Most read Echo stories of 2011

It’s been another fun year of providing Great Lakes environmental news here at Great Lakes Echo.

And, while we love every story equally, here are the most read stories of 2011.

Our favorite reader comments of 2011, part 2

Welcome to day two of our favorite reader comments from 2011. The Echo staff has spent hours combing through the brilliant, funny and, at times, inane comments on our stories, and narrowed it down to a few of the best. Enjoy!

Our favorite reader comments of 2011, part 1

Whether it’s a regular chiming in or a newbie venting over the latest smoking ban news, our readers add to stories with their comments. This is our first installment of our favorite reader comments of 2011. Don’t see yours? Leave us a comment!

Twelve days of aquatic invasive species

Tim Campbell at the Wisconsin Sea Grant has found a way to bring the Great Lakes to your holiday celebrations. Sit around the fireplace and sing The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas with all your lake-lovin’ friends and family.  

On the twelfth day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me
Twelve quaggas clogging
‘Leven gobies gobbling
Ten alewives croaking
Nine eggs in resting
Eight shrimp a’swarming
Seven carp and counting
Six lamprey leaping
Five boat-wash stations! Four perch on ice
Three clean boat steps
Two red swamp crayfish
And a carp barrier in the city! Check out the full version for details on each aquatic invasive.

Lake Erie’s tiny new invader

A mini-invader that latches onto Great Lakes fish has found its way into Lake Erie.

Scientists aren’t sure what impact they will have, if any, or how the seemingly innocuous little copepods got here.

Gray wolves in western Great Lakes region no longer endangered starting next month

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the federal endangered species list. The western Great Lakes region includes Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The delisting takes effect Jan. 27. State departments will manage wolves after the delisting.

Help the National Audubon Society count birds this Christmas

Take a break from the eggnog, fuzzy sweaters and family parties to take part in the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, a citizen science program that’s been running each winter since 1900. From Dec. 14 until Jan. 5, help out by counting birds in specified areas and submitting the data to the Audubon Society. The information helps scientists study the long-term health of North American birds.

Pay attention to the end without the stinger

Next time you’re about to scowl at a wasp, think again. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that paper wasps, Polistes fuscatus, learn each other’s faces the way humans do. The study was published in Science. Researchers showed the smart little buggers pictures of other paper wasps, caterpillars, shapes and computer-altered pictures. They set up a maze that required the wasps to choose the right image  to find a pathway  through it.