Societas Internationalis Limnologiae,
or the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology,
was founded in Germany in 1922 with the aim of furthering the international
study and understanding of all aspects of limnology. SIL brings
together scientists from many parts of the world who are conducting
basic or applied research on inland aquatic ecosystems, or are concerned
with the practical management of such systems. It is the primary
professional international association of limnologists, with members
in about 80 countries. Because of its broad international membership,
SIL is especially well suited to tackling scientific and ecological
management problems in the inland waters of developing countries.
SIL
organises triennial congresses to promote the wide communication
of current limnological research results to an international audience
of professional limnologists and students of limnology. The last
such congress, the 29th, was held in Lahti, Finland, from 8-14 August
2004. The 30th congress will be held in Montréal, Canada,
from 11-17 August 2007 (link to the web site can be found here),
and the 31st in Durban, South Africa, in 2010. A major product of
each SIL congress is the "Verhandlungen der Internationalen
Vereinigung der Limnologie", a reviewed journal in which the
majority of the papers presented at each congress are published.
Routine matters concerning the association are published in the
"SIL News" and in the "SIL Annular Circular".
SIL
has a number of semi-autonomous international working groups that
deal with specific limnological topics, sponsors international symposia
and workshops, and publishes an ongoing series of books on "Limnology
in Developing Countries".
The
Swiss section of SIL consists of around a dozen institutional members
and over 60 individual members. In addition, Swiss institutional
and individual members sponsor about two dozen members from developing
countries. Based on the number of Swiss members, it has two national
representatives. At the moment, these are myself (since 2002) and
Dr. Marco Simona of the Sezione Protezione Aria, Acqua e Suolo,
Dipartimento del Territorio, Canton Ticino (since 2005). The last
annual letter of the Swiss national representatives to the membership
of the Swiss SIL section (in German) can be found here.
A
list of my publications in the "Verhandlungen der Internationalen
Vereinigung der Limnologie" can be found here.
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