TOM WINTER'S WELL-FIELDS OF DREAMS (HYPOTHESES TESTS): IF OBSERVATION WELLS ARE INSTALLED, THEY (OTHER SCIENTISTS) WILL COME (COLLABORATE IN RESEARCH)

What do U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service land managers, prairie wetland waterfowl ecologists, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources personnel concerned with lake water quality and water-level changes, ecologists studying acid rain in New England, hydrologists investigating lake nutrients in the Pacific Northwest, and paleolimnologists working in midcontinent have in common? The answer in the late 1970s was the need for a better understanding of the hydrological processes and characteristics of lakes and wetlands, particularly their relation with groundwater. As Tom Winter sought to test numerical-simulation derived hypotheses about the interaction of lakes and wetlands with groundwater, his personal interaction with this assortment of people from many disciplines led to establishment of 5 research field sites across the continental U.S. By Tom’s original design, these field sites represented areas containing numerous natural lakes and wetlands in a variety of hydrogeologic and climate settings. Also, based on his advice, his research study design was used as a template for work undertaken by limnologists in Wisconsin, hydrologists in Florida, and biogeochemists in Colorado. From the start, determination of which processes were common across sites and what processes were unique to individual sites was a key research objective. Guided by results of numerical simulation, Tom’s detailed hydrological research instrumentation and observation well placement at multiple sites over decades continues to advance understanding of hydrological characteristics and processes in lakes and wetlands. In addition, this research showed how hydrological processes, including groundwater interaction, affect chemical, biological, and ecological processes in those aquatic ecosystems. Examples from collaborative interdisciplinary research illustrating the effects of groundwater interaction on these various processes highlight Tom’s contribution to interdisciplinary science.