Freshwater Ecosystems Revitalizing Educational Programs in Limnology (1996) / Chapter Skim
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2 Limnology, the Science of Inland Waters: Evolution and Current Status
2 Limnology, the Science of Inland Waters: Evolution and Current Status
Pages 24-64
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From page 24... ...
traced the development of wetland ecology and some of its fundamental premises to studies of British natural philosophers going back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Similarly, Hutchinson (1967)
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It includes biographical sketches of some of the individuals (limnologists as well as other scientists) who have contributed to the understanding of inland aquatic ecosystems and significantly influenced the field of limnology.
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Forbes w;as an~early and notabl~e contributor to ~limnology o f running waters as well under his direction the Illinois State Laboratory of , . , ; ~ Natural History established a floating laboratory on the Illinois River and conducted anextensive,half-century-longstudy;oftheriver.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ In "The Lake as a Microcosm," Forbegs~ fostered the idea that th~e organisms!
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28 FRESH ECOSyS=~S in HI
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29 been broadened and refined as twentieth century science has become more sophisticated (see the background paper "Organizing Paradigms for the Study of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems" at the end of this report)
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As practiced during these decades, limnology was essentially an observational science: knowledge gained was largely from sample collection and analysis of the resulting data rather than from Edward Birge and Chancey Juday with plankton trap on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, circa 1917. SOURCE: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Visual and Sound Archives.
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It joined with oceanographers to become the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in 1948; its journal, Limnology and Oceanography, one of the premier research periodicals on lake limnology in the world, was launched in 1955. MIDCENTURY EXPANSION Most major universities in North America and Europe had hired limnology professors by the middle of the twentieth century.
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32 FRESHWATER ECOSySTE~S BOX 12 ~ ~ul~l0~ Tl4Itl~t-~ (18~-19~)
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In addition to teaching in natural history, ecology, limnology, and biogeochemistry, he developed a research program of enormous breadth. He made seminal contributions to knowledge of processes in lake bottom waters and sediments, oxygen deficitsj benthic invertebrates, paleolimnology, and biogeochemical cycling, especially of phosphorus.
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35 Experimental Limnology Experimental lake limnology has involved at least three types of manipulations: (1) stress-response experiments, in which a lake (or a basin in a lake)
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Whole-lake experiments by Arthur Hasler and his group at the University of Wisconsin in the 1950s and 1960s were more influential in establishing the usefulness of this approach (see the background paper "Organizing Paradigms for the Study of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems" at the end of this report)
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Nonetheless, mesocosms cannot duplicate the complicated ecosystems of whole lakes and are especially inadequate to study populations of large fish over long periods. Because manipulations of whole aquatic ecosystems generally cannot be duplicated, limnologists have focused considerable effort over the past decade on developing sophisticated statistical methods and other techniques to evaluate data from such unreplicated experiments (Carpenter et al., 1989; Rasmussen et al., 1993~.
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Deposition of organic matter during the rest of the year forms a dark layer on top of the calcium carbonate; other mechanisms also
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~ laminae and by Young Me environmental tolerances of modern assemblages of Me organisms being fossHized/ paleolimnologists can reconstruct history cat condihons ~ a lake and/or Us drainage basin gee Box 2-7\ Relatively few lakes deposH clearly laminated sediments however/
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Paleolimnological studies on more recently deposited lake sediments have provided evidence for the timing and causes of lake pollution, including information about the
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Frost, University of Wisconsin, Trout Lake Station. effects of excess nutrient inputs to lakes and about atmospheric transport of various pollutants.
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For example, eutrophication-related research led to improved understanding of aquatic food web interactions and to conceptual advances regarding the factors that control material and energy flows through aquatic food chains and webs. Similarly, research stimulated by concerns about lake acidification led to greatly improved understanding of the chemical and microbial processes affecting alkalinity and acid-base balances in dilute lake waters, new information about the biogeochemical cycling of sulfur in such systems, and advances in the understanding of mineral weathering rates.
