Kimberly L. Schulz
I am a biological limnologist by training and an Associate
Professor
at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. This
site
includes information about me, my research interests and course
offerings.
This page is very much a work in progress . If you encounter
any broken links or other difficulties, I'd appreciate a heads-up (see
email address below). Any stylistic or content advice is also
welcome.
Site Index
What is limnology?
Research Interests
Teaching
Useful Web Sites
Cool Stuff
Contact Information
Short curriculum vitae
Schulz Lab People -- check out
undergraduate
and graduate student members
of the lab and their interests!
Job, Fellowship
and Field School Updates
If you want information on
the AquaLunch seminar series, click here
JUST FOR FUN - The
continuing adventures of Debbie Daphnia
and her sidekick Betty Bosmina
What is limnology?
Limnology is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems -- lakes, streams,
wetlands and reservoirs. Inland waters are incredibly
diverse.
They include lakes you might swim or fish in, lakes much saltier than
the
ocean, puddles that fill up only periodically in a rainy season,
rivers,
swamps, and huge bodies of water such as Lake Baikal in Russia and the
Laurentian Great Lakes in North America (Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan,
Ontario
and Superior). Although almost everyone knows what oceanography
is,
the term limnology is much less recognized. The word limnology
originated
from the Greek, 'limne', that translates loosely to 'pond, pool, or
marshy
lake'. Etymologically, then, limnology is the 'study of ponds',
but
in the science world, limnology encompasses a much larger realm.
By nature limnology is an integrative science that combines biology,
chemistry,
physics and geology in an attempt to develop a predictive understanding
of aquatic systems. Some areas of limnological research have
direct
implications for water resource management. It is obvious from
satellite
images or a look at a child's globe that we live on a watery
planet.
Most of the water making ours a blue planet, however, is salty.
In
fact, less than 0.01% of the water on earth is found in freshwater
lakes
and rivers (Wetzel 1983). As our freshwater resources, so
essential
for drinking supply, food, recreation and aesthetics, are increasingly
stressed by human use, studying inland waters becomes increasingly
vital.
If you are interested in learning more about limnology and limnological
research, visit some of the links in the 'Useful Web Sites' below.
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Research Interests
My research combines laboratory experiments, field studies and modeling
techniques to investigate ecological issues in aquatic systems.
While
my primary focus has been on aquatic invertebrates and phytoplankton,
my research has
included
studies of population, community, and ecosystem level questions from
both
energetic and nutrient cycling perspectives. My current research
focuses on the following four areas:
(1) Aquatic 'food quality' -- how differences in elemental and
biochemical content of primary producers affects: growth of herbivores,
growth of carnivores, community composition, and flow of essential
compounds and energy through aquatic food webs
(a) 'Stoichiometry'
Effects of nutrients and light
on phytoplankton nutrient content
Implications for zooplankton community composition
Effects of stoichiometry on trophic transfer
efficiency
Effects of exotic species and nutrient remediation on stoichiometry in
lakes
(b) Essential Compounds
Effects of essential fatty acids on trophic transfer
efficiency
Use of essential fatty acids as tracers of diet in natural and
constructed food webs
(2) Exotic species
Predatory invertebrates
Dreissenid molluscs (zebra and quagga mussels)
Exotic aquatic plants
(3) Laurentian Great Lakes
(4) Zooplankton dispersal
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Teaching
For more information on the courses I teach, click on the individual
courses
below. You will find syllabi, lecture outlines, and other
miscellaneous
course-related materials on these pages.
Limnology - Fall 2006
Limnology Laboratory
- Fall 2006
Marine Ecology -
Spring 2006
Past Graduate Seminars
Fall 2006 - Topics in Aquatic
Ecology
Spring 2004 - Topics in Aquatic Ecology
Spring 2002 - Food
Webs and Biogeochemistry
Spring 2001 - Topics
in Aquatic Ecology
Spring 2000 - Topics in Aquatic
Ecology
Graduate Courses
Spring 2005 - Community Ecology
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Useful Web Sites
Here are a few useful and/or fun scientific websites that you might
want
to visit. If you have any additional link information that you
think
might be good to add, please let me know.
Scientific Societies
American Society of Limnology
and Oceanography
Societas Internationalis
Limnologiae
North American Lake Management Society
Ecological Society of America
International Association of Great
Lakes
Research
Phycological Society of America
North American
Benthological
Society
Other Interesting Aquatic Stuff
Tumors
in zooplankton
Daphnia
parasites
Great Lakes Ecology
Pages
Cladocera website and
taxonomic
key
Crustacean
website and taxonomic key
University, Non-Profit or Government Aquatic Pages
EPA water
resources
site
USGS
groundwater
site
USGS water resources site
University
of Guelph (Canada) Great Lakes site
University of
Minnesota
Itasca field station
University
of Ohio phytoplankton site
University
of Iowa lakeside laboratory
Experimental
Lake Area
University of Michigan
Biological Station
NRRI water on the web site
Copepod
site
More
copepods
Jim Cotner's
homepage
at University of Minnesota

Physical Sciences Information Gateway
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Cool Stuff
So far this section contains only one item, but I've found this program
so excellent, that I think it warrants its own section. Click on
the link below, and you will download an Excel-based tallywhacker
created
by John Schampel. This tallywhacker can turn any computer capable
of running Excel into a counter. You can assign names to
individual
keys and then every hit of the each key will be tallied. With the
click of a mouse, you can stop counting and update your counts directly
into an Excel spreadsheet. This terrific little Macro program is
much cheaper than one of the manual counting devices you might purchase
at a scientific supply house, and automatically enters your data into a
spreadsheet. John is letting you download this program for free
as
a public service, but you
should
send him $10-20 (or whatever you think is fair) if you actually use the
program. His contact information and more complete instructions
are
included in the file.
Click here to download the tallywhacker
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To contact me by snail mail, phone
or FAX:
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
Illick Hall, 1 Forestry Drive
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Syracuse, NY 13210-2788
PHONE: (315) 470-6808 (office); 470-4753 (laboratory)
FAX: (315) 470-6934
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at kschulz@syr.edu

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