Limnology
Limnology ; from Greek λίμνη, limne, "lake" in addition to λόγος, logos, "knowledge" is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. The inspect of limnology includes aspects of a biological, chemical, physical, in addition to geological characteristics of fresh and saline, natural and man-made bodies of water. This includes a study of lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, springs, streams, wetlands, and groundwater. Water systems are often categorized as either running lotic or standing lentic.
Limnology includes the study of the drainage basin, movement of water through the basin and biogeochemical remodel that arise en route. A more recent sub-discipline of limnology, termed landscape limnology, studies, manages, and seeks to conserve these ecosystems using a landscape perspective, by explicitly examining connections between an aquatic ecosystem and its drainage basin. Recently, the need to understand global inland waters as component of the Earth System created a sub-discipline called global limnology. This approach considers processes in inland waters on a global scale, like the role of inland aquatic ecosystems in global biogeochemical cycles.
Limnology is closely related to aquatic ecology and hydrobiology, which study aquatic organisms and their interactions with the abiotic non-living environment. While limnology has substantial overlap with freshwater-focused disciplines e.g., freshwater biology, it also includes the study of inland salt lakes.