INTRODUCTION TO AQUATIC ECOLOGY

Water on Earth

Uneven Global Distribution of Fresh Water

Definitions by Wetzel (2001)see page 4

• Limnology

• Freshwater Ecology

• Freshwater Biology

Theories of EcologyTaken from Dodds (2009)

• Cross-Cutting Theories– Hierarchical Structure of Life– Ecological Stoichiometry– Ecological Diffusion

• Physiological Ecology– Metabolic Scaling

• Populations– Population Biology– Metapopulations

Ecological Theories Continued

• Communities– Community Structure– Island Biogeography

• Ecosystems– Control of Ecosystem Energetics– Nutrient Cycling– Nutrient Spiraling and Solute Transport– River Continuum

Rise of Aquatic Ecology in EuropeFrancois-Alphonse Forel (1841-1912)• Worked on biology, chemistry, circulation, and sedimentation of

Lake Geneva (published 1892-1904)• Coined Limnology, the study of lakes• Explained density currents and seiches

August Thienemann (1882-1960)• German Limnologist, Zoologist, Ecologist• Biology of the Chironomidae

Einar Naumann (1891-1934)• Swedish Botanist• Established Limnological Field Station at Lund• Defined concepts of oligotrophy, eutrophy, and dystrophy• With Thienemann, established first international limnological

society

Rise of Aquatic Ecology in USStephen Forbes (1844-1930) • First chief of Illinois Natural History Survey• First to study aquatic ecosystems• The Lake as a Microcosm (1887)

Jacob Reighard (1861-1942)• University of Michigan• In charge of Michigan Fish Commission• Then, director of biological survey of the Great

Lakes

Edward Birge (1851-1950)• University of Wisconsin-Madison• Together with Juday pioneered methods for the

study of lakes and streams• Together they did much work on plankton

Chancey Juday (1871-1944)• University of Wisconsin-Madison, hired by Birge

to study Lake Mendota• A founder of Limnological Society of America

Birge Juday

G. Evelyn Hutchison (1903-1991)

A Treatise on Limnology• Vol 1: Geography, Physics and

Chemistry (1957)• Vol 2: Introduction to Lake

Biology and the Limnoplankton (1967)

• Vol 3: Limnological Botany (1975)

• Vol 4: The Zoobenthos (1993)