

Featured in this Show

  • Researchers Say Invasive Species Less Likely To Become 'Super-Abundant' Than Previously Thought

    Invasive species, such as zebra mussels and Asian carp, are often believed to come into a habitat and go on to dominate it.

    But, new research out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology challenges this belief. Researchers there said they found that only in relatively few, non-native species become “super-abundant” cases in new environments. They said these species might still have impacts at “middle and lower abundances as well.”

    Jake Vander Zanden, a professor at the Center for Limnology and co-author of the study, said conditions aren’t always right for a new species to dominate.

    “A species has to have a set of conditions — biological, chemical, and physical conditions — in order for it to become really abundant. And typically, things don’t all just line up perfectly to allow a normal, typical species to just take off,” he said.

    He said the same convention holds true for invasive species.

    Gretchen Hansen, a fisheries scientist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, adds that in most places, invasive species are in actually low abundance.

    The new research could change the way plant and wildlife managers address the problem of invasive species. Hansen said first and foremost, prevention is key, “but once a species gets in and we have a number of sites that are invaded… and we only have a limited amount of resources we can use to try to manage them, maybe we should focus on these hotspots.”

    Vander Zanden echoes the sentiment.

    “We want the resources we expend addressing this issue to be spent in a way that is getting the most for the money,” he said. “It’s about good value in the taxpayer money that goes into the issue.”

Episode Credits

  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Cynthia Schuster Producer
  • James Wiener Guest