Limnology also called
freshwater science, is the study of inland waters. It is often regarded as a division of
ecologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
or
environmental scienceEnvironmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
. It covers the
biologicalBiology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
,
chemicalChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
,
physicalPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
,
geologicalGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, and other attributes of all inland waters (running and standing waters, both fresh and saline, natural or man-made). This includes the study of
lakeA lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
s and
pondA pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. A wide variety of man-made bodies of water are classified as ponds, including water gardens, water features and koi ponds; all designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural...
s,
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s,
springsA spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
,
streamA stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s and
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s. A more recent sub-discipline of limnology, termed
landscape limnologyLandscape limnology is the spatially-explicit study of lakes, streams, and wetlands as they interact with the freshwater, terrestrial, and human landscapes to determine the effects of pattern on ecosystem processes across temporal and spatial scales...
, studies, manages, and conserves these aquatic ecosystems using a landscape perspective.
Limnology is closely related to aquatic ecology and
hydrobiologyHydrobiology is the science of life and life processes in water. Much of modern hydrobiology can be viewed as a sub-discipline of ecology but the sphere of hydrobiology includes taxonomy, economic biology, industrial biology, morphology, physiology etc. The one distinguishing aspect is that all...
, which study aquatic organisms in particular regard to their hydrological environment.
History
The term limnology was coined by
François-Alphonse ForelFrançois-Alphonse Forel was a Swiss scientist who pioneered the study of lakes, and is thus considered the founder of limnology....
(1841–1912) who established the field with his studies of
Lake GenevaLake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
. Interest in the discipline rapidly expanded, and in 1922
August ThienemannAugust Friedrich Thienemann was a German limnologist, zoologist and ecologist. He was an associate Professor of Hydrobiology at the University of Kiel, and director of the former Hydrobiologische Anstalt der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft at Plön.A co-founder of Societas Internationalis...
(a German zoologist) and
Einar NaumannEinar Christian Leonard Naumann was an assistant professor of botany and limnology at the University of Lund. Naumann worked during the summers at the Fishery Station in Aneboda , where he established a field laboratory of the Limnological Institute in Lund .In 1921 he suggested the establishment of...
(a Swedish botanist) co-founded the
International Society of LimnologyThe International Society of Limnology is an international scientific society that disseminates information among limnologists, those who study all aspects of inland waters, including their physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and management...
(SIL, for originally Societas Internationalis Limnologiae). Forel's original definition of limnology, "the
oceanographyOceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
of lakes", was expanded to encompass the study of all inland waters.
Prominent early American limnologists included
G. Evelyn HutchinsonGeorge Evelyn Hutchinson FRS was an Anglo-American zoologist known for his studies of freshwater lakes and considered the father of American limnology....
,
Ed DeeveyEdward Smith Deevey, Jr. , born in Albany, New York, was a prominent American ecologist and paleolimnologist, and an early protégé of G. Evelyn Hutchinson at Yale University...
,
E. A. BirgeEdward Asahel Birge, Ph.D. was a professor and administrator at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was one of the pioneers of the study of limnology, and served as acting president of the university from 1900 to 1903 and as president from 1918 to 1925.Birge was born in Troy, New York...
, and
C. JudayChancey Juday together with G. Evelyn Hutchinson, and his close collaborator, Edward A. Birge were pioneers of North American limnology. Birge and Juday founded an influential school of limnology on Lake Mendota at the University of Wisconsin....
.
Lake Classification
Limnology classifies lakes (or other bodies of water) according to the
trophic state indexThe quantities of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other biologically useful nutrients are theprimary determinants of a body of water's trophic state index...
. An oligotrophic lake is characterised by relatively low levels of
primary production400px|thumb|Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September [[1997]] to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential, and not an actual estimate of it...
and low levels of nutrients. A eutrophic lake has high levels of primary productivity due to very high nutrient levels.
EutrophicationEutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the movement of a body of water′s trophic status in the direction of increasing plant biomass, by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system...
of a lake can lead to algal blooms. Dystrophic lakes have high levels of humic matter and typically has yellow-brown tea coloured waters. These categories do not have rigid specifications; the classification system can be seen as more of a spectrum encompassing the various levels of aquatic productivity.
Organizations
- American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
Initiated in 1947, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography is a scientific society with the goal of Advancing the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. With approximately 4000 members in nearly 60 different countries, ASLO is the largest scientific society, worldwide, devoted to...
- Asociación Ibérica de Limnología
- Australian Society for Limnology
- European Society of Limnology and Oceanography
- Society of Limnology
- Italian Association for Oceanology and Limnology (AIOL)
- The Japanese Society of Limnology
- International Society of Limnology
The International Society of Limnology is an international scientific society that disseminates information among limnologists, those who study all aspects of inland waters, including their physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and management...
- Brazilian Society of Limnology
- New Zealand freshwater Sciences society
- Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientists
- Balaton Limnological Research Institute
- Polish Limnological Society
The Polish Limnological Society is a Polish scientific society that disseminates information among limnologists, those who study all aspects of lakes, including their physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and management...
- Society for Freshwater Science (formerly North American Benthological Society)
Journals
See also
- Limnology publications
- G. Evelyn Hutchinson
George Evelyn Hutchinson FRS was an Anglo-American zoologist known for his studies of freshwater lakes and considered the father of American limnology....
- Freshwater biology
Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes and ponds, rivers, streams and springs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content...
- Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...
- Lake aeration
- Lake ecosystem
A lentic ecosystem is the ecosystem of a lake, pond or swamp. Included in the environment are the biotic interactions and the abiotic interactions ....
- Landscape limnology
Landscape limnology is the spatially-explicit study of lakes, streams, and wetlands as they interact with the freshwater, terrestrial, and human landscapes to determine the effects of pattern on ecosystem processes across temporal and spatial scales...
- Lentic ecosystems
- Limnic eruption
A limnic eruption, also referred to as a lake overturn, is a rare type of natural disaster in which carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from deep lake water, suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising CO2 displaces water. Scientists...
- Lotic ecosystems
- Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
- Oceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
- Paleolimnology
Paleolimnology is a scientific subdiscipline closely related to both limnology and paleoecology. Palaeolimnological studies are concerned with reconstructing the paleoenvironments of inland waters – and especially changes associated with such events as climatic change, human impacts , and...
External links