Pick an animal that calls Wisconsin home and Dr. Lydia Margenau can tell you a lot about them.
“I’m kind of like a jack-of-all-trades now,” said Margenau.
Margenau is the wildlife population dynamics and research scientist with the Wisconsin DNR’s Office of Applied Science.
“I kind of oversee how of our state’s populations are doing. If you’re interested, I’m that person that tells you how many of a species do we have, where are they on the landscape and what can we think about how many there are going to be in the future,” she said.
Margenau says the work gives her the best of both worlds.
She gets to go into the field and learn more about different species and she gets to put her mathematical brain to work.
“I get to do a lot of the number crunching, which for me is pretty fun,” said Margenau.
During next week’s Science on Tap-Minocqua, Margenau will be sharing her knowledge on River Otters and other furbearers in the state.
She’ll be diving into things like how the population is doing, what goes into managing them, and some of the research being done on them.
She also hopes people come with their questions.
“I’m going to try to keep it very otter based, but I’m open to all furbearer questions. Want to ask about that bobcat you keep seeing? I’m here for it,” said Margenau.
Science on Tap is Thursday, April 6th at Oakfire Pizzeria and Bar in Minocqua. It starts at 6:30 p.m.
There’s also a live stream available on the Science on Tap website.
