THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS IN LIMNOLOGY, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

Abstract

This paper compares the development of ecological ideas in limnological science with those refined in terrestrial biology. It is suggested that topics peculiar to the perception and management of aquatic systems had a distracting influence upon the conceptual development of ecology, as applied to limnology. However, in more recent years, this process has not only been reversed but there is every reason to believe that limnology can now adopt a position at the forefront of ecological theory. The special need for information about the functioning of continental, warm-water systems affords an opportunity to learned societies such as the Limnological Society of Southern Africa to assume a leading role in the further development of limnology.