ABSTRACT
A century ago, naturalists began to report that the condition of rivers, lakes, and other water bodies appeared to be influenced by the nature of the landscape in which they were located and the demands placed on them. Thienemann (1918) and Naumann (1919) were among the first to introduce the concept of the drainage basin or catchment area (also called watershed) in which a water system was located as the landscape element affecting water quality and water body condition. With this observation, these pioneers launched the science of limnology, the study of the biology, chemistry, and physics of inland waters. In the decades that followed, other pioneering limnologists characterized waters located in areas extending from Europe outward to North America to the tropics. In so doing, they identified many of the basic principles that underlie human interactions with the life-sustaining freshwater resources of our planet. Among other products of this “voyage of discovery” was the seminal Treatise on Limnology (Hutchinson 1957), which remains a standard text on the behavior of water, particularly in lakes and reservoirs.
