About AIL

All about AIL

The Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL) brings together all those interested in advancing knowledge on fundamental processes and relations between the different components of inland water ecosystems. It also gathers specialists on biology and ecology of inland water organisms, from bacteria to fish.
The aims of AIL are to promote and publicize limnological studies within the Iberian space. Science, which brings together the different activities of this association, is essential in solving water problems in our society. The AIL is particularly concerned about challenges arising from the use of aquatic resources and aims to encourage and disseminate scientific studies applied to the management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems. For this reason, the members of AIL include scientists, naturalists, professionals involved in the water industry and, in short, anyone interested in the management of inland waters.

The AIL was founded in 1981 as Spanish Association of Hydrobiology, and shortly afterwards it changed the name to Spanish Association of Limnology. Two years later it joined as a subsidiary the International Society of Limnology (SIL), created in 1922. Nowadays, AIL is an independent non-profit association, although it maintains a close relationship with SIL and its activities. In order to expand its horizon and to bring together group Spanish, Portuguese and South American limnologists, in 2006 the association changed its name to Iberian Association of Limnology, an expansion that started in 1998, with the first Iberian Congress of Limnology in Évora (Portugal). In 2005, AIL co-founded the European Federation for Freshwater Sciences (EFFS) of which is still a member, along with fourteen other European national limnological societies.

Currently, the AIL has more than 500 members. Of these, more than 200 are members of the Young-AIL group, in charge of stimulating scientific cooperation in the field of limnology and promoting contact between young members of the AIL.

The AIL organizes biannual congresses in different Spanish and Portuguese cities and publishes biannual Limnetica, a scientific journal included in the Journal Citation Reports of Thomson Reuters since 2009 and considered an excellent journal by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). Limnetica disseminates scientific papers in Spanish, Portuguese and English on all aspects of the ecology of inland water ecosystems. The association also promotes and organizes other non-regular scientific meetings, courses and workshops, as well as other publications such as identification keys of aquatic organisms.

Origin and history of the Association