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Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows: Mono Lake is a unique natural resource in California and the rest of the world. The lake evolved as a hydrologically closed basin, having no ocean outlet. Estimated to be 1 million years old, it is a remnant of the much larger ice-age Lake Russell. Lake Russell created a series of linked ecosystems: saline lake waters linked to hot and cold springs, fringing wetlands, riparian corridors and terrestrial uplands. Such a series of ecosystems is found nowhere else in the world. The unique ecology of this lake has been greatly threatened in this century by the development of California's water resources.