Election of Officers - 2007

William Lewis, Jr.

William Lewis obtained his PhD degree at Indiana University under the direction of David Frey. After a brief postdoctoral appointment at the University of Georgia, he joined the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he presently remains as Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Director for the Center for Limnology. Lewis’s interests include metabolism, community structure, and biogeochemistry of aquatic ecosystems. He has conducted his work both in Colorado and in the tropics, including Philippines, Laos, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. He has been a member of SIL since 1974, and received the Naumann-Thienemann Medal from SIL in 1998 for his work in the tropics. At the request of the SIL Executive Committee, Lewis is currently serving as acting General Secretary-Treasurer of SIL following the death of Robert Wetzel. Lewis and his students are currently working on open-channel estimation of denitrification rates in flowing waters and phosphorus flux from sediments in oligotrophic lakes.

Representative publications:

W. M. Lewis Jr., S. K. Hamilton, M. A. Lasi, M. Rodriguez, and J. F. Saunders, III. 2000. Ecological determinism on the Orinoco floodplain. Bioscience 50:681-692.

S. S. Kaushal and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 2005. Fate and transport of organic nitrogen in minimally disturbed montane streams of Colorado, USA. Biogeochemistry 74:303-321.

Brian Moss

Brian Moss has a long and wide experience of limnology with studies on a tropical endorheic lake, and north temperate eutrophicated lakes. He works with laboratory cultures of algae and experiments in lake mesocosms, controllably heated tanks and whole lakes. He is much interested in legislation on ecological quality and in global problems of politics and water. He has long had world-wide interests and has researched in North America, Africa and Europe and taught in three other continents. He strongly believes in the value of SIL as an international body which should foster work outside the axis of the developed world and has participated in the teaching of several courses to international groups of students in South America, and Africa widening his expertise to river systems in doing so. He holds a chair in the University of Liverpool, UK, but would not want to be seen as an establishment figure, rather as someone who thinks that major change in scientific culture, academic institutions and human societies is very urgent if the biosphere is to retain even the reduced values and services it currently provides. He has produced a widely-used text book, Ecology of Freshwaters, Man and Medium, Past to Future, now being rewritten in its fourth edition and a book on a set of English lakes formed in man-made basins nearly a thousand years ago (The Broads: The Peoples’ Wetland, Harper Collins, 2002). His current passions also include playing the double bass (though badly), painting and poetry.

Representatives publications:

B. Moss, D. Stephen, D. M. Balayla, E. BE Cares, S. E. Collings, C. Fernandez Ala Ez, M. Fernandez-Alaez, C. Ferriol, P. Garcia, J. Goma, M. Gyllstrom, L.-A. Hansson, J. Hietala, T. Kairesalo, M. R. Miracle, S. Romo, J. Rueda, V. Russell, A. Stahl-Delbanco, M. Svensson, K. Vakkilainen, M. Valentin, W. J. Van de Bund, E. Van Donk, E. Vicente, and M. J. Villena. 2004. Continental-scale patterns of nutrient and fish effects on shallow lakes: synthesis of a pan-European mesocosm experiment. Freshwater Biology 49:1633-1649.

C. S. James, J. Fisher, V. Russell, S. Collings, and B. Moss. 2005. Nitrate availability and hydrophyte species richness in shallow lakes. Freshwater Biology 50:1049-1063.

Judit Padisák

Judit Padisák graduated at the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest (1974) as biologist. After some temporary contracts she was employed by the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, later by the Balaton Limnological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Science, Tihany). Currently she is acting as Professor of Limnology, head of the Department of Limnology, University of Pannonia, Veszprém. Hungary; associate editor of Hydrobiologia and Editorial Board member of the European Journal of Phycology. Her primary research topic is phytoplankton community ecology with focus on diversity-disturbance relationship and equilibrium conditions/properties of phytoplankton assemblages. Her field experience extends to limnology and phytoplankton ecology of deep and shallow lakes both in temperate and tropical regions. On the basis of her thirty years of experience, her present research focuses on ecological status assessment for the EC Water Framework Directive.

