Lake Mendota Research Articles

Daily Migrations of Perch in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin

Daily Migrations of Perch in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin

Observations on the Winter Perch Population of Lake Mendota

Observations on the Winter Perch Population of Lake Mendota

SOME FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE OXYGEN CONSUMPTION BY BACTERIA IN LAKE WATER

The rate of respiration of lake bacteria increases with temperature, the Q10 from 8° to 25° C. being 2.1. Mixed microflora from Lake Mendota were found to consume from 21 to 43 x 10-12 mgm. of oxygen per cell per hour at 25° C. Prolonged exposure at 37° C. is injurious to some of the bacteria. The rate of respiration is independent of the oxygen concentration of the water within the examined range of 0.31 to 26.48 mgm./1. As the oxygen tension is reduced below 0.3 mgm./1. the rate of bacterial respiration decreases rapidly. Both the character and the concentration of organic matter influence the rate of oxygen consumption by lake bacteria. The rate of respiration of "resting" cells increases as the concentration of glucose, asparagine and lactic acid is increased up to 100 to 1000 mgm./1. About one-third of the organic matter in Lake Mendota water is readily oxidizable, the remainder being quite resistant to bacterial attack. The organic content of bottom deposits is less oxidizable than that of water, and the remains of plankton organisms are more readily oxidized by bacteria than the dissolved organic matter occurring in lake water.

Results of a Summer Creel Census of Lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa, Wisconsin

Much of the existing creel census literature deals with lakes of small to moderate size, often located at some distance from centers of population. This paper is a report on fishing data collected during the period May 15 to October 15, 1938, from lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa, 2 glacial lakes near Madison, Wisconsin, having areas of 2,034 and 3,145 acres respectively, and maximum depths of 36 and 31 feet. They are connected by a part of the Yahara River 4.1 miles in length. The water entering Waubesa comes from lakes Monona and Mendota, which are part of the same drainage system, and flows south into Kegonsa. Both lakes are strongly eutrophic and usually have heavy blue-green water blooms in summer. Both lakes show a marked midsummer oxygen stratification but only a slight temperature stratification. Thanks are due the Wisconsin Con-

Bacterial Counts in the Muds of Crystal Lake--An Oligotrophic Lake of Northern Wisconsin

ABSTRACT This paper is a report of bacteriological analyses made on bottom deposits of Crystal Lake, an oligotrophic lake in the Northern Wisconsin State Forest. Twenty-nine mud samples representing eight cores were studied. Anaerobic bacteria as well as aerobic and facultative bacteria decreased in numbers at increasing depths in the mud. Bacterial counts are much lower than similar reported counts for bottom deposits of the eutrophic Lake Mendota, in Southern Wisconsin. This is correlated with the lower content of organic and mineral matter in Crystal Lake water.

The microflora of the mud deposits of Lake Mendota [Wisconsin

This paper presents bacteriological analyses of the deposits of Lake Mendota, a fresh-water lake in Wisconsin. Samples were taken from two different stations in both winter and summer from the surface of the deposit and from the underlying marl. A varied flora was found, including most of the groups of soil microorganisms. The nitrifying and cellulose decomposing bacteria were detected only in a few instances in the surface muds.

On the Role of Microorganisms in the Precipitation of Calcium Carbonate in the Deposits of Fresh Water Lakes

ABSTRACT It has been found that many aerobic organisms isolated from the deposits of Lake Mendota as well as many commonly known bacterial species are capable of precipitating calcium carbonate under artificial conditions. Some evidence is presented that certain of than will precipitate the carbonate from solutions carrying the same amount of calcium as does lake water. Chemical and X-ray analyses have proven these crystals to be calcite which is the form of carbonate found in the deep muds of Lake Mendota. The results of two experiments, however, have failed to prove the connection of the activity of microorganisms and the precipitation of calcium carbonate within the deposits of Lake Mendota.

