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Transformational Science

NTL has transformed our understanding of aquatic ecosystems by pioneering new approaches and perspectives for studying these environments. These transformations include:

LAKES IN THE LANDSCAPE

NTL researchers developed the “lake landscape position” concept to explain spatial variability in water chemistry and community composition that results from a shifting balance of groundwater, surface water, and precipitation inputs to adjacent lakes.

TRACKING ICE COVER

Synthesis of long-term records of lake and river ice duration throughout the Northern Hemisphere provided evidence that freshwater ecosystems are responding to climate change over the past 150 years.

MANAGING WATER QUALITY IN A CHANGING WORLD

Eutrophication, the over-enrichment of freshwaters with nutrients, is caused by complex interactions of people and ecosystems that are hard to manage.  A long-term perspective shows how management can adapt to changing social and ecological realities, learning from failures and building on successes.

CARBON STORAGE

Lakes and wetlands are overlooked components of regional and global carbon cycling, but in water-rich regions such as Wisconsin’s Northern Highland Lake District, these ecosystems can store over 80% of the organic carbon despite covering less than 35% of the landscape.

GRASSROOTS NETWORK

We are implementing new technologies for studying the environment through formation of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), a grassroots network of scientists and information technology experts who use data from instrumented buoys around the world to understand the complex coupling of physical and biological processes in lakes.

SCIENCE, SCENARIOS AND SURPRISE

Scenarios are a structured process for integrating complex information about the future, including traditional scientific data, model runs and perspectives of diverse stakeholders. Scenarios help the public, decision makers and scientists organize ideas about unpredictable changes in regional social-ecological systems, and build resilience against plausible but unpredictable events.