Jake Vander Zanden on the most studied lake in the world.
Lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa are prominent features of Dane County. Early residents, the Ho-Chunk Nation, named the area Teejop, or Four Lakes. They recognized the benefits of settling here, abundant food being a primary consideration. They lived all along the shoreline of the lakes.
Edward Birge was a zoology professor at UW-Madison, joining the faculty in 1875. In the late 1890s Birge began conducting research that ultimately led to the university emerging as the birthplace of the discipline of limnology in North America. A few years later, Chancey Juday joined the team, and this dynamic duo provided much of the groundwork for how we study and understand lakes, measuring dissolved oxygen and other critical factors to lake health. This collaboration started in 1905, making Lake Mendota one of the most studied lakes in the world…