Chapter 2: The Development of limnology

1
van Leeuwenhoek, 1632 1723
Chapter 2 The Development of limnology
2
First textbook on limnology in 1901 by A.
Forel 30 yr of research on Lac Léman
3
C. Wesenberg-Lund Founding scientist of
Biological Station Lunz (Austria) Institute for
Limnology. Founded 1904 and recently closed
http//www.bsl.oeaw.ac.at/english/e_institute.htm
4

• Birge (1851-1950) U. Wisconsin
• Did much limnological work after retirement,
  collecting at Trout Lake at the age of 85 yrs
• Published gt 400 papers
• Worked with Juday on Lake Mendota
• Established a center for classical limnological
  research

Robert Pennak, who completed his graduate work at
Wisconsin and was emeritus professor at the
University of Colorado until he died in 2004,
related a story of how Birge admonished him,
after a Model A car they were using had been
turned on its side by slippery road conditions,
" dammit Pennak, put it back on its wheels, the
survey must go on!" (Beckel, 1987).
5
Edward Birge and Chancey Juday Founders of
academic limnology in the U.S. (with many
multidisciplinary collaborations)
Founders of Wisconsin dynasty in NA limnology

• Studied large number of lakes (WI)
• Mechanics of stratification
• Crop estimates of plankton
• Transmission of solar radiation by water
• Surveys of water chemistry and plankton

Autotrophic vs Allotrophic lakes
6
Development of Limnology
Early Days focus on description of physical,
chemical and biological aspects of lakes Between
WWI and WWII Quantification of material and
energy flux and rates of production
7
Einar Christian Leonard Naumann (1891 -
1934) Trained at University of Lund, Sweden
Coined use of terms Oligotrophic Mesotrophic
Eutrophic Later Dystrophic
8
August Friedrich Thienemann (1882 - 1960) trained
at Innsbruck, Heidelberg, and Greifswald 1917
appointed director of the Hydrobiological Anstalt
at Plön, directed the Max-Planck-Institut für
Limnologie in Plön for 40 years.
Nutrient cycling and foodweb structure Using
chironomids as indicators to characterize systems
9
Sven Ekman and dredge 1911
1927 Gaardner and Gran Measurements of
photo-autotrophic production with light-dark
bottles
10
G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1903-1991), an English
born, South African raised American Zoologist
(Yale U.)
Opposite approach to Birge and Juday,
mathematical modeling
Published Treatise on Limnology Volume I
Geography, physics and chemistry (1957) Volume
II Introduction to lake biology and the
limnoplankton (1967) Volume III Limnological
botany (1975) Volume IV Zoobenthos (1993)
Over a span of four decades, Hutchinson succeeded
in publishing four volumes of the most
comprehensive study of limnology ever made
(covering 3,785 pages)!
11
Phylogeny and Biogeography of Hutchinsonia G. E.
Hutchinson's Influence Through His Doctoral
Students Alan J. Kohn Limnology and
Oceanography, Vol. 16, No. 2, G. Evelyn
Hutchinson Celebratory Issue. (Mar., 1971), pp.
173-176.
12
Culver
Kling
13
Raymond L. Lindeman (1915 1942) --published
just six articles, described shortly after his
death by G. E. Hutchinson as "one of the most
creative and generous minds yet to devote itself
to ecological science," last paper, "The
Trophic-Dynamic Aspect of Ecology,"published
posthumously in 1942 foundational papers in
ecology, general analysis of ecological
succession in terms of energy flow through the
ecosystem
14
More recent developments

• Attention on human impacts (1960s)
• Onset of computer age ? systems analysis ?
  predictive modeling ? practical applications
  (1970s)
• Paleolimnology (1970s)
• Wetlands ecology (1980s)
• Links between toxicology and aquatic ecology
  endocrine disruption (1990s)