Summertime! – Get Out and Explore

Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life in the world or a particular habitat or ecosystem. In the ecosystem of the Upper Midwest, we are blessed with a rich and beautiful variety of plants, animals, fungi, and even microorganisms. Bring along a field guide and learn what lives in the world around you.

Amphibians & Reptiles of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan by Allen Blake Sheldon. First edition, Kollath+Stensaas Publishing, 2022.

Animal Tracks of the Great Lakes by Ian Sheldon. Renton, Washington; Vancouver, B.C.: Lone Pine, 1997.

Aquatic Plants of the Upper Midwest: A Photographic Field Guide to Our Underwater Forests by Paul M. Skawinski. Third edition, Paul M. Skawinski, 2018.

Fish of Wisconsin Field Guide by Dave Bosanko. Cambridge, Minnesota: Adventure Publications, Inc., 2007.

Great Lakes Nature Guide by Jim McCormac and Krista Kagume. [n.p.]: Lone Pine Pub, 2009.

Insects of the Great Lakes Region by Gary A. Dunn. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1996.

Invaders of the Great Lakes: Invasive Species and Their Impact on You by Karen R. Hollingsworth. Cambridge, Minnesota: Adventure Publications, 2017.

Scats and Tracks of the Great Lakes: A Field Guide to the Signs of Seventy Wildlife Species by James C. Halfpenny. Guilford, Connecticut; Helena, Montana: Falcon Guides, 2015.

Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region: A Comprehensive Field Guide by Merel R. Black. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009.

Anyone in Wisconsin can borrow these books and more.
Email askwater@aqua.wisc.edu.