Open House Hasler Lab 2012

On June 22, 2012, the Center for Limnology celebrated its 30-year anniversary with cake and our first-ever public open house. More than 120 people visited throughout the afternoon to see what we get up to on the shores of Lake Mendota (Photos by: Grace Hong, Elizabeth Katt-Reinders and Adam Hinterthuer)

Dave Harring, Mary Possin and John Magnuson head out from Hasler Lab with the afternoon's first group. Visitors were able to board the CFL's research vessel, the Limnos and try their hand at using various research tools out on the lake.

It was a beautiful day for a trip out on Lake Mendota.

A visitor lowers an Eckman Dredge (used to take sediment samples from the bottom of the lake) over the side of the Limnos.

Mary Possin helps an open house attendee bring his sediment sample on board.

Mary Possin and Dave Harring help a young visitor collect tiny plants and animals caught in a plankton net.

John Magnuson explains different types of algae to a man who, perhaps, is wondering why Lake Mendota is so green!

John Magnuson talks about the more than century's worth of limnological research conducted on Lake Mendota.

Back in the Wet Lab, CFL staff and students set up aquaria and plankton displays so visitors could get an up close look at the animals that call Madison lakes home.

One popular feature of the Wet Lab was the "touch tub." Children, especially liked the opportunity to feel the difference between scaly bass and smooth bullheads.

Ted Bier talks with visitors about the plankton and algae found in Lake Mendota. In the background, a microscope displays an image of a zooplankton called daphnia on a computer monitor.

Since boat rides were "first come, first served," we kept plenty of things on the Hasler Lab dock for visitors to try out. Here, Luke Winslow helps a young visitor take a water sample with a Van Dorn trap.

After sending a metal "messenger" down the rope, the Van Dorn trap's two rubber stoppers slam shut, trapping a sample of water from below the lake's surface.

Ali Mikulyuk oversaw the displays of macrophytes (aquatic plants) in the Water Chemistry building.

Ali talks with visitors about Wisconsin's native and invasive plants.

In addition to over a dozen plant specimens, visitors got a good look at some of the bugs, or aquatic invertebrates living in our lakes.

A girl checks out some aquatic invertebrates under the microscope as undergraduate students Carly Broshat and Cristin Fitzpatrick explain what she's seeing.

Another popular station was the "Kids' Crafts" room, where visitors could make dragonflies and lake0themed bracelets.

Carol Jenkins-Espinoza helps a couple of young visitors make their clothespin dragonflies.

Toward the end of the afternoon, the Long-Term Ecological Research team (Ted Bier, Camille Bruhn and Nora O'Neil Hickey) pulled a Fyke Net in off of the Halser Lab pier as visitors looked on.

Ted Bier explains how a Fyke Net diverts fish into a chamber where they can be held until researchers pull them out of the water. Unlike other forms of netting, Fyke nets help keep fish alive so they can be returned to the lake.

Ted Bier shows the crowd a bullhead pulled from the Fyke Net.

The last group of the day disembarks the Limnos, bringing the visitor total to more than 120 people.

The Hasler Lab team celebrates its first-ever (and very successful) open house.