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
Forensic limnology Forensic limnology Forensic limnology is a sub-field of forensic botany, which examines the presence of diatoms in crime scene samples and victims. Different methods are used to collect this data but all identify the ratios of different diatom colonies present in samples and match those samples with locations at the crime scene. Diatoms are diverse microscopic algae with silica cell walls that have different characteristics such as color, shape, and size. There are 8,000 known species of diatoms (without taking into account the variety of subspecies that have specialized within their specific environments). Diatoms do not have specialized nutrient and