II. What is limnology and why study it?
A. Limnology – study of inland waters
1. Standing waters – lentic
2. Flowing waters – lotic
B. Interdisciplinary science -- geology, chemistry,
physics,
biology
C. Greater diversity of freshwater systems than of oceans
1. Size
2. Origin
3. Temperature
4. Age
5. Color
6. Chemistry
7. Biology is often
determined
by the rest of the limnological parameters
D. Water distribution (Table 1-1, Wetzel)
E. Water usage
F. Environmental Problems -- e.g., acid rain, pollution, eutrophication, climate change, exotic species...
G. Lake systems are a web of interconnected processes
H. Lakes are good places to study ecology
1. easier boundaries
2. easy to sample
3. shorter-lived organisms
4. field experiments easier
to perform than in oceans
III. History of Limnology (don't worry about the names!)
A. F.A. Forel, "Father of Limnology"
1. Lac Leman (Lake Geneva)
-- began biological studies
2. Influenced by
oceanography
B. S.A. Forbes, Illinois Natural History Survey (1887)
1. "Lake as a Microcosm"
2. Beginnings of ecosystem
ecology
C. US -- Birge and Juday -- Wisconsin
school
of limnologists
1. sampled many lakes --
comparative approach
2. 'the data will speak'
versus hypothesis testing
D. Europe -- Thienemann and Naumann
1. Lake classification
2. Continuation of ecosystem
ecology
E. G.E. Hutchinson
1. Treatise of Limnology
(1957 first volume)
2. theories and processes;
modeling
3. influential in founding
modern ecological thought
4. fight between Wisconsin
school and Hutchinson
F. Current -- integration of research on lakes,
streams,
rivers and their watersheds --
ecosystem approaches; human influences on freshwater systems
IV. Limnology and the development of Ecology
A. Standing crop, biomass, productivity
1. 'Dynamical ecology'
2. Not just what's there,
but how fast it's growing
B. Ecosystem Ecology
C. Paleoecology
D. Trophic dynamics (Lindeman) -- Food
webs and energy flow