David W. Schindler, O.C., F.R.S.C., F.R.S., is Killam Memorial Chair and Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the first Stockholm Water Prize (1991), the Volvo Environment Prize (1998), the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering (2001) and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2006). John R. Vallentyne (1926-2007) was an influential research scientist with the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. He later became Senior Scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Ottowa. He received the Rachel Carson Prize (1992) and the A.C. Redfield Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. In 2008 the IAGLR created Jack R. Vallentyne Award to honour his advocacy.
'Impeccable empirical science, written with vigour and precision. Among its other charms, this is an excellent textbook... The Algal Bowl is a work of scientific poetry.' The Literary Review of Canada 'The Algal Bowl is by no means a page-turner. Nor was it intended to be. But it should be required reading for every politician, civil servant, farmer, fisherman, hunter, paddler and cottage owner who has any stake in the management of freshwater in western North America. Like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, the Algal Bowl has the potential to disrupt ecosystems, displace human populations and cause tremendous economic hardship. Those who doubt that possibility need only look at several populous Third World countries where potable freshwater is now a thing of the past.' Ed Struzik, Edmonton Journal 'Interesting and important' Bulletin of the British Ecological Society