Czech Limnological Society is successor of Czechoslovak Limnological Society that was established in 1966. It continued in activities of the so-called Hydro-biological committee associated with Czechoslovak Academy of Science, which from 1951 aimed at co-ordination and development of co-operation between workmen and institutions of fundamental and applied research in the field of water and water management.
From prevailing trends of taxonomy, faunalogy and fishery in the sixties, the development of the field of hydro-biology proceeded in direction of quantification of organisms, determination of their activities and even more oriented on solving dynamics of processes in water (interaction between non-biotic factors and biotic processes, questions of production of water biocenoses, etc). This trend and relation to international organisation of limnologists necessarily lead also to expansion of scope of original hydro-biological orientation and a limnology society was also established in Czechoslovakia in 1966.
The above development was also reflected in membership, when the register of people active in hydro-biology and ”relative branches” included 169 names, while the first register of members of the Czechoslovak Limnological Society associated with Czechoslovak Academy of Science included 230 names. Only 99 people were included on both registers. The number of members in the seventies and eighties was around 250.
Splitting of Czechoslovakia in 1994 also resulted in splitting of the Czechoslovak Limnological Society into Czech Limnological Society and Slovak Limnological Society. However, close co-operation continues and regular conferences organised in three-year periods are also common for both societies, where only organisational matters ensuing from constitution are solved in separate meetings.
Organisation of regular conferences is one the proven tools how to deepen mutual information of each other party about solved problems and also for broader discussions about actual topics of limnology, trends in research and wider application of their outputs. Tradition of these conferences was established in 1951 as hydro-biological conferences. Beginning the seventh conference that took place in Bystřička na Moravě in 1997, regular three-year meetings continue as limnological conferences. Magazine ”Limnologické noviny” (former Zprávy CSLS) that are issued quarterly represent an information medium for members of Czech Limnological Society.
At present, Czech Limnological Society has 212 members, who are active in three regional branch offices (Brno, České Budějovice and Prague). An expert group ”Biotest” was established in CLS to solve specific problems. For more information see other pages of this presentation.