Representative publications:

J. Padisák. 2003. Phytoplankton. In P. E. O'Sullivan and C. S. Reynolds (editors) The Lakes Handbook 1. Limnology and Limnetic Ecology: 251-308. Blackwell Science Ltd. Oxford.

J. Padisák, G. Borics, I. Grigorszky and É. Soróczki-Pintér. 2006. Use of phytoplankton assemblages for monitoring ecological status of lakes within the Water Framework Directive: the assemblage index. Hydrobiologia 553: 1-14.

Yves Prairie

Yves Prairie was educated in marine biology (undergraduate) and in limnology (PhD) both at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Completed under J. Kalff, his doctoral thesis revolved around the development of empirical models predicting phosphorus concentrations in streams and lakes, a project begun under F. H. Rigler shortly before his death. After a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Limnological Institute in Konstanz, Germany, he took a position at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 1990, the Limnological community in Montreal founded the GRIL, a multi-university research centre in limnology of about twenty-five freshwater scientists, of which he has been director since 2000. In terms of involvement within the limnological community, he served as vice-president (1993-1996) and president (1999-2002) of the Society of Canadian Limnologists, is currently a member of the Public Policy committee of ASLO, is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences and chairs the Local Organizing Committee of the upcoming SIL Congress in Montreal next August. His primary interest in this SIL VP position is to play an active role in helping our scientific society attract the next generation of researchers and further establish its position as the leading limnological association. His research is primarily focused on the cycling of nutrients and carbon at the whole lake ecosystem level, with occasional incursions in paleolimnology and biostatistics. Current projects involve the assessment of the role of lakes in the regional to global carbon budgets, on the factors controlling the metabolic balance of lakes and on the development of regional eutrophication management models.

Representative publications:

Cole, J. J., Y. T. Prairie, N. F. Caraco, W. H. McDowell, L. J. Tranvik, R. G. Striegl, C. M. Duarte, P. Kortelainen, and J. A. Downing. Plumbing the global carbon cycle: Integrating inland waters into the terrestrial carbon budget. Ecosystems (in press).

Pace, M. L. and Y. T. Prairie. 2005. Respiration in lakes, in: Respiration in Aquatic systems, P. A. del Giorgio and P. J. LeB. Williams, (editors), Oxford University Press.

Richard Robarts

Richard Robarts is Director of the UNEP GEMS/Water Programme for global water quality monitoring and assessment hosted by the Government of Canada and centred within the UN in the Division of Early Warning and Assessment of UNEP. GEMS/Water is a multi-faceted water science centre oriented towards knowledge development in inland water quality issues throughout the world and was initiated in 1978. He is an aquatic microbial ecologist with a BSc in zoology, a MSc in microbiology and a PhD in limnology. Richard is an Associate Editor for Aquatic Ecology, co-Editor for Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology (UNESCO) and past Editor of SILnews (1998-2006). Richard is a member of the Interdisciplinary Committee of the World Cultural Council (Albert Einstein World Award (Science)). He is past President of the Safe Drinking Water Foundation, which supports research and educational programmes on safe drinking water in rural areas. He has done research in regions extending from the Arctic to the sub-Antarctic, including the tropics and subtropics. He spent fourteen years doing research and teaching in Africa. His recent research focus has been the wetlands and saline lakes of the prairies. He has published extensively on the ecology and production of bacteria and bloom-forming cyanobacteria in lakes and reservoirs and the impacts of man-made substances on biological processes in aquatic systems. He is currently working with Russian colleagues on a series of papers and books (Atlas of Russian Wetlands, 1997) on water quality issues in the former USSR and present day Russia.

Representative publications:

N. H. Euliss Jr., R. A. Gleason, A. Olness, R. L. McDougal, H. R. Murkin, R. D. Robarts, R. A. Bourbonniere and B. G. Warner. 2006. North American prairie wetlands are important non-forested land-based carbon storage sites. Science of the Total Environment 361:179-188.

B. Verma, R. D. Robarts and J. V. Headley 2003. Seasonal changes in fungal production and biomass on standing dead Scirpus litter in a northern prairie wetland. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69:1043-1050.