The Physical and Chemical Characteristics of the Sediments of Lake Mendota, a Fresh Water Lake of Wisconsin

ABSTRACT The paper gives physical and chemical analyses of the sediments of Lake Mendota. The sediments over the bottom are very fine-grained and are composed of 60 to 80 per cent carbonate, mostly calcium, about 20 per cent silica, and small percentages of alumina and iron oxide. When first deposited the sediments are black soupy oozes rich in organic matter. Elimination of the organic matter lay micro-organisms changes these to light-colored marls. These deposits are made in depths to a maximum of 80 feet.

The Temperature of the Bottom Deposits of Lake Mendota, A Chapter in the Heat Exchanges of the Lake

The Temperature of the Bottom Deposits of Lake Mendota, A Chapter in the Heat Exchanges of the Lake

Factors Influencing the Distribution of Fresh Water Ciliates

Few studies have been undertaken with the direct purpose of correlating the distribution of protozoa in the field with the various physical, chemical and biological factors that operate there. Much valuable information along this line has been recorded incidentally by taxonomists, limnologists and investigators working on other than ecological problems. Notes on habitat preferences of individual species are to be found abundantly in protozoological literature, but in most cases no attempt has been made to express in a quantitative way the relation between protozoan distribution and the nature of the surrounding medium. Roux ('OI) noted seasonal maxima in the occurrence of ciliates, and speculated on probable causes, attributing special importance to reproductive rate, presence of food, and absence of enemies. Lauterborn ('94) listed certain protozoa, which he thought were typical winter forms; and later ('oi) called attention to the sapropelic protozoan association found in thick layers of decomposing detritus at the bottom of pools. Putter ('04) showed that Spirostornurn ambiguum is a facultative anaerobe, having an optimum oxygen tension lying between 31 and i6o millimeters of mercury. Juday ('o8) recorded a list of protozoa living in total absence of oxygen in or near the mud at the bottom of Lake Mendota; later ('i9) he published a study on the occurrence of an anaerobic ciliate found in the same habitat. Kolkwitz and Marsson ('o0) made a valuable classification of protozoa based on the amount of organic decomposition taking place in the water in which they were found. Hausmann ('17) recorded the protozoan population of five types of field environments. Cowles and Schwitalla ('23) studied the hydrogen-ion concentration of a stream and series of pools in relation to the occurrence of Eugleiia. Rylov ('23) made an excellent study of the influence of dissolved oxygen and hydrogen sulphide on the seasonal appearance and vertical distribution of Loxodes rostrumn. Skadowsky ('23) and his students studied the hydrogen-ion relations of several protozoans, and from observations made on several field habitats came to the conclusion that hydrogen-ion concentration might be a limiting factor for some protozoa under natural conditions.

The Distribution and Significance of Bacteria in Lake Mendota

EcologyVolume 5, Issue 4 p. 322-339 Article The Distribution and Significance of Bacteria in Lake Mendota E. B. Fred, E. B. FredSearch for more papers by this authorF. C. Wilson, F. C. WilsonSearch for more papers by this authorAudrey Davenport, Audrey DavenportSearch for more papers by this author E. B. Fred, E. B. FredSearch for more papers by this authorF. C. Wilson, F. C. WilsonSearch for more papers by this authorAudrey Davenport, Audrey DavenportSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 October 1924 https://doi.org/10.2307/1929295Citations: 24AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume5, Issue4October 1924Pages 322-339 RelatedInformation

