Open lakes, no snow, and sweatshirt weather was the scene this December in Vilas County. Much to the chagrin of ice anglers and cross country skiers, El Nino has taken hold and has had many implications for the local people, economy, and ecosystems.

The Common Watersnake, Nerodia sipedon, is common throughout much of eastern North America. Our local subspecies, the Northern Watersnake, is common throughout much of Wisconsin.

There are many exotic plants and animals that we don’t consider to be pests. Corn is native to Mexico, soybeans are native to Asia, tulips are native to Europe. Most of our domesticated animals are exotic with domestic cattle originating in Asia. Many of these plants and animals are exotic but not extremely invasive. They have become part of ecosystem around us.

Global warming may also be affecting a global water circulation system abbreviated AMOC that includes the Gulf Stream, that river of ocean water that moves warm tropical water north along the east coast of North America before veering off toward Europe.

Gardening in the Northwoods can be challenging. Long winters, short summers, and our many whitetail deer friends all conspire against us. In recent years, we have one more pest to deal with, the Japanese beetle.

Spiny water fleas are aquatic arthropods called zooplankton. Zooplankton are small shrimp-like creatures, and most of them survive by eating phytoplankton, the microscopic photosynthetic algae at the bottom of the food chain in lakes.

By the end of last month, northern Wisconsin had already reached the ‘severe or ‘very severe’ annual winter index thresholds set by the Wisconsin DNR for the first time since 2013

Most trees are either deciduous, and drop their leaves in fall, or are evergreen, and hang onto their leaves for more than one season. The evergreen trees tend to be in more stressed environments, stressed by either cold temperatures or low water availability.

In this month's installment of Field Notes, Scott Bowe of Kemp Station discusses how water temperature and oxygen impact fish activity.

In this month's installment of Field Notes, Trout Lake Station’s Gretchen Gerrish takes us to Florida with a lesson about marine field research.