David Schindler

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David William Schindler, OC AOE FRSC FRS, (born August 3, 1940) is an American/Canadian limnologist. He holds the Killam Memorial Chair and is Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.[1] He is notable for "innovative large-scale experiments" on whole-lakes [2] which proved that "phosphorus controls the eutrophication of temperate lakes [3] leading to the banning of harmful phosphates in detergents. He is also known for his research on acid rain[3][4] In 1989 Dr. Schindler continued his research at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, with studies into fresh water shortages and the effects of climate change on Canada’s alpine and northern boreal ecosystems.[3] Schindler’s has earned him numerous national and international awards, including the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal, the First Stockholm Water Prize (1991)[5](Sundbom & 2010 5),[6] the Volvo Environment Prize (1998),[7] and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2006).[3]

Early life

Schindler was born August 3, 1940 in Fargo, North Dakota and grew up in Minnesota lake country. He holds dual citizenship in Canada and the USA.[2][7]

Career

After completing his bachelor's degree in zoology from North Dakota State University in 1962 he studied aquatic ecology at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. He worked first under Nikolaas Tinbergen. But it was while working under Charles Sutherland Elton, one of the founders of ecology, who also established and led Oxford University's Bureau of Animal Population, that he began formulating an interdisciplinary ecosystem approach to study water and ecology. He received his Ph.D in ecology in 1966 from Oxford University. For two years he was an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Trent University. From 1968 to 1989, he directed the newly created Experimental Lakes Area of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans near Kenora, Ontario. This long-term study of freshwater is part of Schindler's large body of scientific work which has influenced freshwater management policies including the regulation of toxins and the limitation of eutrophication (excessive algal blooms) and acid rain in Canada, the USA and Europe.

In 1991 Schindler was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize for research into excess nutrification and acidification of freshwater lakes. From 1968-1989 Schindler directed Experimental Lakes Area using whole-lakes as natural laboratories with an integrated ecosystem approach.[5] "A famous photograph of a Canadian lake drew attention to the effects of phosphorus and played an important part in generating public support for tackling the growing problem of eutrophication, an over-abundance of nutrients in aquatic systems and one of the most serious environmental threats facing freshwater bodies and semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic. That photograph has since been reproduced hundreds of times, for students, scientists and the general public."(Sundbom & 2010 5)[6]

In 2006 Schindler received the Tyler Award for Environmental Achievement joining "luminaries as primatologist Jane Goodall, Sir Richard Doll, who established the link between lung cancer and cigarette smoking, and Nobel Laureates Paul Critzen and Mario Molina." In a letter supporting the award, Stanford University biological sciences professor Peter Vitousek claimed that the "fertilization of entire lakes" the Experimental Lakes area " provided incorruptible findings" that proved that "phosphorus controls the eutrophication of temperate lakes."[3] "In a series of landmark experiments conducted during the 1970s and 1980s, Schindler demonstrated that acid rain could begin destroying freshwater lakes at far lower levels than previously thought, and that phosphorus was the major cause of uncontrolled algae growth."[3] Wallace S. Broecker As Killam Memorial Chair Dr. Schindler has continued his research.[8]

In his book co-authored with John R. Vallentyne entitled The Algal Bowl: Overfertilization of the World's Freshwaters and Estuaries (2008), Schindler warned about algal blooms and dead zones, "The fish-killing blooms that devastated the Great Lakes in the 1960s and 1970s haven't gone away; they've moved west into an arid world in which people, industry, and agriculture are increasingly taxing the quality of what little freshwater there is to be had here....This isn't just a prairie problem. Global expansion of dead zones caused by algal blooms is rising rapidly...(Schindler 2008)"[9]

In 2008 he was honoured with the Alberta Order of Excellence as professor and mentor and "an internationally celebrated scientist who has led efforts to protect fresh water resources in Canada and around the world. His groundbreaking research has served as a clarion call alerting authorities and the public to the effects of pollutants and climate change on the environment. "[2][7]

In 2010 he co-authored a report on contaminants in fresh water systems in the area affected by the oil sands development entitled "Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries."[10]

