ONLINE: Clean Lakes 101

press release: Join Clean Lakes Alliance virtually on Wednesday, March 9 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. for “Microbes and the Mercury in My Fish Fry.” Learn more about the interesting relationship between microbes and mercury. Register to receive the Zoom link through your confirmation email and watch virtually.

Mercury is a toxin that is frequently found at unhealthy levels in fish, including those in our Wisconsin lakes. Believe it or not, microorganisms are responsible for this! Microbes possess extraordinarily diverse and sophisticated physiologies, communication strategies, and mechanisms of evolution. This talk will reveal how and why microbes play around with mercury. We will also discuss the consequences for biomagnification of toxic mercury in aquatic food chains.

Trina McMahon is a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is co-faculty director of the Delta Program at UW-Madison and currently oversees efforts to promote education innovation in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. McMahon's research interests include microbial ecology, water quality, and environmental biotechnology. She has authored more than 70 research articles with her graduate students and is passionate about training future faculty. McMahon has a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

This event will be held online via Zoom. The online talk is free and open to the public. A link to access the talk LIVE will be sent to all registered attendees ahead of the event.

Clean Lakes 101 is a series of educational events open to the public and a great chance for residents to learn more about the science behind the issues that affect our lakes. Each month we feature a different expert to make the science accessible and interesting to non-technical audiences.

The series is produced in partnership with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and UW-Extension Lakes, with presenting sponsors First Weber Foundation and Johnson Financial Group, hosting sponsor The Edgewater, supporting sponsor National Guardian Life Insurance Company, and media sponsor WKOW.