The University of Wisconsin Madison is located on an isthmus between two lakes, which belong to a larger chain of lakes connected to the Yahara River Watershed.  As a result, Lake Mendota is known as one of the most studied inland lakes in the world.  Our analytical undergraduate course has developed a project-based experiment where students learn about the impact recreation, weather events, and agriculture on particularly, the phosphorus levels in the lake.  Our classes have collected data on phosphorus present in a variety of forms at least three times a year for over a period of five years time, and in accumulating and analyzing these results, students can statistically evaluate how changes in the legal use of certain fertilizers, as well as some pilot phosphorus-catching sand beds, impact the available phosphorus in Lake Mendota.  In this presentation, I'll talk briefly about the lake study project, our process for stastically evaluating the accumulated data, and share our class results.

Following phosphorus in Lake Mendota:  A five year undergraduate analytical chemistry project

255th National Meeting (2018)

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