Foreword: A virtual congress on palaeolimnology—palaeolimnological proxies as tools for environmental reconstruction in fresh water

The motivation for collecting recent knowledge in a special issue of Hydrobiologia derives from the recognition of the importance and applicability of palaeolimnological tools to help in defining ‘‘reference conditions’’ as designated within the Water Framework Directives and estimating influence of global climate change on surface waters. This volume was developed by inviting contributions from prominent experts in their respective fields. The compilation not only presents papers on palaeolimnological studies, focusing mostly on Eastern and Central Europe but also includes results from other regions. The use of palaeoecological analyses of sediments has a long tradition in Central Europe. In the nineteenth century, Lajos Lóczy (1849–1920) organized a systematic scientific research on Lake Balaton, the largest shallow lake of the region, and published the series of booklets (Lóczy 1897–1920) which are considered milestones in the development of limnology as a separate branch of science and which are comparable to Forel’s (1841–1912) seminal scientific heritage (Forel, 1892). Another milestone in the development of palaeolimnology was the first palaeolimnologial meeting which was held in Hungary in 1967. This meeting included some of the most prominent limnologists in the world including G.E. Hutchinson, D.G. Frey (Chairman), Nina V. Korde, D.A. Livingstone, O. Sebestyén, and W. Tutin who together formed the organizing committee. This committee decided to hold the symposium at the Biological Research Institute, Tihany, Hungary. The meeting profited from the excellent facilities and made the attendance of scientists from socialist countries possible. This location was also appropriate in celebrating the long tradition of geological and limnological studies on the lake including the early Guest editors: K. Buczkó, J. Korponai, J. Padisák & S. W. Starratt Palaeolimnological Proxies as Tools of Environmental Reconstruction in Fresh Water