Cinderelogy

This book provides a lesson for vocational science education of value far beyond limnology. Limnology, the science of freshwater including lakes and ponds, rivers and streams, ground waters, wetlands and catchments, evolved from biological disciplines but now encompasses chemistry, physics, geology and engineering hydrology as well as botany and zoology. Although it is taught in many academic departments and in primary and secondary schools, no primary degree in limnology is available in United Kingdom universities, unlike, for example, marine biology, marine chemistry, and marine geology. The only dedicated limnology research laboratory was founded at Ulster University in 1968. The Freshwater Biological Association offered short courses on specialist areas of freshwater biology and there are some MSc programmes. The conclusion that limnology is a Cinderella science is inescapable despite the importance of freshwater to all aspects of society and the crisis in water management.

In the United States, the National Academy of Science convened a commission to examine the state of and future provision for training and accrediting in water management and research. Having examined the problems with American thoroughness, it has published its findings in a form that could be used as a model for vocational curriculum reform in any discipline.

The development of limnology as a science is treated with the mildly xenophobic bias often encountered in US publications, but this is acceptable in the sense that it is in north America that the problem is being addressed. A historical perspective is important to the context of the report as it indicates the interdisciplinary elements of limnology and how a broad approach is a necessary prerequisite for management of these ultrasensitive ecosystems.

A vocational limnology course is not acceptable as a subdiscipline of another science. Much is expected of environmental managers, researchers and consultants. Too much to expect from a biologist or hydrologist, however brilliant they may be. There are thumbnail biographies of some of the great limnologists which I shall be using in my own teaching.

The section on contemporary practice in water management is interspersed with specific examples including a tropical case study of Lake George in Uganda, the importance of aquatic ecosystems as recorders of climatic change, cultural eutrophication and acid rain, and, most importantly, the role of modern limnologists in catchment management. Most limnology is taught in universities but there are some professional practitioners. Managers are required to abide by environmental legislation, an area sadly lacking in many courses. The chapter on the future development of limnology stresses the importance of the market and suggests that academic exchange and consultation with water undertakings together with formal approval from learned societies would prove sensible in the strategy to recognise limnologists' professional qualifications.

The second half of the report is a series of submissions from established limnologists promoting sectional interests. Eville Gorham's argument in relation to the inclusion of wetlands, the newest recruit to limnology, is persuasive: "a broader graduate training developing through familiarity with more than one type of ecosystem, would be greatly conducive to thinking about the couplings between ecosystems". Science has only recently begun to examine multiple ecosystem interactions seriously and I would argue that estuaries properly belong in limnology as well. Wayne Minshall points out that "the complexity and magnitude of the questions facing researchers and resource managers will increasingly require an interdisciplinary approach and the ability to work cooperatively". There is an urgent requirement for vocational limnologists. Appendices include carefully collated statistics of available courses, the demography of limnologists in north America, biographies of committee members and a list of other contributors. I can almost hear the debate taking place.

UK universities have been subject to quality assessments in teaching and research. The results are published as invidious league tables. Institutions and departments are given no more constructive advice than, do better next time. The NAS has set up a commission to assess a specific, national problem and report on the mechanisms to implement the solutions based on the best knowledge available. Is this not a civilised approach with applications for research and teaching beyond limnology?

Tony Andrew is lecturer in environmental studies, University of Ulster.