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For example, in a survey conducted for this report, 42 of 69 universities housed professors who teach limnology-related courses in biology departments and 32 housed them in civil and environmental engineering departments, but these schools also listed 21 other types of departments in which limnologists and related aquatic scientists teach and do research (see Table 2-1~. Some scientists in civil engineering, fisheries, environmental science, and other departments listed in Table 2-1 call themselves limnologists, whereas others study components of aquatic ecosystems but do not necessarily identify with the field of limnology.
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As long ago as 1910, Juday traveled to Central America and sampled lakes in Guatemala and E1 Salvador (Juday, 1915~. Thienemann conducted limnological studies in Indonesia in 1928 (Thienemann, 1931)
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Stream Limnology Over the past two to three decades, stream science has developed the integrative approach characteristic of limnological studies on lakes. Until relatively recently, the physical, chemical, and biological components of stream limnology were independent subdisciplines that were associated more with parent basic science disciplines than with a discipline called stream limnology (see Box 2-8~.
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Stream biology was mostly descriptive through the first half of the twentieth century and focused on the distribution and taxonomy of stream organisms. The development of stream ecology or stream limnology as a discipline analogous to lake limnology grew out of initiatives that began in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Examples include Me nutrient spirab trig concept (Newbold et aL/ 1931\ in Which Be don-gradient Cow of steams causes nutrient cycles to be open rather Ban closed/ and the patch dynamics concept (Fringle et aL/ 19837 which is based on Be idea Bat disturbance and variations in time are primary determinants of
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Of course, there are many other organizing concepts for stream limnology. Many of them, such as the idea that streams can be used as experimental units, are similar to the organizing concepts for lake limnology (see the background paper "Organizing Paradigms for the Study of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems" for further examples)
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, such as floods, and in providing ecological benefits, such as buffering adjacent lakes and streams from impacts of upland human activity and serving as habitat for wildlife, has been widely recognized only in the past 25 years or so. With this recognition and the simultaneous understanding that human activities are causing wetlands to disappear at alarming rates came an impetus to study them, and the field of wetland ecology received a major stimulus.
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Within the past 15 years, three new North American societies have formed, each resulting from the expanding activities in a particular aspect of limnology and its related aquatic sciences: 1. The North American Benthological Society (NABS)
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19898134423 19948134434 Number of papers 1984na416na65na19 submitted 1989na421na73na37 1994316C474na96na80 NOTE: na = information unavailable. Journal abbreviation and responsible society: LOO: LimnoZogr/ and Oceanography, American Society of Limnology and Oceanography; CJFAS: Canadian Jo~rnaZ of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, National Research Council of Canada; JGLR: Journal of Great Lakes Research, International Association for Great Lakes Research; JNABS: Journal of the North American BenthoZogicaZ Society, North American Benthological Society; LRM: Lake and Reservoir Management, North American Lake Management Society; W: Wetlands, Society of Wetland Scientists.
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to embrace fully some of the newer aspects of the field, in particular applied limnology, resource management-oriented activities, and wetland ecology. In general, problems in the conduct of modern limnology can be grouped into six major areas: 1.
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For example, 90 percent of NSF's grants on subjects directly or indirectly related to limnology in 1991 included work with a biological component, but only 25 percent supported studies with a chemical component and only 2 percent supported studies with a physical focus (Firth and Wyngaard, 1993~. One encouraging sign of change to promote interdisciplinary research on aquatic ecosystems within NSF is its new "Water and Watersheds" initiative.
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The loss of highly visible academic positions in biological limnology probably is the single most important factor contributing to the perception among academic limnologists that all is not well within their profession, but in some respects the concern about lost positions may not be well founded. As limnological positions have been lost in traditional biology departments, others have been added in departments and colleges of environmental science and engineering, fisheries science, natural resources, and other resource-oriented programs.
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Few universities are producing limnologists with truly interdisciplinary backgrounds, an ecosystem perspective, and an ability to integrate across the sciences and major categories of aquatic ecosystems. In addition, most universities do not provide adequate course offerings in limnology at the general education level.
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Limnology, defined by the objects it studies (inland aquatic ecosystems) , is inherently multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, and components of the field have developed in many departments.
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1995. Stream Ecology: Structure and Function of Running Waters.
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1915. Limnological studies on some lakes in Central America.
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Linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. BioScience 24:447-456.
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64 FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS Sellery, G
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