Is there a Paradigm Shift in Limnology and Marine Biology?

To celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the International Review of Hydrobiology, we invited leading scientists to contribute to a special issue on Paradigm Shifts in Limnology and Marine Biology. Many of these scientists described new concepts in their highly specialized disciplines, however, not in the strict Kuhnian sense, but more as a cumulative – though nonlinear – acquisition and refinement of knowledge. Hence, a proposal for a major paradigm shift was not presented. If, however, the strict Kuhnian definition is eased somehow, anthropogenically induced global climate change may be regarded as a paradigm shift. Here, we provide a brief overview of these thought‐provoking contributions. Jedes Problem durchläuft bis zu seiner Anerkennung drei Stufen: In der ersten wird es lächerlich gemacht. In der zweiten bekämpft, in der dritten gilt es als selbstverständlichLoosely translated: “Everything at first seems ridiculous, is then attacked, and finally is accepted as a matter of course”.attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788–1860 (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)