To fulfill its commitment to clean water, the United States depends on limnology, a multidisciplinary science that seeks to understand the behavior of freshwater bodies by integrating aspects of all basic sciences - from chemistry and fluid mechanics to botany, ichthyology, and microbiology. Freshwater Ecosystems responds with recommendations for strengthening the field and ensuring the readiness of the next generation of practitioners.

Highlighted with case studies, this book explores limnology's place in the university structure and the need for curriculum reform, with concrete suggestions for curricula and field research at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. The volume examines the wide-ranging career opportunities for limnologists and recommends strategies for integrating limnology more fully into water resource decision management.