Amount of Food Eaten by Four Species of Fresh‐Water Fishes

Important advances have recently been made in the evaluation of freshwater resources. The planktonts, bottom animals, and plants have been counted, weighed, and analyzed. The rate of propagation and dissolution of the organisms in fresh-water is being studied and some information concerning the rate of overturn is thus obtained. It will not be possible to estimate, in a scientific way, the number of animals that each type of environment is capable of supporting until the rate at which each species is consuming materials from the various food resources is known. The present paper relates to one phase of this general problem-describing experiments in which the volume and weight of food consumed per day was determined for four types of fishes: largemouth black bass, pumpkinseed, rock bass, and two species of bullheads. Some observations were also made on long-nosed gars. The fishes used during the experiments, except the gars, were kept in large fruit jars from which the bottoms had been removed. These had a capacity of about i,900 cc. Each end of the jar was covered by a piece of clean cheesecloth held in place by a strong rubber band. The jars were in a covered, metal trough through which water ran continually, and their long axes were parallel to the current so that water ran through them. The watersupply was that of the city of Madison. The temperature of the water varied from I8.70 C. to I9.60 C. The gars would not eat when kept in small wire cages and were fed in a compartment of a covered metal trough which measured i65 cm. long, by 45 cm. wide, and in which flowing water was 20 cm. in depth. At the beginning of each experiment a fresh supply of fishes was secured from Lake Mendota, and all were kept for one day without food before being tested. The length, volume, and weight of each individual was deter-mined before it was placed in a jar. Ten individuals of each species were tested at the same time. During the experiments the food was changed daily, except that it was usually left in the jars over Sunday. A fish was supplied with more of one kind of food than it would be likley to consume during twenty-four hours. Next day a new food was supplied and allowed to remain for about twenty-two hours. Before being placed in a jar with a fish

Relation Between the Downward Penetration of Corn Roots and Water Level in Peat Soil

During the season of i920, in connection with research on the University of Wisconsin Marsh, the main results of which have been published,2 opportunity was offered to make some observations on the growth of corn. The tract was part of a peat marsh dyked off from Lake Mendota and under-drained by lines of tiles placed three to five feet below the surface. As the area lay below the lake level, outlet was furnished by means of an electrically operated pump which started and stopped automatically with the rise and fall of water in a large sump pit into which all the drainage lines emptied. Since the land was put under cultivation ensilage corn has always been one of the principal crops. During the growing season it was noticed that there was a great difference in the height of the corn in different parts of the field, even though cultural conditions were absolutely uniform. It was found that the height of the corn appeared to be in a definite relationship to the depth of the water table. This relationship became so marked after the corn had tasseled out that measurements and photographs were made in order, if possible, to determine that relationship under field conditions. For this study a spot was chosen where the water table would remain stationary or nearly so throughout the season. It was in the strip between the dyke and the first tile line. An intercepting ditch 3 feet deep just inside the dyke cut off seepage from the lake. A block in this ditch kept the water at a constant level. The level at the tile line was held constant by the grade of the tile itself. Since the supply of water was from a constant source at the ditch to a constant outlet at the tile, the grade of the water between these points would remain constant, or nearly so, subject only to very slight variations due to rainfall and a somewhat greater variation due to transpiration by the crop. Holes ten feet apart were put down across the strip between the tile line and the ditch, and the actual elevation of the water measured. The resulting levels when plotted gave a curve descending from the ditch to the tile line. Figure i shows the relationship between the water and the ground surface. The elevation of the groundwater having been determined by measure-

THE GROWTH OF THE PAINTED TURTLE

As Agassiz (1857) pointed out, the growth of turtles is exceed ingly slow. After comparing turtles of different sizes, Agassiz concluded that the eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys picki), after the eggs from which it hatched were laid, attained about the following lengths after one year: 26.5 mm.; 242; 3:51; 4:54; 5:59; 6:66; 7:72.5; 8:74; 9:77; 70:80; 13:92; 24:121. He affirms that this turtle does not lay eggs until it has attained an age of ten to eleven years. Lucas (1922) states that there are authentic records of tortoises that have lived to be one hundred and fifty years old. Barney (1922) has given a very careful accouut of the growth and breeding of the diamond-back terrapin when reared under cultural conditions in pens. He found that when domestic terrapins are fed during the winter, egg production occurs as early as the fourth year of age, but usually begins in the fifth or sixth year. Terrapins may reach a length of 130 mm. to 150 mm. in four years when fed in winter, and in six to seven years when allowed to hibernate. The maximum growth in length recorded for one year was 8i mm., and for two years 104 mm. Since 1919 the writer has had opportunity to study the growth of the western painted turtle.' At various times, 406 turtles were marked with aluminum tags and immediately released in University Bay, Lake Mendota. These were measured when they were released and were caught at intervals and measured again. In this way the rate of growth was determined. The portion of the bay behind the bar, where the turtles were studied, is nowhere more than 1.5 meters in depth, has a soft, muddy

