TOPICS IN AQUATIC ECOLOGY

EFB 797, 1 credit

A NEW LOOK AT CLASSIC AQUATIC RESEARCH

FALL SEMESTER 2006

Course Information
      Previous Classic Papers
      Schedule and Readings
      Full references for classics

Meeting time: Thursdays 9:30-10:50 AM

Location: 334 Illick Hall

Instructor: Kimberly L. Schulz

Office Hours: Mondays 1-2 PM, Fridays 9:30-10:30 AM, or by appointment

Contact information:

      phone: 470-6808 (office); x-4753 (lab)

      rooms: 456 (office); 454 (lab)

      email: kschulz@syr.edu

      website: http://www.esf.edu/efb/schulz/GradSeminar2006.html

When was the last time you read the citation classic that you heard about in lecture or cited in a term paper?  Are the ideas in the paper still part of the modern paradigm of aquatic science?  Has the research been found obsolete, or are we actually still discussing the same topics today that aquatic scientists debated 30 (or 100) years ago?  In this seminar we will discuss 'classic' aquatic papers and 'modern' (<10 years old) follow-ups on the same topic.  Each week, one student will choose a topic, a classic paper, and a modern analog, and be responsible for leading the discussion.

Any area of aquatic science – freshwater to marine, behavior to ecosystems, microbes to cetaceans – is fair game.  Some suggested topics and papers are listed on the next page, but students are free to choose their own favorite (or most despised) classic for discussion.

For the purposes of this class, the classic paper should be >20 years old and heavily cited; something considered a foundational paper.  The modern paper should deal with some aspect of the same topic, and should be <10 years old.

Copies of the assigned papers either will be placed outside my office door (456 Illick) the week before the seminar, or pdf files will be linked on the course webpage when available.

I'll start us off next week with a discussion of Forbes' 1887 paper, "The lake as a microcosm", McIntosh's somewhat philosophical paper, "The myth of community as organism," and Soranno’s paper “Spatial Variation among Lakes within Landscapes: Ecological Organization along Lake Chains.”  These will be available outside my door and on the web on Friday.

 If possible (depending on class size), the last week of the seminar we will reserve for a freewheeling discussion of what we've learned from these comparisons: Do all of the classic citations deserve to be referenced so much?  Where has aquatic science made progress and where is it stagnant?  What did you learn from these papers?

Your responsibilities for this seminar will be:

-         Choose a week to lead discussion

-         Choose a topic for your week

-         Select papers at least one week before you are to lead discussion (to prepare for your discussion week you may need to read several additional papers on the topic)

-         On your week, briefly (no more than 5 minutes) summarize articles and any important background information, and lead an interesting discussion

-         On other weeks, read the papers and come with your questions and thoughts

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Some examples of classics used in the past 

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DATE	TOPIC	PAPERS	DISCUSSION LEADERS
Week 1 - 31 August	Introduction	None	Schulz
Week 2 - 7 September	What is a (lake) ecosystem?	Forbes 1887 McIntosh 1998 Soranno 1999	Schulz
Week 3 - 14 September	Trophic dynamics	Lindeman1942 Vadeboncoeur2002 Here's the Cook article I talked about in class	Schulz
Week 4 - 21 September	Estuary and salt marsh ecosystems	Teal 1962 DeLorenzo et al. 2001 For some photos of Sapelo Island, click here	Cheryl Whritenour
Week 5 - 28 September	Phytoplankton succession	Reynolds 1980 Soininen 2005	Jacob Gillette
Week 6 - 5 October	Invasive species	Zaret 1973 Gordon 1998	Sarah Darkwa
Week 7 - 12 October	CLASS CANCELLED	CLASS CANCELLED	CLASS CANCELLED
Week 8 - 19 October	Biomanipulation	Shapiro et al. 1975 Albright et al. 2004	Jake Wickham
Week 9 - 26 October	River continuum concept	Vannote et al. 1980 Dettmers et al. 2001	Geof Eckerlin
Week 10 - 2 November	Zooplankton migration	Haney and Hall 1975 Ringelberg and Van Gool 2003	Jason Williams
Week 11 - 9 November	Effects of fish on zooplankton	Brooks and Dodson 1965 Romare and Hansson 2003	Cynthia Watson
Week 12 - 16 November	Diversity Food chain length	Hutchinson 1959 Williams and Martinez 2004	TBA
Week 13 - 23 November	NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING	NONE	NONE
Week 14 - 30 November	Trophic Cascade	Carpenter et al. 1985 Drenner and Hambright 2002 If you are interested in some of the background for Drenner and Hambright 2002 paper you can also check out: Drenner and Hambright 1999 (optional!)	TBA
Week 15 - 7 December	Wrap up	Free-wheeling discussion -- at Fagan's 5:15 PM Questions to think about ahead of time	Schulz

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Azam, F., T. Fenchel, J.G. Field, J.S. Gray, L.A. Meyer-Reil and F. Thingstad. 1983. The ecological role of water-column microbes in the sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 10: 257-263.

 Brooks, J.L. and S.I. Dodson. 1965. Predation, body size and composition of plankton. Science 150: 28-35.

Fogg, G.E. 1969. The physiology of a algal nuisance. Proc. Roy. Soc. B 173: 175-189.

Forbes, S.A. 1887. The lake as a microcosm.  Bulletin of the Peoria Scientific Association, pp. 77-87. Reprinted in Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural History Survey 15 (1925): 537-550.

Gorham, E. and J.E. Sanger. 1976. Fossilized pigments as stratigraphic indicators of cultural eutrophication in Shagawa Lake, northern Minnesota. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87: 1638-1642.

Haney, J.F. and D.J. Hall. 1975. Diel vertical migration and filter-feeding activities of Daphnia. Arch. Hydrobiol. 75: 413-441.

Hasler, A.D. 1964. Experimental limnology. BioScience 14(7): 36-38.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why are there so many kinds of animals? Am. Nat. 93: 145-159.

Hutchinson, G.E. 1961. The paradox of the plankton. Am. Nat. 95: 137-145.

Lindeman, R.L. 1942. The trophic-dynamic of ecology. Ecology 23: 399-418.

Pomeroy, L.R. 1974. The ocean's food web, a changing paradigm. BioScience 24(9): 499-504.

Redfield, A.C. 1958. The biological control of chemical factors in the environment. American Scientist 46: 205-221.

Reynolds, C.S. 1979. Phytoplankton assemblages and their periodicity in stratifying lake systems. Holarctic Ecology 3: 141-159.

Schindler, D.W. 1974. Eutrophication and recovery in experimental lakes: Implications for lake management. Science 184: 897-899.

Shapiro, J., V. Lamarra, and M. Lynch. 1975. Biomanipulation: An ecosystem approach to lake restoration. In P.L. Brezonik and J.L. Fox (eds) Proceedings of a Symposium on Water Quality Management Through Biological Control. University of Florida, Gainsville.  pp. 85-96.

Sprules, W.G. and J.E. Bowerman. 1988. Omnivory and food chain length in zooplankton food webs. Ecology 69: 418-426.

Titman, D. 1976. Ecological competition between algae: Experimental confirmation of resource-based competition theory. Science 192: 463-465.

Vannote, R.L., G.W. Minshall, K.W. Cummins, J.R. Sedell, and C.E. Cushing. 1980. The river continuum concept. Can J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37: 130-137.

Wetzel, R.G. 1984. Detrital dissolved and particulate organic carbon functions in aquatic ecosystems. Bull. Mar. Sci. 35: 503-509.

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