Ellen Van Donk

Ellen Van Donk (born 1953) obtained her MSc (1979) and PhD (1983) from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). In her PhD thesis, Ellen examined the factors controlling phytoplankton succession in lakes, with special attention to the role of fungal parasites. She visited the University of Michigan (USA) for several months during this time, where she studied competition between phytoplankton species. From 1983 until 1990, Ellen worked as the Head of the Research Department at the Provincial Water Board in Utrecht, examining lakes and rivers and applying restoration measures to these waters. Thereafter, she was appointed as an Associate Professor at the Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management of the University of Wageningen (1990-1998). Here she continued her research, along with teaching and supervising the research of numerous graduate and undergraduate students. During these years she spent research periods at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and University of Oslo. Ellen joined the NIOO-KNAW-CL (Netherlands Institute for Ecology - Centre for Limnology, situated in Nieuwersluis) in 1998 as Head of the Department of Food Web Studies where she continues to examine her main research interests in plankton dynamics and ecology, phytoplankton succession, lake eutrophication and ecosystem stress, and food web studies. In 2000 she received a professorship in Limnology at the University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) on a one-day-a-week basis and in 2001 a visiting professorship in Aquatic Ecology at the University of Oslo (Norway). Ellen is a national representative of SIL for many years and member of the Board of ASLO (American Society of Limnology and Oceanography) since June 2004. She has authored/coauthored over 140 publications in international journals. For more information see personal website: http://www.nioo.knaw.nl/ppages/evandonk

Representative publications:

E. Van Donk. 2006. Food web interactions in lakes: what is the impact of chemical information conveyance? In: (Marcel Dicke and Willem Takken, (editors), Chemical Ecology: from gene to ecosystem. Springer. pp 145- 160.

D. O. Hessen, E. Van Donk and R. D. Gulati. 2005. Seasonal seston stoichiometry: Effects on zooplankton in cyanobacteria-dominated lakes. Journal of Plankton Research 27:449-460.

Javier Alcocer

Javier Alcocer earned his PhD in macroinvertebrates dynamics in crater lakes differing in salinity and trophic status at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (1995). Shortly after his Masters, he was in charge of the Limnology Laboratory at the Environmental Conservation and Improvement Department, FES Iztacala. In 2002, he promoted the creation and was elected Director of the Tropical Limnology Research Department at the same institution. He took active part in the foundation of the Mexican Association of Limnology as elected vice-president (1998-2002), and after that president (2002-2005). Alcocer has worked mostly in saline lakes, greatly influenced by the work of the late William D. Williams; however his work extended to other ecosystems (e.g., high altitude lakes, sinkholes). His continuous research in Lake Alchichica leads to the designation of this lake as a Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site of the LTER Mexican branch Red Mexicana LTER), the single inland aquatic ecosystem in Mexico. He is currently Professor in Biology (Limnology) at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and member of the National Water Network of the National Academy of Sciences.

Representative Publications:

J. Alcocer, L. A. Oseguera, E. Escobar, L. Peralta and A. Lugo. 2004. Phytoplankton biomass and water chemistry in two high-mountain tropical lakes in Central Mexico. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 36(3):341- 345.

J. Alcocer and F. W. Bernal-Brooks. 2002. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of physical and chemical variables for an endorheic, shallow water body: Lake Pátzcuaro, Mexico. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 155:239-253.