Selected Publications

  • Erin N. Kelly; David W. Schindler; Peter V. Hodson; Jeffrey W. Short; Roseanna Radmanovich; Charlene C. Nielsen. "Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107 (37). doi:10.1073/pnas.1008754107. 
  • Schindler, David W., John R. Vallentyne. The Algal Bowl: Overfertilization of the World's Freshwaters and Estuaries. 2008-08-30.
  • Schindler, David W. Donahue, W. F. 2006-05-09. "An impending water crisis in Canada's western prairie provinces." 103:19:7210–7216. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
  • Tilman, D.J. Farglione, B. Wolff, C. D'Antonio, A. Dobson, R. Howarth, D. Schindler, W. Schlesinger, D. Simberloff, and D. Swackhamer. 2001. "Forecasting agriculturally-driven global environmental change." Science 292: 281-284.
  • Schindler, D.W. 2001. The cumulative effects of climate warming and other human stresses on Canadian freshwaters in the new millennium. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 58: 18-29.
  • Schindler, D.W. 2000. "Aquatic problems caused by human activities in Banff National Park." Ambio 29: 401-407.
  • Wilhelm, F.M. and Schindler, David W. 2000. "Reproductive strategies of Gammarus lacustris (Crustacea: Amphipoda) along an elevation gradient." Functional Ecology. 14: 413-422.
  • Hudson, J.J., W.D. Taylor and David W.Schindler. 2000. "Phosphate concentration in lakes." Nature 406: 54-56.
  • Wilhelm, F.M., B.R. Parker, D.W. Schindler and D.B. Donald. 2000. Seasonal food habits of bull trout from a small alpine lake in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 128: 1176-1192.
  • Campbell, L.M., D.W. Schindler, D.B. Donald and D.C.G. Muir. 2000. Organochlorine transfer in the food web of subalpine Bow Lake, Banff National Park. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 57: 1-12.
  • Hudson, J.J., W.D. Taylor, and David W. Schindler. 1999. Planktonic nutrient regeneration and cycling efficiency along a trophic gradient of temperate lakes. Nature 400: 659-661.
  • Schindler, David W. 1999. From acid rain to toxic snow (Volvo Environmental Prize Lecture). Ambio 28: 350-355.
  • Donald, D.B., J. Syrgiannia, R.W. Crosley, G. Holdsworth, D.C.G. Muir, B. Rosenberg, A. Sole, and D.W. Schindler. 1999. Delayed deposition of organochlorine pesticides at a temperate glacier. Environ. Sci. Technol. 33: 1794-1798.
  • McNaught, A.S., David W. Schindler, B.R. Parker, A.J. Paul, R.S. Anderson, D.B. Donald and M. Agbeti. 1999 Restoration of the food web of an alpine lake following fish stocking. Limnol. Oceanogr. 44: 127-136.
  • Wilhelm, F.M. and D.W. Schindler. 1999. Effects of Gammarus lacustris (Crustacea: Amphipoda) on plankton community structure in an alpine lake. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 56: 1401-1408.
  • Blais, J.M., David W. Schindler, D.C.G. Muir, D.B. Donald and B. Rosenberg. 1998. Accumulation of persistent organochlorine compounds in mountains of western Canada. Nature 395: 585-588.
  • Schindler, David W. 1998. Replication versus realism: the need for ecosystem-scale experiments. Ecosystems 1: 323-334.
  • Schindler, David W. 1998. A dim future for boreal waters and landscapes. BioScience 48: 157-164.
  • Schindler, David W. 1997. Widespread effects of climatic warming on freshwater ecosystems. Hydrologic Processes. 11: 1043-1067.
  • Leavitt, P., R.D. Vinebrooke, D.B. Donald, J.P. Smol, and David W. Schindler. 1997. Past ultraviolet radiation environments in lakes derived from fossil pigments. Nature 388: 457-459.
  • Schindler, David W. and P.J. Curtis. 1997. The role of DOC in protecting freshwaters subjected to climatic warming and acidification from UV exposure. Biogeochemistry 36: 1-8.
  • Schindler, David W., P.J. Curtis, S.E. Bayley, B.R. Parker, K.G. Beaty and M.P. Stainton. 1997. Climate-induced changes in the dissolved organic carbon budgets of boreal lakes. Biogeochemistry 36: 9-28.
  • Schindler, David W., S.E. Bayley, B.R. Parker, K.G. Beaty, D.R. Cruikshank, E.J. Fee, E.U. Schindler and M.P. Stainton. 1996. The effects of climatic warming on the properties of boreal lakes and streams at the Experimental Lakes Area, Northwestern Ontario. Limnol. Oceanogr. 41: 1004-1017.
  • Schindler, David W., P.J. Curtis, B. Parker, and M.P. Stainton. 1996. Consequences of climate warming and lake acidification for UV-b penetration in North American boreal lakes. Nature 379: 705-708.
  • Kidd, K.A., David W. Schindler, D.C.G. Muir, W.L. Lockhart, and R.H. Hesslein. 1995. High toxaphene concentrations in fish from a subarctic lake. Science 269: 240-242.
  • Carpenter, S.R., S.W. Chisholm, C.J. Krebs, David W. Schindler, R.F. Wright. 1995. "Ecosystem experiments." Science. 269: 324-327.
  • Schindler, David W., K.A. Kidd, D. Muir, and L. Lockhart. 1995. "The effects of ecosystem characteristics on contaminant distribution in northern freshwater lakes." Sci. Tot. Environ. 160/161: 1-17.
  • Kidd, K.A., David W. Schindler, R.H. Hesslein and D.C.G. Muir. 1995. "Correlation between stable nitrogen isotope ratios and concentrations of organochlorines in biota from a freshwater food web." Sci. Tot. Environ. 160/161: 381-390.
  • Schindler, David W., K.H. Mills, D.F. Malley, D.L. Findlay, J.A. Shearer, I.J. Davies, M.A. Turner, G.A. Linsey and D.R. Cruikshank. 1985. "Long-term ecosystem stress: The effects of years of experimental acidification on a small lake." Science. 28: 1395-1401.
  • Schindler, David W., K.G. Beaty, E.J. Fee, D.R. Cruikshank, E.D. DeBruyn, D.L. Findlay, G.A. Linsey, J.A. Shearer, M.P. Stainton and M.A. Turner. 1990. "Effects of climatic warming on lakes of the central boreal forest." Science. 250: 967-970.
  • Schindler, David W. 1977. "Evolution of phosphorus limitation in lakes: Natural mechanisms compensate for deficiencies of nitrogen and carbon in eutrophied lakes." Science. 195: 260-262.
  • Schindler, David W. 1974. "Eutrophication and recovery in experimental lakes: Implications for lake management." Science. 184: 897-899.

