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 Ecology
Taken 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 Europe
Francois-Alphonse Forel (1841-1912)
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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)
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German Limnologist, Zoologist, Ecologist
Biology of the Chironomidae
Einar Naumann (1891-1934)
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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 US
Stephen Forbes (1844-1930)
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First chief of Illinois Natural History Survey
First to study aquatic ecosystems
The Lake as a Microcosm (1887)
Jacob Reighard (1861-1942)
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University of Michigan
In charge of Michigan Fish Commission
Then, director of biological survey of the Great
Lakes
Edward Birge (1851-1950)
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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)
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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)