Brij Gopal

Brij Gopal (MSc Botany, Agra, 1964; PhD Ecology, BHU, 1968) was trained as a plant ecologist. Starting with various aspects of ecology of wetland vegetation and invasive species such as water hyacinth, Dr Gopal extended his studies to lakes and reservoirs and then to rivers in a river basin perspective. Dr Gopal’s interest in the conservation and management of aquatic ecosystems lead to extension of his studies to include economic valuation and socio-economic aspects. His current interests include the restoration of river watersheds and floodplain wetlands, constructed wetlands and climate change. Dr Gopal, Professor of Environmental Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (since 1998), has published over 190 research and review papers, six books, thirty edited volumes and numerous general articles. His well known books are Water Hyacinth (Elsevier, 1987), Ecology & Management of Aquatic Vegetation in India (Kluwer, 1990) and Biodiversity in Wetlands (two volumes; Backhuys 2001, 2002). Prof. Gopal is the Founder-Editor of the International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and serves on the Editorial Boards of Wetland Ecology and Management, River Research and Applications, and Hydrobiologia and the Freshwater Systems domain of TheScientificWorld Journal. As a member of numerous high level committees of the government of India and academic institutions, particularly the fisheries research institutes, he considerably influenced their policies related to aquatic ecosystems. He organized the INTECOL’s First international Wetlands Conference (New Delhi, 1980) and was associated with UNESCO, UNEP and SCOPE in several programs. Dr Gopal has been a member of SIL since 1980 and has served it as the Chairman of the Committee on Limnology in Developing Countries, and a Member of the Conservation, Tonolli Fund, and Futures Committees. He co-edited (with Prof. R. G. Wetzel) the book series Limnology in Developing Countries. Having received the first Young Scientist Medal (1975) of the Indian National Science Academy and the International Fellow Award (1997) of the Society of Wetland Scientists (USA), Dr Gopal is the sole developing country recipient of the SIL’s prestigious Naumann-Thienemann Medal (2004).

Representative publications:

B. Gopal. 2003. Perspectives on wetland science, application and policy. Hydrobiologia 490:1-10.

B. Gopal. 2005. Does inland aquatic biodiversity have a future in Asian developing countries? Hydrobiologia 542:69-75.

Morten Søndergaard

Dr. Søndergaard (1948) was educated at the University of Aarhus, Denmark with a Master in Biology 1977 and a PhD in1980: Carbon metabolism of submerged macrophytes: aspects of the physiological ecology. Since 1990 he has been professor in freshwater ecology at the Freshwater Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen. Previous positions have included a postdoc at Kellogg Biological Station, associate professor at the Botanical Institute, University of Aarhus, visiting professor at the University of Auckland, and professor in ecology, Roskilde University. His current research focus on the production and fate of autochthonous dissolved organic carbon and the export of terrestrial DOM to freshwater. Most of his research has been carried out in freshwater although with some excursions to more salty water; however, limnology remains my focal point. Every year he teaches a Limnology master course. He joined SIL in 1977 and has served as the Danish national representative since 1991.

Representative publications:

T. Kragh, M. Søndergaard, and N. H. Borch. 2006. The effects of zooplankton on the dynamics and molecular composition of carbohydrates during an experimental algal bloom. Journal of Limnology 65: 52-58.

C. A. Stedmon, S. Markager, M. Søndergaard, T. Vang, A. Laubel, N. H. Borch and A. Windelin. 2006. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) export to a temperate estuary: Seasonal variations and implications of land use. Estuaries and Coastal Research 29(3):388-400.

Jack Jones

The focus of Jack Jones’ research program is to quantify factors regulating abundance and distribution of algal biomass in freshwater. He has collaborated with others to determine the relationship between nutrients and algal biomass in Missouri reservoirs and evaluate how data aggregation influences our ability to make inferential statements about the strength of this relation at various temporal scales. In addition, he addressed nutrient-algal relations in running waters by quantifying processes in Ozark streams and developed a generalized empirical model describing phosphorus-algal chlorophyll relations in temperate streams. A long-term study of Missouri reservoirs shows they reflect the physiography and human alteration of their drainage basins. The proportion of cropland cover in the catchment of these artificial lakes (a surrogate for nutrient loss from agriculture) along with metrics of morphology and hydrology account for much of the amongsystem variation in both phosphorus and nitrogen (Jones et al. 2004). Studies of regional limnology in several Asian countries emphasize how the summer monsoon influences lake trophic state (Jones et al. 2006).

Representative publications:

J. R. Jones, M. F. Knowlton, D. V. Obrecht and E. A. Cook. 2004. Importance of landscape variables and morphology on nutrients in Missouri reservoirs. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 61:1503-1512.

J. R. Jones, A. Thompson, C. N. Seong, J. S. Jung and H. Yang. 2006. Monsoon influences on the limnology of Juam Lake, South Korea. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 29:1215-1222.