The Abundance and Migration of Turtles

During the past few years there has been renewed interest in aquatic resources, and a number of attempts have been made to evaluate various aquatic habitats. Johnstone (i9ii) and others have summarized the older work in this field; Petersen (i9i8) made an exhaustive study of the sea bottom; and, in the United States, Kofoid (1903, i908), Baker (i9i8), and Richardson (1921) have recently investigated fresh-water habitats. Much has been learned concerning aquatic animals: their numbers in unit areas; their seasonal and ecological succession; the rapidity of their overturn; their chemical composition and economic value. It is comparatively easy to count microscopic plankton animals or the sluggish inhabitants of the bottom, but it is much more difficult to determine the number of large, freely moving animals in a particular area. The present paper deals with observations on turtles: the population of a shallow bay, the distribution and migration of the inhabitants of such an area. The region investigated was the shallow water behind a bar in University Bay, which is a part of Lake Mendota, Wisconsin (fig. i). The area was about 900 meters long, 225 meters wide, and included about 202.5 hectares (546.75 acres). The writer was led to take tup the tagging of turtles more or less by accident-through attempts to study the growth and migrations of fishes by marking them with aluminum tags. During the year 1917, 1,643 fishes and 15 turtles were marked with band tags. Only two fishes were recovered. One was a pumpkinseed which was caught by a fisherman where it had been released two weeks later. Nine hundred and sixty-six of the fishes released in 1917 were yellow perch that were put into deep water (15 meters). Although fishing with gill nets was continued at intervals throughout the summer for a total of 33 days at three stations, only one of these perch was recaught, indicating that the number of perch in the deeper parts of Lake Mendota must be enormous. In i919 a new style of button tag was used; i,6oo fishes and 12 turtles were marked and all were released at certain stations in shallow water. Efforts were made to recover the fishes by seining at intervals at the stations where they had been released, but the results were of little value. No fishes were caught except at stations where they had been released, and the recapture of fishes therefore only furnished evidence as to how long a particular fish had remained in a certain locality. The longest periods before recapture for

A FRESHWATER ANAËROBIC CILIATE

Investigations on a considerable number of Wisconsin lakes have shown that, in many of them, more or less of the lower stratum, or hypolimnion, and the muddy ooze at the bottom possess no free oxygen for a certain time during the summer stagnation period (Birge and Juday, 'I I). This time varies from three or four weeks in some lakes to as many months in others. The dissolved oxygen disappears gradually from this stratum as the season advances and when it reaches a minimal amount the various organisms occupying this region respond to the change either by migrating or by adapting themselves to the new conditions. When the minimum is reached for plankton crustacea they rise to a higher level where oxygen is more abundant and when this gas becomes too scarce for some of the bottom dwelling insect larvae they migrate to the shallower water. The majority of the forms, however, are able to remain here even in the absence of free oxygen. To this latter group belong representatives of at least seventeen genera of protozoa, including rhizopods, flagellates and ciliates, but chiefly ciliates, and a number of higher forms, such as insect larvae, an ostracod, worms, and a bivalve mollusk. These forms appear to thrive as well in water which contains no free oxygen as in water which is well airated, thus being facultative anaerobes (Juday, 'o8). While making a study of the centrifuge plankton of Lake Mendota a ciliate was found in the lower stratum of water which appears to have gone beyond the facultative stage so that it has become substantially a true anaerobe. This ciliate agrees very closely in shape and structure Fig. 126, Plate X., of Conn's Protozoa of the Fresh Waters of Connecticut, which this author with hesitation places provisionally in the genus Enchelys. It has uniform ciliation, a rather pointed, obliquely truncate anterior end, and a rounded posterior extremity. Frequently