J. Limnol., 2014; 73(s1): 5-19 DOI: 10.4081/jlimnol.2014.917 Seventy five years of limnology at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia in Pallanza Marina MANCA,* Roberto BERTONI CNR Institute of Ecosystem Study (ISE), Largo Tonolli 50, 28922 Verbania Pallanza, Italy *Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT The limnological research conducted at the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia over the last 75 years has taken an ecological and in- terdisciplinary approach, addressing the interdependence of chemical, physical and biological aspects of freshwaters. In this paper we have tried to reconstruct the evolution of this historic institute’s activities, analyzing how theoretical and applied limnology have coexisted as the interests of researchers and funding agencies have changed. Theoretical developments of great ecological interest and effective models for the management of inland waters have emerged from this coexistence. Our aim is to trace the co-development of theoretical and applied limnology through the institute’s scientific output and to indicate the future direction of limnological research. Key words: limnology, Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia. Received: December 2013. Accepted: January 2014. only INTRODUCTION pers in the journal (Hutchinson, 1959; Margalef, 1965, 1990; Vollenweider, 1990). Over the years the Memorie “In dealing with any aspect of limnology, as perhaps use any other branch of science, it is impossible to avoid the became increasingly open to the limnological community thought that no work is perfect and that the greater pro- as a whole and addressed an international audience, evolv- portion of published investigations are very imperfect in- ing into the Journal of Limnology, an open access peer re- th deed. Every one of us is at fault in some way or another, viewed journal, now ranked by IF in 10 place among the every one of us must attempt to achieve progressively 20 limnological journals indexed by ISI. higher standards in accuracy, scope and imagination”. It is difficult to disentangle the strands of theoretical G.E. Hutchinson (1966; The prospect before us) and applied limnology within that mass of publications, because separation is neither always obvious nor always When the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia was possible. We made an attempt in this direction by analyz- founded 75 years ago, its mission, as indicated in its name, ing a few specific issues in order to provide readers with was the study of freshwater hydrobiology. However, from a tool for assessing the manner and the extent to which the outset the scientists working there took a much the Institute’s research has contributed to the general de- broader approach to research as they were well aware that velopment of ecology. inland waters could only be studied from an ecological viewpoint, that took intoNon-commercial account abiotic components Lakes as suitable models for studying from chemistry to physics and through to climatology microevolutionary processes and genes expression (Baldi, 1942). In addition, our colleagues of that time were aware of the obvious practical reasons for the study Within the context of population studies, perspectives of inland waters, an essential resource for life on our and potentialities of genetic analyses for limnological planet. Theoretical and applied limnology have therefore studies have been highlighted since the Institute’s foun- always coexisted within the institute, with one prevailing dation. According to Baldi and Pirocchi (1939), the ap- over the other on the basis of changing cultural and eco- parent contrast between cosmopolitanism and nomic demands. physiognomic insularity of lake biota was addressed as Since its start 75 years ago, the Institute has published resulting from different space and time combinations of more than 3600 papers, 741 of them in the Memorie del- basically common components (lake dynamic individual- l’Istituto italiano di Idrobiologia (issued from 1939 to ity), in a mosaic-like infinite number of combinations. 1998) and 455 in its continuation, the Journal of Limnol- Fractionation of species into local forms was attributed to ogy (from 1999). The early volumes of the Memorie were a genetic peculiarity deriving from the geographic frag- largely in Italian and mainly, but not exclusively, brought mentation and insularity of lakes, in a manner similar to together the results of the institute’s researchers. A number but with better support than suggested by Dobzhansky of leading figures in limnology published important pa- (1937) regarding varieties of mollusk shells independent 6 M. Manca and R. Bertoni from geographical sequences or peculiarities of the envi- search shows a gradual transition from a descriptive, nat- ronment. Such traits were generally regarded as indicative uralistic approach to a truly ecosystemic approach to the of lakes being particularly well suited to studies on pop- study of lakes, assessing the various biotic and abiotic ulation genetics and microevolution. components of the ecosystem and relating them both to Biological insularity and suitability of lakes for testing each other and to the characteristics of the surrounding mechanisms of microevolution was further stressed by territory (Baldi, 1941, 1942; Baldi et al., 1945b). In the Baldi and Pirocchi (1939), who pointed out how local dif- fifties, progress in limnological knowledge was made pos- ferences offered a unique opportunity, even better than sible thanks to increasingly sophisticated sampling tech- that of terrestrial and marine habitats, for quantifying phe- niques and the use of appropriate new sampling tools notype differences among endemotypes and of their dis- (Tonolli, 1951, 1954), along with awareness of, for exam- tribution in relation with geographical distance and ple, vertical and horizontal heterogeneity of organisms, ecological distinctness of sites from which they were similarly to that already observed in marine plankton. Ex- found. The approach proposed by Baldi was, as written tensive studies were carried out to compare abundance by himself, addressed towards a plastic interpretation of and distribution of plankton populations and to investigate landscape (similar to Wright’s evolutionary landscapes among-site phenological differences, and their seasonal or fitness landscapes [1932], metaphors used to attempt changes. Results of these studies became classics, not to explain how a population may move across an adaptive least with Bossone and Tonolli (1954), among the first to valley to a higher adaptive peak). This approach was ap- prove with field data the validity of ecological theories, plied for the first time to study the fragmentation of a pop- namely (invertebrate) predationonly allowing coexistence be- ulation into genetically distinct subpopulations in Lake tween closely-related, competing species. The study in Maggiore, specifically the copepod species Mixodiapto- fact dealt with the zooplankton of an Alpine lake, in which mus laciniatus Lill. (Baldi et al., 1945a) thanks to the con- fish predation could be ruled out. This, as well as studies tributions of Buzzati-Traverso and Cavalli-Sforza who such as the oneuse by Ravera (1955) on the seasonal succes- joined Baldi and his assistant Livia Pirocchi in their study sion of plankton copepods in Lake Maggiore, including of lake plankton populations (Buzzati-Traverso and Ca- the contribution of different developmental stages to valli, 1945). This is the first study documenting scientific species population density, and their resulting from dura- cooperation between Italian population geneticists and tion length and stage-specific mortality, are classics in limnologists and it was no coincidence that it looked at limnological literature. Hutchinson used figures included zooplankton, on which Pirocchi had focused interest in therein to illustrate patterns and mechanisms driving quantifying population fractionation by means of mor- plankton seasonal succession in his Treatise on Limnology phometry, quantitatively analysed thanks to cooperation (1957). Incorporating results of limnological studies car- with Cavalli and Tonolli (Baldi et al., 1949), and which ried out at the Institute was the sign that Pallanza was be- were assessed with statistical techniques by Cavalli coming a focal point in limnological network, the (1949). Such collaboration was also facilitated by the fact outcome of intense scientific relationships with scientists that during the Second World War the pair were accom- who were developing and summarizing basic concepts in modated and hidden at the headquarters of the Institute, limnology. The cultivation of the scientific exchange of Villa De Marchi. They were assisted in investigating their ideas at an international level, which is testified by exten- specific fields and experimental organismsNon-commercial of interest and sive documentation now arranged in a well-established supported in publishing the results of their experimental archive in the Institute’s library, was the foundation on and review studies regarding general issues in biology which the Institute’s international reputation was built. (Buzzati-Traverso, 1945). Although covering a relatively This is why Hutchinson’s classic paper defining the mod- short time window, these studies pioneered modern inter- ern concept of ecological niche was published in the est in lakes as laboratories for studying microevolutionary Memorie (Hutchinson, 1959). Hutchinson’s definition of patterns. Such interest was clearly expressed,