Wetzel's Limnology SIL videos
Robert Wetzel is especially well known to SIL members because he was our General Secretary and Treasurer for 37 years and he contributed enormously to the success and growth of the society. For many decades now, Robert Wetzel’s “Limnology” has been a standard reference source for all limnologists, and a popular textbook for limnology classes. The last edition was published in 2001, and Elsevier, with cooperation from the Wetzel family, was keen to continue this legacy. Ian Jones at the University of Stirling (U.K.) and John Smol at Queen’s University (Canada) agreed to take on the coordination and editing of a completely new edition, and they recruited more than 50 authors from throughout the world, so that each chapter could be extensively revised and brought up to date by specialists in each topic.
Our SIL Education Committee thought that video summaries of the chapters in this new “Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems” would be a fitting tribute to the memory of Wetzel, as well as an outstanding educational resource. The resultant videos are being produced by the SIL video education team in collaboration with chapter authors and additional colleagues who have provided images and video clips. Our aim is to introduce key concepts in limnology, as well as to celebrate the world’s rich diversity of lake and river ecosystems. This webpage provides access to these videos, as each becomes available. We hope that you enjoy them!
Paleolimnology
This SIL Video introduction to paleolimnology provides a summary overview of Gregory-Eaves, I. and Smol, J.P. 2024. Paleolimnology: Approaches and applications. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes contributions by Dr. Irene Gregory-Eaves and Dr. John Smol about paleolimnological sampling, applications to Arctic climate change and the power of paleo-DNA analysis.
Freshwater Plants
This SIL Video introduction to aquatic macrophytes provides a summary overview of: Chambers, P.A. and Maberly, S.C. 2024. Freshwater plants. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes a contribution by Dr. Clive Howard-Williams about water plant research in New Zealand lakes.
Watch here with Japanese subtitles!
Wetlands
This SIL Video introduction to wetland ecosystems provides a summary overview of An, S., Yin, S., Verhoeven, J.T.A., and Jeelani, N. 2024. Wetlands. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes contributions by Dr. Shuqing An about his conservation work in Changshu wetlands, China, and by Dr. Jos Verhoeven about his work on the ‘Room for the River’ project in the Netherlands.
Sediments & Microbiomes
This SIL Video introduction to freshwater sediments and their microbiology provides a summary overview of Vincent, W.F., Kumagai, M., and Couture, R.-M. 2024. Sediments and Microbiomes. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes a contribution by Dr. Michio Kumagai about his sediment-related work in Lake Biwa, Japan.
Zooplankton Communities
This SIL Video introduction to zooplankton diversity and ecology provides a summary overview of Thackeray, S.J. and Beisner, B.E. 2024. Zooplankton Communities: Diversity in Time and Space. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford. It includes a contribution by Dr. Stephen Thackeray about his research on zooplankton migration.
Water Movements
This SIL Video introduction to lake hydrodynamics provides a summary overview of Hamilton, D.P., and MacIntyre, S. 2024. Water Movements. In: Jones, I. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes contributions by Dr. David Hamilton on waves and modeling, Dr. Natacha Pasche on the Lake Geneva observing platform, and Dr. Sally MacIntyre on boundary mixing.
Algae & Cyanobacteria
This SIL Video introduction to algal diversity provides a summary overview of Wehr, J. and Janse van Vuuren, S. 2024. Algae and cyanobacteria communities. In: Jones, I.D. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes an introduction by Dr. John Wehr to the ten main groups of algae in inland waters and a presentation by Dr. Sanet Janse van Vuuren on her work on river phytoplankton in South Africa.
Salinity
This SIL Video introduction to the salinity of inland waters provides a summary overview of Dugan, H.A. 2024. Salinity and ionic composition of inland waters. In: Jones, I.D. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes presentations by Dr. Hilary Dugan on saline waters in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and on the impact of human activities on the salinity of lake and river ecosystems. It also includes a presentation by Drs John Melack and Bob Jellison on collaborative studies at alkaline-saline Mono Lake California.
Light & Color
This SIL Video introduction to lake and river optics provides a summary overview of Rose, K.C. 2024. Light and inland waters. In: Jones, I.D. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes contributions by Dr. Yannick Huot on chlorophyll fluorescence profiling, and Dr. Kevin Rose on water clarity and climate change.
Fish & Food Webs
Water as a Substance
This SIL Video introduction to the physical and chemical properties of water provides a summary overview of Pawlowicz, R. and Yerubandi, R. 2024. Water as a Substance. In: Jones, I.D. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes a presentation by Dr. Rich Pawlowicz on the Thermodynamic Equation of State for seawater and its application to inland waters.
The Inorganic Carbon System
This SIL Video introduction to inorganic carbon, pH and the natural buffering capacity of inland waters provides a summary overview of Cole, J.J. and Prairie, Y.T. 2024. The Inorganic Carbon Complex. In: Jones, I.D. and Smol, J.P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes a welcome by Dr. Mark Gessner to the IGB LakeLab mesocosm facility at Lake Stechlin, Germany, and presentations by Dr. Yves Prairie on key concepts in understanding the inorganic carbon complex in lakes and rivers.
Shallow Lakes & Ponds
This SIL Video introduction to shallow lake and pond ecosystems provides a summary overview of Meerhoff, M. and Beklioğlu, M. 2024. Shallow Lakes and Ponds. In: Jones, I. D. and Smol, J. P. (eds) Wetzel’s Limnology – Lake and River Ecosystems. Elsevier, Oxford, U.K. It includes presentations by Dr. Mariana Meerhoff on the ecological structure of shallow water ecosystems and the causes and consequences of ecosystem state changes.
