Large, Dirty Test Tubes

The Pond Lab is one of the distinctive features on the KBS landscape, especially as seen in aerial views.

The experimental ponds were built in the very early 1970s, soon after Don Hall was recruited from Cornell University by George Lauff to join the faculty at KBS.  Hall had done research in a set of experimental ponds at Cornell, along with Bill Cooper and Earl Werner, two other persons who  afterward came to Michigan State University.  Their work had been published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography, occupying an entire issue of the journal.  (Hall, D.J., W.E. Cooper, and E.E. Werner. 1970. An experimental approach to the production dynamics and structure of freshwater animal communities. Limnology and Oceanography 15(6): 839-928.) 

After coming to KBS, Don and George wrote a proposal to the National Science Foundation to build a set of ponds here. Hall recalls that the early reviews of the proposal were favorable, but the NSF was reluctant to fund the grant because they didn’t support “bricks and mortar” projects.  Hall gives credit to Lauff for working to convince NSF that could and should fund this “bricks and mortar” project.  Hall suggested to Lauff that it be considered a set of “large, dirty test tubes” in which to do experiments, and Lauff was successful in conveying that message to the NSF.

It helped that John Brooks was the director of the Ecology division at the time. Hall recalls that he was very supportive of freshwater research.

(This article is based in large part on notes that Gary Mittelbach took during a meeting with Don Hall in November, 2012.)