Limnology global inland waters as part of the Earth System created a sub-discipline called global limnology. This approach considers the role of inland aquatic ecosystems in carbon cycling. 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. The term limnology was coined by François-Alphonse Forel (1841–1912) who established the field with his studies of Lake Geneva. Interest in the discipline rapidly expanded, and in 1922 August Thienemann (a German
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Initiated in 1947, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as 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 either limnology or oceanography or both. ASLO’s mission is to foster a diverse, international scientific community that creates, integrates and communicates knowledge across the full spectrum of aquatic sciences, advances public awareness and education about aquatic