Selected Awards and Honours

References

  1. ↑ Zagorski, N. (2006). "Profile of David W. Schindler". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (19): 7207–7209. doi:10.1073/pnas.0602793103. PMC 1564277. PMID 16670196. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Speakers/Panelists: Professor David Schindler". IAP Conference and General Assembly. IAP - The Global Network of Science Academies. 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Schindler earns Tyler Award: Renowned ecologist credits inspirational mentors". Folio News Story (University of Alberta). 28 April 2006. 
  4. ↑ "Tipping Point, The Age of the Oil Sands". The Nature of Things. CBC. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "David W. Schindler". Stockholm International Water Institute. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 (PDF) [http://www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/General_Brochures/SWP_20_Years_Book.pdf The Story of the Stockholm Water Prize Laureate] (Report). 2010. ISBN 91-974183-9-0. http://www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/General_Brochures/SWP_20_Years_Book.pdf.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Dr. David W. Schindler OC, D.Phil., FRSC, FRS. Alberta Order of Excellence homepage". Government of Alberta. 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  8. ↑ AB. Members Profile David W. Schindler. Alberta Order of Excellence
  9. ↑ David W. Schindler; John R. Vallentyne (2008). The Algal Bowl: Overfertilization of the World's Freshwaters and Estuaries. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press. Retrieved June 23, 2012. 
  10. ↑ Erin N. Kelly; David W. Schindler; Peter V. Hodson; Jeffrey W. Short; Roseanna Radmanovich; Charlene C. Nielsen. "Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107 (37). doi:10.1073/pnas.1008754107. 
  11. ↑ Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Profile David W. Schindler.

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