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Definition of Limnology

Limnology is the subdiscipline of hydrology (the study of the distribution, conservation, use,etc., of the water of the earth and its atmosphere, particularly at the land surface) that concerns thestudy of fresh waters, specifically lakes and ponds (both natural and manmade),

including their biological, physical, and chemical aspects. Franois-Alphonse Forel (18411912) established the field with his studies of Lake Geneva. Limnology traditionally isclosely related to hydrobiology, which is concerned with the application of the principlesand methods of physics, chemistry, geology, and geography to ecological problems.

Limnology is the science that studies inland bodies of water with a slow water exchange(lakes and reservoirs) and the interrelated physical, chemical, and biological processesoccurring in them. Limnology is one of the geographic sciences. In studying bodies ofwater, limnology uses the methods of hydrobiology, hydrochemistry, hydrophysics,geomorphology, geobotany, meteorology, and other sciences.

The main task of limnology is integrated research on the development of bodies of waterand on the geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes whose interaction in

bodies of water and their drainage systems determines the particular features of lakesand reservoirs and their regime. To this end, limnology studies the origin, dimensions,structure, and transformation of the basins and shores of bodies of water; the structureand composition of the bottom deposits; the physical and chemical properties of thewater masses formed in the drainage area and in the body of water itself; the structureand dynamics of the water masses; the water and thermal balance of bodies of water;fluctuations in water level; water movement, including wave motion, currents, winddrifts, seiche, and the convective and dynamic mixing of water; and thermal and iceconditions. Limnology also studies the composition, concentration, and balance ofsuspended and dissolved mineral and organic matter; the seasonal cycles in thedevelopment and interaction of water organisms, such as plankton, benthos and nekton;the productivity of aquatic communities and their role in transforming the organic matterin bodies of water; and the influence of lakes and reservoirs on the drainage process. Inaddition to studying the large and economically important lakes and reservoirs,limnologists have done important work in describing and classifying the numerous smallbodies of water.

Data on the stratigraphy of lake deposits and fluctuations in lake levels are used forstudying climatic changes and the hydrologic cycles in earlier periods, as well as otherquestions of general physical geography. Limnology uses material obtained fromobservations made on expeditions and at lake stations, posts, and hydrometeorologicalobservatories. Also employed are aerial, surveying; electrometric, photometric, isotopic,and other precise research methods; interdisciplinary (hydrological, hydrochemical, andhydrobiological) surveying of lakes and reservoirs; and physical and mathematicalmodeling of the processes occurring in bodies of water.

The founder of limnology was the Swiss scientist F. Forel, who conducted long-termstudies, chiefly of Lake Geneva, and who wrote the first handbook on limnology in 1901.Important contributions to the development of limnology have been made by the Russianscientists D. N. Anuchin, L. S. Berg, G. Iu. Vereshchagin, S. I. Kuznetsov, I. V. Molchanov,S. D. Muraveiskii, and L. L. Rossolimo and by the foreign scientists E. Berge, A.Thienemann, E. Naumann, W. Halbfass, F. Ruttner, C. H. Mortimer, and G. E. Hutchinson.

Theoretical and applied problems of limnology are being worked out in researchinstitutes and laboratories in more than 40 countries. In the USSR important work isbeing done at the Limnology Institute and the Institute for the Biology of Inland Waters ofthe Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Division of

the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the State Hydrological Institute and theHydrochemical Institute (GUGMS), and the institutes and laboratories of severalministries and universities. Limnological research is published in special collections and

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journals, notably Izvestiia Vsesoiuznogo geograficheskogo ob-va (Proceedings of the All-Union Geographic Society, published since 1865), Meteorologiia i gidrologiia(Meteorology and Hydrology, since 1950), Gidrobiologicheskii zhurnal (HydrobiologicalJournal; Kiev, since 1969), Limnology and Oceanography (Baltimore, since 1956), andArchiv fr Hydrobiologie (Stuttgart, since 1906). International limnological congressesand symposiums have played an important role in the development of limnology. They

have been convened regularly since 1922 by the International Association of Theoreticaland Applied Limnology. The third (1925) and 18th (1971) congresses were held in theUSSR. Symposiums on lake hydrology are also organized by the International Associationof Hydrological Sciences. The biological approach that predominated in limnology for along time is giving way to interdisciplinary research. The balance principle has beenaccepted in studying the conversion of matter and energy in a body of water. Thisprinciple has played a crucial role in working out recommendations for the most efficientuse of lakes and reservoirs and for predicting potential changes in hydrological,hydrochemical, and biological conditions caused by the use of these bodies of water. Theachievements of limnology are used in a number of economic sectors, including watersupply, fisheries, water transport, hydraulic power engineering, irrigation, the mining ofminerals, and medicine, as well as in organizing recreation for the working people.Because of the pollution of lakes and reservoirs and their growing eutrophication,

limnology has begun to focus on problems of evaluating, predicting, and protecting thequality of water in lakes and reservoirs.

REFERENCES:Forel, F. A. Rukovodstvo po ozerovedeniiu. St. Petersburg, 1912. (Translated from German.)Berg, L. S. Sovremennoe sostoianie i zadachi ozerovedeniia SSSR. Izv. AN SSSR: Ser. geologicheskaia, 1945,no 1.Lepneva, S. G. Zhizn ozerakh. InZhiznpresnykh vod SSSR, vol. 3. Moscow-Leningrad, 1950.Bogoslovskii, B. B. Ozerovedenie. Moscow, 1960.Zaikov, B. D. Ocherki po ozerovedeniiu, parts 12. Leningrad, 195560.Muraveiskii, S. D. Reki i ozera. Moscow, 1960.Hutchinson, G. E. Limnologiia. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English.)Welch, P. S. Limnology, 2nd ed. New York-Toronto-London, 1953.