Why Study Continental Aquatic Systems? - Freshwater Ecology: Concepts and Environmental Applications - page 2

Locations and Amounts of Water on the Earth a

TABLE 1.1

Location Amount Total % % inland

(thousands of km 3 )

liquid water

Freshwater lakes 125 0.009 1.45

Saline lakes and inland seas 104 0.008 1.20

Rivers (average volume) 1 0.0001 0.01

Shallow and deep soil water 67 0.005 0.77

Groundwater to 4000 m depth 8,350 0.61 96.56

Ice caps and glaciers 29,200 2.14

Atmosphere 13 0.001

Oceans 1,320,000 97.3

a Data from Todd (1970).

Biography 1.1. G. EVELYN HUTCHINSON
George Evelyn Hutchinson was one of the top limnologists and ecologists of the
1900s, perhaps the most influential of the century. His career spanned an era when
ecology moved from a discipline that was mainly the province of natural historians
to a modern experimental science. Born in 1903 in Cambridge, England, Hutchin-
son was interested in aquatic entomology as a youth and authored his first pub-
lication at age 15. He obtained an MA from Emmanuel College at Cambridge
University and worked in Naples, Italy, and South Africa before securing a position
at Yale University. He remained at Yale until the end of his career and died in
1991.
Hutchinson's range of knowledge was immense. He was well versed in literature,
art, and the social sciences. He published on religious art, psychoanalysis, and his-
tory. His broad and innovative view of the world enriched his scientific endeavors.
Hutchinson published some of the most widely read and cited ecological works
of the century. His four volumes of the Treatise of Limnology are the most exten-
sive treatment of limnological work ever published. His writings on diversity, com-
plexity, and biogeochemistry inspired numerous investigations. Hutchinson orga-
nized a research team on the Italian Lake Ianula in the 1960s; this multidisciplinary
approach has since become a predominant mode of ecological research. It is reported
that he was always able to find positive aspects of his students' ideas, encouraging
them to develop creative thoughts into important scientific insights. As a conse-
quence, many of Hutchinson's students are among the most renowned ecologists
today.
Hutchinson earned many major scientific awards in his career, including the Na-
tional Medal of Science. He wrote popular scientific articles and topics that were
widely distributed. He was a staunch defender of intellectual activities and their im-
portance in the modern world. Because of Hutchinson's mastery of facts, skillful syn-
thesis, knack for asking interesting and important questions, evolutionary viewpoint,
and cross-disciplinary approach, he is an admirable role model for students of
aquatic ecology.